YTDLP-NG: GUI Downloader

YTDLP-NG is a user-friendly, cross-platform graphical user interface (GUI) for the powerful yt-dlp command-line tool. It unlocks yt-dlp's most valuable features, allowing anyone to easily download the highest quality video and audio from the web without needing to touch a terminal.

This project was created with significant assistance from an AI Language Model, demonstrating a collaborative approach to building practical software.

This project does NOT distribute the YT-DLP program! You will need to secure that piece of software yourself, but thats easily done from official yt-dlp repository.

The Best Selling Point: Custom Merging

Modern streaming sites like YouTube often serve the highest resolutions (e.g., 4K, 8K) as separate video-only and audio-only streams. YTDLP-NG's core feature is its ability to let you visually select the best video stream and the best audio stream and merge them together on-the-fly into a single, perfect-quality file. No more compromising with lower-quality, pre-packaged downloads.

Features

• Custom Video/Audio Merging: Select a high-resolution, high-framerate video-only stream and a high-bitrate audio-only stream. With one click, YTDLP-NG directs yt-dlp to download both and merge them into a single file.
• Detailed Format Listing: Fetches and clearly displays all available formats, labeling them as Video Only, Audio Only, or Video+Audio for easy identification. Details include resolution, FPS, codecs, extension, and filesize.
• Simple, Intuitive GUI: A clean interface built with Tkinter that makes the download process straightforward.
• Standard Downloads: For simpler cases, you can still select any pre-merged format or download multiple streams as separate files.
• MP3 Audio Extraction: A dedicated "Download Best Audio (MP3)" button grabs the highest quality audio available and converts it to MP3.
• Persistent Configuration: Saves your yt-dlp executable path and preferred download directory, so you only have to set them once.
• Cross-Platform: Built with Python, it runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
• Real-time Status Updates: A status bar provides clear feedback on fetching, downloading, merging, and any errors.
• Threaded for Responsiveness: All network operations run in the background, so the application never freezes while working.

Prerequisites

1. Python 3: You must have Python 3 installed. Tkinter is usually included, but on some Linux distros, you may need to install it (e.g., sudo apt-get install python3-tk).
2. yt-dlp Executable:
   • Download the latest yt-dlp executable for your OS from the official yt-dlp repository.
   • On Linux/macOS, make it executable (chmod +x yt-dlp_linux).
3. ffmpeg (Essential for Merging):
   • To merge video and audio streams, ffmpeg is required.
   • Download ffmpeg from ffmpeg.org.
   • Ensure the ffmpeg executable is placed either in your system's PATH or in the same directory as your yt-dlp executable so YTDLP-NG can find it automatically.

How to Use

1. Save & Run: Save the Python script as ytdlpng.py and run it from your terminal: python3 ytdlpng.py. Alternative you can double click one of the release binarys. (Linux: AppImage, Windows: .MSI Installer)

2. Initial Setup:

   • The first time you run the app, click "Browse" to select your yt-dlp executable.
   • Set your preferred "Download Directory". These settings are saved automatically.

3. Fetch Video Information:

   • Paste a YouTube URL into the input field and click "Fetch Formats".
   • The listbox will populate with all available streams.

Workflow 1: Merging for Highest Quality (Recommended)

This is the primary feature of YTDLP-NG.

4. Identify Streams: Look through the list for the streams labeled [Video Only] and [Audio Only].

5. Select Streams: Click on the Audio Only stream that meets your needs, and Click on the Video-Only stream that offers the video features you are looking for (Max Resolution) to select:

   • The single best [Video Only] stream you want (e.g., the one with the highest resolution).
   • The single best [Audio Only] stream you want (e.g., the one with the highest bitrate).
   • You should have exactly two items selected.

6. Merge and Download: Click the "Custom Video+Audio Merge (MP4)" option. The application will download both parts and ffmpeg will merge them into a high-quality MP4 file in your download directory.

Workflow 2: Standard Downloads

7. Select Format(s): Click on any number of formats you wish to download as they are.
8. Download As Is: Click the "Select Format(s) from List " option. Each selected format will be downloaded as a separate file. The filename will include the format ID to prevent overwrites (e.g., MyVideo.f137.mp4).

Workflow 3: Quick Audio Rip

9. Download MP3: Simply click the "Audio Only (best, mp3)" option. No selection is needed. This will download and convert the best audio available into an MP3 file.