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YT-DLP GUI - Graphical Interface for yt-dlp

A modern and user-friendly graphical interface for yt-dlp on Linux, developed in Python with Tkinter.

🚀 Features

  • Integrated search: Search videos directly on YouTube from the application
  • Temporary playback: Download and play videos without saving them permanently
  • Permanent download: Save videos and audio to your downloads folder
  • Information display: Shows thumbnails, duration, channel, views, and upload date
  • Multiple formats: Supports video, audio-only (MP3), and automatic
  • Persistent configuration: Saves your preferences between sessions
  • Embedded console: Shows all yt-dlp output in real-time
  • Sanitized names: Automatically converts spaces and special characters to safe filenames
  • Customizable icon: Use your own 64x64 pixel icon

📋 Requirements

  • Python 3.6 or higher
  • yt-dlp
  • PIL (Pillow) for displaying thumbnails
  • tkinter (included in most Python installations)
  • A multimedia player compatible with xdg-open

🔧 Installation

  1. Install yt-dlp: bash pip install yt-dlp

  2. Install Pillow: bash pip install Pillow

  3. Download the file: bash wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/your-user/your-repo/main/yt_dlp_gui.py chmod +x yt_dlp_gui.py

  4. Run the application: bash python3 yt_dlp_gui.py

🎯 Usage

Search Videos

  1. Type search terms in the text field
  2. Click "🔍 Search"
  3. Select a video from the results list

Get Information

  1. Enter a URL or search for a video
  2. Click "ℹ️ Info" to view video details
  3. A window will display thumbnail, duration, channel, views, and date

Download Videos

  1. Enter the URL or select a video from search
  2. Choose the format (Video, Audio Only, Automatic)
  3. Click "⬇️ Download" to save permanently

Temporary Playback

  1. Enter the video URL
  2. Click "▶️ Play (temporary)"
  3. The video downloads temporarily and plays automatically
  4. The temporary file is deleted after playback

Play Last Downloaded

  • Click "🎬 Play Last" to play the last permanently downloaded file

⚙️ Configuration

The application automatically creates a configuration folder at ~/.config/yt-dlp-gui/ containing:

  • config.json: Application configuration
  • ultimo_descargado.txt: Last downloaded file information
  • icono.png: Custom icon (optional, 64x64 pixels)

Change Download Folder

  1. Click "📂 Change folder"
  2. Select the new destination folder
  3. Configuration is saved automatically

Custom Icon

To use your own icon:
1. Save a 64x64 pixel PNG file as icono.png
2. Place it in ~/.config/yt-dlp-gui/icono.png
3. Restart the application

🔧 Available Formats

  • Video: Downloads the best available video quality
  • Audio Only: Extracts only audio in MP3 format
  • Automatic: Let yt-dlp choose the best format

🎨 Advanced Customization

JSON Configuration File

The config.json file in ~/.config/yt-dlp-gui/ can be manually edited to customize:

{
  "carpeta_descarga": "/path/to/your/folder",
  "formato_predeterminado": "video",
  "calidad_maxima": "1080p",
  "extraer_subtitulos": true,
  "idioma_subtitulos": "en",
  "prefijo_nombres": "",
  "usar_proxy": false,
  "proxy_url": ""
}

Visual Customization

  • Custom icon: Place icono.png (64x64px) in the configuration folder
  • Color theme: Modify color variables in the source code
  • Window size: Automatically remembered between sessions

Modify yt-dlp Commands

You can customize commands by adding parameters in the code:

# For better audio quality
cmd = ["yt-dlp", "-f", "bestaudio", "--audio-quality", "0"]

# To include subtitles
cmd = ["yt-dlp", "--write-sub", "--sub-lang", "en,es"]

# To limit speed
cmd = ["yt-dlp", "--limit-rate", "1M"]

File Naming

The sanitizar_nombre() function can be modified to change how files are renamed:

  • Default: Video Title.mp4 → Video-Title.mp4
  • Customizable: Add dates, numbers, prefixes, etc.

📊 Usage Information and Limitations

Limits and Considerations

File sizes:
- 4K videos can exceed several GB
- High-quality audio: 100-300 MB per hour
- The application doesn't limit sizes, but consider disk space

Download speed:
- Depends on your internet connection
- Some sites limit download speed
- Popular videos usually download faster

Resource usage:
- CPU: Minimal during downloads, more usage during audio conversion
- RAM: 100-500 MB depending on video size
- Disk: Temporary files double the space needed during processing

Specific Formats and Qualities

Available video qualities:
- 4K (2160p) - Requires lots of space and bandwidth
- Full HD (1080p) - Ideal quality/size balance
- HD (720p) - Smaller size, good quality
- SD (480p, 360p) - For slow connections

Audio formats:
- MP3: More compatible, lower quality
- AAC: Better quality, smaller size
- FLAC: Maximum quality, large files
- OGG: Open source, good compression

Specific Use Cases

Work with live streams:
- Some streams can be downloaded while active
- Final quality depends on stream stability
- Files may be cut if stream is interrupted

Download only audio from music videos:
1. Select "Audio Only"
2. The resulting file will be MP3
3. Metadata like title and artist are preserved automatically

Large file management:
- 4K videos can take hours to download
- The application shows real-time progress
- You can close the application; downloads continue in background

Common Usage Troubleshooting

Video not available:
- Verify the URL is correct
- Some videos have geographic restrictions
- Private or deleted content is not accessible

Audio out of sync:
- Restart the download
- Try "Automatic" format
- Some videos have source issues

Very slow downloads:
- Switch to lower quality
- Check your internet connection
- Some sites limit speed by IP

Very large files:
- Use "Audio Only" for music
- Select lower qualities (720p instead of 1080p)
- Regularly clean temporary files

📁 File Structure

~/.config/yt-dlp-gui/
├── config.json              # Application configuration
├── ultimo_descargado.txt     # Last downloaded file
└── icono.png                # Custom icon (optional)

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Error: yt-dlp not found

pip install --upgrade yt-dlp

Error: PIL not found

pip install Pillow

Error: Cannot play file

Install a compatible multimedia player:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install vlc

# Fedora
sudo dnf install vlc

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S vlc

Files won't play

Verify that you have a multimedia player configured as default for the file type.

🎨 Technical Features

  • Name sanitization: Automatically converts spaces and special characters to hyphens
  • Separate threads: Download operations don't block the interface
  • Memory management: Thumbnails are loaded asynchronously
  • Temporary files: Temporary playback automatically cleans up files
  • JSON configuration: Human-readable and manually editable configuration

📝 Key Differences

  • Download: Saves the file permanently to your downloads folder
  • Play: Downloads temporarily, plays, and automatically deletes the file
  • Only permanent downloads are recorded in "Play Last"

🤝 Contributions

Contributions are welcome. Please:
1. Fork the project
2. Create a branch for your feature
3. Submit a pull request with a clear description

📄 License

This project uses the same licenses as the underlying software (yt-dlp, Python, PIL).

Version: 2.1
Compatibility: Linux
Requirements: Python 3.6+, yt-dlp, PIL