YtDlp Class#

The main entry point for the library.

1import { YtDlp } from 'ytdlp-nodejs';

Constructor#

1new YtDlp(options?: YtDlpOptions)

Options#

• binaryPath (string): Custom path to yt-dlp executable.
• ffmpegPath (string): Custom path to ffmpeg executable.

Methods#

download#

Returns a fluent builder for downloading videos. Chain methods to configure and call .run() to execute.

1download(url: string, options?: FormatOptions): Download

Example#

1const result = await ytdlp
2  .download('https://youtube.com/watch?v=...')
3  .filter('mergevideo')
4  .quality('1080p')
5  .type('mp4')
6  .output('./downloads')
7  .embedThumbnail()
8  .on('progress', (p) => console.log(p.percentage_str))
9  .run();
10
11console.log('Files:', result.filePaths);

Builder Methods#

downloadAsync#

Downloads a video asynchronously with callback-style progress.

1downloadAsync(url: string, options?: FormatOptions): Promise<DownloadResult>

Options extended properties:#

• onProgress: Callback for download progress.
• format: Format options object.
• output: Custom output template.

stream#

Creates a readable stream from a video URL.

1stream(url: string, options?: FormatOptions): PipeResponse

Returns an object with pipe and pipeAsync methods.

getInfoAsync#

Fetches metadata for a video or playlist.

1getInfoAsync(url: string, options?: InfoOptions): Promise<VideoInfo | PlaylistInfo>

getFormatsAsync#

Gets available formats for a video.

1getFormatsAsync(url: string, options?: ArgsOptions): Promise<FormatsResult>

getDirectUrlsAsync#

Gets direct media URLs for a video.

1getDirectUrlsAsync(url: string, options?: ArgsOptions): Promise<string[]>

getThumbnailsAsync#

Gets all thumbnails for a video.

1getThumbnailsAsync(url: string): Promise<VideoThumbnail[]>

getSubtitles#

Returns the available manual subtitles and automatic captions as normalized SubtitleInfo records.

1getSubtitles(url: string, options?: ArgsOptions): Promise<SubtitleInfo[]>

getComments#

Fetches comments exposed by the extractor. maxComments limits the requested number of YouTube comments.

1getComments(url: string, maxComments?: number, options?: ArgsOptions): Promise<unknown[]>

getVersionAsync#

Returns the version reported by the configured yt-dlp binary.

1getVersionAsync(): Promise<string>

checkInstallationAsync#

Checks if binaries are installed.

1checkInstallationAsync(options?: { ffmpeg?: boolean }): Promise<boolean>

updateYtDlpAsync#

Updates the yt-dlp binary.

1updateYtDlpAsync(): Promise<UpdateResult>