ytarchive

Attempt to archive a given Youtube livestream from the start. This is most useful for streams that have already started and you want to download, but can also be used to wait for a scheduled stream and start downloading as soon as it starts. If you want to download a VOD, I recommend yt-dlp, which is an actively maintained fork of youtube-dl with more features.

Dependencies

• FFmpeg needs to be installed to mux the final file.

Installation

Download the latest pre-release from the releases page

Alternatively, if you have Go properly installed and set up, run go install github.com/Kethsar/ytarchive@dev

Usage

``` usage: ytarchive [OPTIONS] [url] [quality]

[url] is a youtube livestream URL. If not provided, you will be
prompted to enter one.

[quality] is a slash-delimited list of video qualities you want
to be selected for download, from most to least wanted. If not
provided, you will be prompted for one, with a list of available
qualities to choose from. The following values are valid:
audio_only, 144p, 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 720p60, 1080p, 1080p60, 1440p, 1440p60, 2160p, 2160p60, best

Options: -h --help Show this help message.

-4
--ipv4
    Make all connections using IPv4.

-6
--ipv6
    Make all connections using IPv6.

--info-only
    Print stream information such as Video title, Selected quality
    Stream start time and duration and then exits.

--add-metadata
    Write some basic metadata information to the final file.

--audio-url GOOGLEVIDEO_URL
    Pass in the given url as the audio fragment url. Must be a
    Google Video url with an itag parameter of 140.

--capture-duration DURATION or TIMESTRING
    Captures a livestream for the specified length of time 
    and then exits and finalizes the video.
    Supports time durations (e.g. 1d8h10m) or time strings (e.g. 12:30:05).

-c
--cookies COOKIES_FILE
    Give a cookies.txt file that has your youtube cookies. Allows
    the script to access members-only content if you are a member
    for the given stream's user. Must be netscape cookie format.

--debug
    Print a lot of extra information.

--disable-save-state
    Disable saving state for resumable downloads. Useful if you are
    archiving the same stream multiple times in the same directory
    for some reason.

-dp
--directory-permissions PERMISSIONS
    Set the filesystem permissions for created directories. Uses unix
    numeric notation. Be aware of umask settings for your directory.
    Default is 0755.

--error
    Print only errors and general information.

--ffmpeg-path FFMPEG_PATH
    Set a specific ffmpeg location, including program name.
    e.g. "C:\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" or "/opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg"

-fp
--file-permissions PERMISSIONS
    Set the filesystem permissions for created files. Uses unix
    numeric notation. Be aware of umask settings for your directory.
    Default is 0644.

--h264
    Only download h264 video, skipping VP9 if it would have been used.

-k
--keep-ts-files
    Keep the final stream audio and video files after muxing them
    instead of deleting them.

-l
--lookalike-chars
    Use lookalikes for forbidden characters in the filename output format.
    Emulates forbidden characters by using the same replacement characters as yt-dlp.
    This will make the filenames look closer to the original titles.

--members-only
    Only download members-only streams. Can only be used with channel URLs
    such as /live, /streams, etc, and requires cookies.
    Useful when monitoring channels and you only want membership streams.

--merge
    Automatically run the ffmpeg command for the downloaded streams
    when manually cancelling the download. You will be prompted otherwise.

--metadata KEY=VALUE
    If writing metadata, overwrite/add metadata key-value entry.
    KEY is a metadata key that ffmpeg recognizes. If invalid, ffmpeg may ignore it or error.
    VALUE is a format template. If empty string (''), omit writing metadata for the key.
    See FORMAT TEMPLATE OPTIONS below for a list of available format keys.
    Can be used multiple times.

--mkv
    Mux the final file into an mkv container instead of an mp4 container.
    Ignored when downloading audio only.

--monitor-channel
    Continually monitor a channel for streams. Requires using a /live URL.
    This will go back to checking for a stream after it finishes downloading
    the current one. Implies '-r 60 --merge' unless set separately. Minimum
    30 second wait time, 60 or more recommended. Using 'best' for quality or
    setting a decently exhaustive list recommended to prevent waiting for
    input if selected quality is not available for certain streams.
    Be careful to monitor your disk usage when using this to avoid filling
