YTDL-UI

A clean, self-hosted web UI for downloading YouTube videos and audio — powered by yt-dlp and ffmpeg. No accounts, no tracking, no ads.

Made by @JustAyden & @dash1101

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Features

• Video formats — MP4, WebM, MKV with resolution selection (1080p, 720p, 480p, …)
• Audio formats — MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, Opus with bitrate selection
• Playlist support — download an entire playlist as a numbered ZIP archive
• Zero frontend build step — single index.html, no npm, no bundler
• Cross-platform — bundles yt-dlp.exe/ffmpeg.exe on Windows; uses system PATH on Linux/macOS

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

Tool	Windows	Linux/macOS
Python 3.10+	python.org	apt install python3 / brew install python
yt-dlp	bundled .exe	see below
ffmpeg	bundled .exe	apt install ffmpeg / brew install ffmpeg

Linux/macOS — install yt-dlp:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp \
  -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Install Python dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Run

Windows:

start.bat

or

python server.py

Linux / macOS:

chmod +x start.sh && ./start.sh

or

python3 server.py

Then open http://localhost:5000 in your browser.

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CLI Flags

Flag	Default	Description
-p, --port	5000	Port to run the server on
--host	127.0.0.1	Address to bind to

Examples:

# Default — localhost only (safe for tunnel/proxy setups)
python3 server.py

# Local network access — accessible from other devices on your LAN
python3 server.py --host 0.0.0.0

# Custom port
python3 server.py --port 8080

# Both
python3 server.py --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Note: The default bind address is 127.0.0.1 (localhost only). If you're running YTDL-UI on a separate machine and want to access it from another device on your network, pass --host 0.0.0.0. If you're running it behind a reverse proxy or Cloudflare tunnel, keep the default.

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Windows — Bundled Binaries

Place yt-dlp.exe and ffmpeg.exe in the same folder as server.py. The app detects them automatically.

Download links:

• yt-dlp.exe → github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
• ffmpeg.exe → ffmpeg.org/download.html (get a Windows build from gyan.dev or BtbN)

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Server Deployment

Reverse proxy / Cloudflare tunnel

YTDL-UI binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, making it safe to expose via a reverse proxy (Caddy, Nginx) or a Cloudflare Zero Trust tunnel without opening any ports directly. Point your proxy or tunnel at http://127.0.0.1:5000.

See SETUP.md for a full guide on running YTDL-UI behind Caddy on a Debian server with automatic HTTPS.

Running as a systemd service (Linux)

For a hardened, always-on deployment that runs as an unprivileged user and restarts automatically:

sudo bash install-service.sh

This script:

• Creates a dedicated ytdlui system user with no login shell
• Installs the app to /opt/ytdlui
• Installs and enables the ytdlui systemd service

Useful commands after install:

journalctl -u ytdlui -f        # live logs
systemctl restart ytdlui       # restart
systemctl stop ytdlui          # stop

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API

Endpoint	Method	Body	Description
/	GET	—	Serves the web UI
/api/info	POST	{url}	Returns video/playlist metadata
/api/download	POST	{url, format, quality}	Downloads and streams a single file
/api/download-playlist	POST	{url, format, quality}	Downloads playlist, returns ZIP
/api/clear-tmp	POST	—	Manually clears the temp directory

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License

MIT — do whatever you want with it.