YoutubeDLSharp

YoutubeDLSharp requires the yt-dlp and FFmpeg binaries to function. You can either download them manually or use the built-in utility methods provided by YoutubeDLSharp.Utils to download them automatically to your environment.

Note: DownloadDeno() is optional and used specifically for certain YouTube downloads.

await YoutubeDLSharp.Utils.DownloadYtDlp();
await YoutubeDLSharp.Utils.DownloadFFmpeg();

await YoutubeDLSharp.Utils.DownloadDeno(); // optional, for YouTube downloads

To use YoutubeDLSharp in your .NET project, add the NuGet package using the Package Manager Console:

PM> Install-Package YoutubeDLSharp

You can use YoutubeDL to perform specialized downloads:

• Audio Extraction: Use RunAudioDownload and specify the AudioConversionFormat (e.g., AudioConversionFormat.Mp3).
• Playlist Downloads: Use RunVideoPlaylistDownload and provide start and end indices to select a range of videos from a playlist.

// Extract audio as MP3
var res = await ytdl.RunAudioDownload(
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4",
    AudioConversionFormat.Mp3
);

// Download specific range from a playlist
var res = await ytdl.RunVideoPlaylistDownload(
    "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPfak9ofGSn9sWgKrHrXrxQXXxwhCblaT",
    start: 52, end: 76
);

You can persist OptionSet configurations to a file and reload them later. The resulting file format is compatible with the configuration format used by yt-dlp and youtube-dl itself.

// Save to file
var saveOptions = new OptionSet();
saveOptions.WriteConfigFile("path\\to\\file");

// Reload configuration
OptionSet loadOptions = OptionSet.LoadConfigFile("path\\to\\file");

All YoutubeDL download methods support progress tracking via IProgress<DownloadProgress> and cancellation via a CancellationToken.

// a progress handler with a callback that updates a progress bar
var progress = new Progress<DownloadProgress>(p => progressBar.Value = p.Progress);
// a cancellation token source used for cancelling the download
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();

await ytdl.RunVideoDownload("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ",
                            progress: progress, ct: cts.Token);

For direct and flexible access to the underlying process, use the YoutubeDLProcess class. This allows you to capture standard output and error streams directly.

var ytdlProc = new YoutubeDLProcess();
// capture the standard output and error output
ytdlProc.OutputReceived += (o, e) => Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
ytdlProc.ErrorReceived += (o, e) => Console.WriteLine("ERROR: " + e.Data);

// start running
string[] urls = new[] { "https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#options" };
await ytdlProc.RunAsync(urls, options);

Use RunVideoDataFetch to retrieve extensive metadata about a video (like title, uploader, view count, and available formats) without actually downloading the media file. This returns a VideoData object.

var res = await ytdl.RunVideoDataFetch("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ");
// get some video information
VideoData video = res.Data;
string title = video.Title;
string uploader = video.Uploader;
long? views = video.ViewCount;
// all available download formats
FormatData[] formats = video.Formats;

The YoutubeDL class provides high-level methods for common tasks like downloading videos, extracting audio, and fetching metadata.

Before running downloads, you must configure the paths to your yt-dlp and FFmpeg binaries if they are not in your system's PATH or the current directory. You can also specify an OutputFolder.

var ytdl = new YoutubeDL();
// set the path of yt-dlp and FFmpeg if they're not in PATH or current directory
ytdl.YoutubeDLPath = "path\\to\\yt-dlp.exe";
ytdl.FFmpegPath = "path\\to\\ffmpeg.exe";
// optional: set a different download folder
ytdl.OutputFolder = "some\\directory\\for\\video\\downloads";

// download a video
var res = await ytdl.RunVideoDownload("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq9ghmgqoyc");
// the path of the downloaded file
string path = res.Data;

If you are using a modified version of yt-dlp or need flags not explicitly mapped in the OptionSet class, you can add custom options using AddCustomOption or SetCustomOption.

// add
options.AddCustomOption<string>("--my-custom-option", "value");
// set
options.SetCustomOption<string>("--my-custom-option", "new value");