@distube/ytdl-core
YouTube video info and downloads for Node.js. A DisTube fork of fent/node-ytdl-core.
Documentation · Getting started · API reference
Features
- Video details, chapters, storyboards, related videos and every format
- Caption tracks as WebVTT, JSON or XML text
- Video and playlist search, playlists and channel uploads with every page, related videos and search suggestions
- Node
Readabledownloads with byte ranges or a start time, and one format read many times throughopen - Downloads that resume on their own when YouTube cuts a URL off
- Live streams over HLS or DASH
- SABR-only formats, which on some clients means everything above 360p
- Signatures solved locally, no remote service
- Age-restricted videos with a cookie
- PO tokens minted in a worker thread with no setup, for the clients that need one
- Proxies through any
fetch
Install
npm install @distube/ytdl-core
bun add @distube/ytdl-core
Requires Node.js 22.22.2+ on 22.x, 24.15.0+ on 24.x, or 26+, or Bun.
Usage
import { createWriteStream } from "node:fs";
import { Quality, Ytdl } from "@distube/ytdl-core";
const yt = new Ytdl();
const info = await yt.getInfo("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqz-KE-bpKQ");
console.log(info.videoDetails.title);
yt.download(info, { quality: Quality.HighestAudio, filter: { hasAudio: true, hasVideo: false } }).pipe(
createWriteStream("audio.webm"),
);
const [first] = await yt.search("blender open movie", { limit: 5 });
const playlist = await yt.getPlaylist("https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2aBZuCeDwlRF14ds9UR1uVpLRjDQy7d5");
console.log(first?.title, playlist.videos.length);
Search, formats, live streams, clients, cookies, PO tokens, proxies and errors are covered in the documentation. Coming from 4.x? Read Migrating from v4.
Development
Run bun install, then bun run verify for the offline gates.
License
MIT.