    your drive while away.

--newline
    Print every message to a new line, instead of some messages reusing one
    line.

--no-audio
    Do not download the audio stream

--no-frag-files
    Keep fragment data in memory instead of writing to an intermediate file.
    This has the possibility to drastically increase RAM usage if a fragment
    downloads particularly slowly as more fragments after it finish first.
    This is only an issue when --threads >1
    Highly recommended if you don't have strict RAM limitations. Especially
    on Wangblows, which has caused issues with file locking when trying to
    delete fragment files.

--no-merge
    Do not run the ffmpeg command for the downloaded streams
    when manually cancelling the download. You will be prompted otherwise.

--no-save
    Do not save any downloaded data and files if not having ffmpeg
    run when manually cancelling the download. You will be prompted otherwise.
    Does nothing if --merge is set.

--no-save-state
    Do not leave files required for resuming downloads when manually
    cancelling the download. You will be prompted otherwise.
    Does nothing if --merge or --save are set.

--no-video
    If a googlevideo url is given or passed with --audio-url, do not
    prompt for a video url. If a video url is given with --video-url
    then this is effectively ignored.

-n
--no-wait
    Do not wait for a livestream if it's a future scheduled stream.

-o
--output FILENAME_FORMAT
    Set the output file name EXCLUDING THE EXTENSION. Can include
    formatting similar to youtube-dl, albeit much more limited.
    See FORMAT OPTIONS below for a list of available format keys.
    Default is '%(title)s-%(id)s'

--proxy <SCHEME>://[<USER>:<PASS>@]<HOST>:<PORT>
    Specify a proxy to use for downloading. e.g.
        - socks5://127.0.0.1:1080
        - http://192.168.1.1:8080
        - http://user:password@proxy.example.com:8080

    HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 proxy servers are supported.

-q
--quiet
    Print nothing to the console except information relevant for user input.

--retry-frags ATTEMPTS
    Set the number of attempts to make when downloading a stream fragment.
    Set to 0 to retry indefinitely, or until we are completely unable to.
    Default is 10.

-r
--retry-stream SECONDS
    If waiting for a scheduled livestream, re-check if the stream is
    up every SECONDS instead of waiting for the initial scheduled time.
    If SECONDS is less than the poll delay youtube gives (typically
    15 seconds), then this will be set to the value youtube provides.

--save
    Automatically save any downloaded data and files if not having
    ffmpeg run when manually cancelling the download. You will be prompted
    otherwise. Does nothing if --merge is set.

--save-state
    Automatically leave files alone and do not delete anything when manually
    cancelling the download, allowing for resuming a download later when
    possible. You will be prompted otherwise.
    Resuming requires the stream be available to download as normal.
    Does nothing if --merge or --save are set.

--separate-audio
    Save the audio to a separate file, similar to when downloading
    audio_only, alongside the final muxed file. This includes embedding
    metadata and the thumbnail if set.

--start-delay DURATION or TIMESTRING
    Waits for a specified length of time before starting to capture a stream from that time.
    Supports time durations (e.g. 1d8h10m) or time strings (e.g. 12:30:05).

    Note: * NOT supported when using also using '--live-from'.
          * If the stream is scheduled and has not yet begun then
            the delay does not start counting until the stream has begun.
          * Ignored when resuming a download.

-td
--temporary-dir DIRECTORY
    Set the working directory for the download. This is where the
    temporary files will be stored. If not set, the output directory
    will be used.

--threads THREAD_COUNT
    Set the number of threads to use for downloading audio and video
    fragments. The total number of threads running will be
    THREAD_COUNT * 2 + 3. Main thread, a thread for each audio and
    video download, and THREAD_COUNT number of fragment downloaders
    for both audio and video.

    Setting this to a large number has a chance at causing the download
    to start failing with HTTP 401. Restarting the download with a smaller
    thread count until you no longer get 401s should work. Default is 1.

-t
--thumbnail
    Download and embed the stream thumbnail in the finished file.
    Whether the thumbnail shows properly depends on your file browser.
    Windows' seems to work. Nemo on Linux seemingly does not.

--trace
    Print just about any information that might have reason to be printed.
