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YouTube-DL Server

YouTube-DL Server is a lightweight self-hosted web interface for downloading videos from YouTube and other supported sites to a server.

  • Downloaders
  • Media Applications
  • Tools & Utilities
YouTube-DL Server is a lightweight self-hosted web interface for downloading videos from YouTube and other supported sites to a server. It accepts a video URL and saves the highest-quality available file to a mounted download directory, giving homelab users a simple endpoint for on-demand or scripted downloads.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux (not listed)

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

59/100 Fair

Maintained
70last commit 52 days ago
Popular
59931 GitHub stars
Easy to install
351 install platform, install notes, Docker image
Light to run
No data

Based on 3 of 4 factors.

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 15 days ago

GitHub stars
931
Open issues
40
Last commit
2026-08-24
Latest release
v2.0.0
License
MIT
Activity
stale

Checked 8 days ago - source: GitHub (manbearwiz/youtube-dl-server)

Resources & Compatibility

ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is supported.

Checked 17 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Install the downloader first Use the install method for your system, such as Homebrew on Mac, so the youtubedr command exists. If it isn’t installed, the download commands in the docs won’t run. source
  • Get ffmpeg for HD videos Install ffmpeg and make sure it is in your PATH before using hd720 or hd1080 quality. Without it, HD downloads can fail or you may get a lower-quality fallback. source
  • Mount a download directory Mount a host directory to /youtube-dl in the container, for example -v /home/core/youtube-dl:/youtube-dl, so downloaded videos persist outside the container. source

Fetched 7 days ago - each note links to its source

Alternatives

No alternatives collected yet.

Common questions

Does youtube-dl-server provide both a web interface and a REST interface?

Yes, it is described as a very spartan web and REST interface for downloading videos onto a server. It is built with Starlette and yt-dlp.

What should I do if full playlist downloads stop working?

Update youtube-dl, because the reported full-playlist downloading issue was fixed around 2020-11-11. The thread advises updating if the problem breaks again.

What file-date issue have Unraid Docker users reported?

One Unraid user using the kmb32123 youtube-dl-server Docker container reported that downloaded videos had incorrect created and modified dates.

Is there a community that helps with youtube-dl and yt-dlp problems?

The Reddit source is from a community of enthusiasts helping each other with youtube-dl and yt-dlp problems and usability issues.

Answers sourced from forums.unraid.net, github.com, www.reddit.com, www.reddit.com

Community

Collected 16 days ago - public community threads