    Very spammy, do not use this unless you have good reason.

-v
--verbose
    Print extra information.

-V
--version
    Print the version number and exit.

--video-url GOOGLEVIDEO_URL
    Pass in the given url as the video fragment url. Must be a
    Google Video url with an itag parameter that is not 140.

--vp9
    If there is a VP9 version of your selected video quality,
    download that instead of the usual h264.

-w
--wait
    Wait for a livestream if it's a future scheduled stream.
    If this option is not used when a scheduled stream is provided,
    you will be asked if you want to wait or not.

--warn
    Print warning, errors, and general information. This is the default log
    level.

--write-description
    Write the video description to a separate .description file.

--write-mux-file
    Write the ffmpeg command that would mux audio and video or put audio
    into an mp4 container instead of running the command automatically.
    Useful if you want to tweak the command, want a higher log level, etc.

--write-thumbnail
    Write the thumbnail to a separate file.

--live-from DURATION, TIMESTRING or NOW
    Starts the download from the specified time in the future, the past or 'now'.
    Use a negative time value to skip back in time from now.
    Use a positive time value to specify the timestamp in the stream to start 
    capturing from (from the start of the stream).

    Supports time durations (e.g. 1d8h30m5s) or time strings (e.g. 32:30:05).
    Examples: * '--live-from -01:10:00' will seek backwards 1 hour and 10 minutes from now
                and then start downloading from that time.
              * '--live-from 1h10mm00s' will begin downloading from 1 hour 10 minutes 
                after the stream started.
              * '--live-from now' will start recording from the current stream time.

Examples: ytarchive -w Waits for a stream. Will prompt for a URL and quality.

ytarchive -w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnWDmKx9cQQ 1080p60/best
    Waits for the given stream URL. Will prioritize downloading in 1080p60.
    If 1080p60 is not an available quality, it will choose the best of what
    is available.

ytarchive --threads 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK1GXnz-1Lw best
    Downloads the given stream with 3 threads in the best available quality.
    Will ask if you want to wait if the stream is scheduled but not started.

ytarchive -r 30 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZlDXzGoo7d44bwdNObFacg/live best
    Will wait for a livestream at the given URL, checking every 30 seconds.

ytarchive -c cookies-youtube-com.txt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_touw1GND-M best
    Loads the given cookies file and attempts to download the given stream.
    Will ask if you want to wait.

ytarchive --no-wait --add-metadata https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvaTdHTWBGv3MKj3KVqJVCw/live best
    Attempts to download the given stream, and will add metadata to the
    final muxed file. Will not wait if there is no stream or if it has not
    started.

ytarchive -o '%(channel)s/%(upload_date)s_%(title)s' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxV9UAMN12o best
    Download the given stream to a directory with the channel name, and a
    file that will have the upload date and stream title. Will prompt to
    wait.

ytarchive -w -k -t --vp9 --merge --no-frag-files https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE8V5iNemBA best
    Waits, keeps the final .ts files, embeds the stream thumbnail, merges
    the downloaded files if download is stopped manually, and keeps
    fragments in memory instead of writing to intermediate files.
    Downloads the stream video in VP9 if available. This set of flags will
    not require any extra user input if something goes wrong.

ytarchive -k -t --vp9 --monitor-channel --no-frag-files https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvaTdHTWBGv3MKj3KVqJVCw/live best
    Same as above, but waits for a stream on the given channel, and will
    repeat the cycle after downloading each stream.

ytarchive --proxy http://127.0.0.1:9050 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIdHTuyYMA best
    Downloads the given stream with a local HTTP proxy.

FORMAT TEMPLATE OPTIONS Format template keys provided are made to be the same as they would be for youtube-dl. See https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#output-template

For file names, each template substitution is sanitized by replacing invalid file name
characters with an underscore (_). If '--lookalike-chars' is used, invalid file name
characters get replaced by the same lookalike characters that yt-dlp uses instead.

id (string): Video identifier
url (string): Video URL
title (string): Video title
channel_id (