[!IMPORTANT]
This project is a graphical front end for yt-dlp. It contains no code for
cracking or circumventing technical protection measures. Please follow your local laws, platform terms and
copyright requirements; you are responsible for how you use it.
DownVid is a modern, high-performance, open-source desktop video downloader for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Built as a graphical frontend for yt-dlp and FFmpeg, it removes the complexity of command-line tools and provides a clean, native, and ad-free experience.
Why DownVid?
🌐 1000+ Platforms Supported: Seamlessly extracts high-quality video and audio across YouTube, Bilibili, Douyin, TikTok, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, Twitter/X, Instagram, and more.
⚡ Built-in Acceleration: Optimized multi-part chunk worker queues (up to 16 threads) and optional aria2 integration ensure lightning-fast downloads.
🔒 Zero Ads & Privacy-first: No bundled third-party junk, no background telemetry, no forced watermarks. 100% open-source under the MIT license.
📦 Zero-Config Sidecar: Automatically detects existing system tools, or downloads and manages standalone yt-dlp & FFmpeg binaries in isolated user storage.
🎨 Modern Design: Designed with Material 3 design tokens, clean typography, responsive layout, and full cross-platform dark mode compatibility.
The project is under active development. If you hit a problem or have a suggestion, please
open an issue.
Features
Feature
Description
Wide site support
1000+ video and audio sites via yt-dlp; Douyin and Kuaishou have dedicated parsers
Quality and formats
360P through 4K, audio-only (MP3), subtitles-only (SRT), YouTube multi-audio-track selection
Download management
Queue, pause, resume, retry, live progress with speed, ETA and file size
Download acceleration
Direct links use a small-chunk worker queue (8 by default, up to 16); optional aria2 multi-connection; concurrent HLS/DASH fragments
Logged-in content
Reads cookies from installed browsers, or import a cookies.txt manually
Runtime dependencies
Detects yt-dlp / FFmpeg already on your machine; downloads them in-app if missing
Download history
Keeps the last 100 downloads
Auto update
Updates through GitHub Releases; macOS verifies and swaps the app bundle in place
Supported sites
DownVid supports 1000+ video and audio sites through yt-dlp. A few common ones:
Download the latest build from GitHub Releases and pick the
package for your OS.
Platform
Package
macOS
.dmg (ARM64 / x64)
Windows
.exe (x64)
Linux
.AppImage / .deb (x64 / ARM64; check the Release page for the exact artifacts)
Step-by-step instructions and common issues are in the installation guide.
Build from source
Requirements
Node.js ≥ 22
pnpm ≥ 8
Go ≥ 1.24
yt-dlp and FFmpeg do not need to be installed beforehand. At runtime DownVid detects and reuses whatever
is already on your machine, and can download them in-app when missing.
Steps
git clone https://github.com/yxxbc/downvid.git
cd downvid
pnpm install
pnpm dev # development
pnpm build # package for the current platform
Per-platform build commands, dependency notes and troubleshooting are in the
build from source guide.
flowchart LR
UI["Renderer<br/>Vue 3"] <-->|"IPC"| Main["Main process<br/>Electron / Node.js"]
Main <-->|"NDJSON"| Sidecar["Go dependency sidecar"]
Main --> Engine["yt-dlp"]
Main --> Media["FFmpeg"]
An interactive diagram with more detail is in the architecture doc.
Project layout
Directory
Purpose
backend/
Go dependency sidecar: detects and installs runtime dependencies
electron/
Main process, IPC, download implementations, site parsers, updater
src/
Vue 3 renderer and UI
shared/
Repository coordinates and shared external links
tests/
Automated unit tests
scripts/
Build, manifest generation and validation scripts
docs/
Installation, build, architecture, maintenance and release docs
The installer does not bundle them. DownVid looks for a usable copy already on your system at startup; if it
cannot find one, you can download it from the prompt, or manage it later under Settings → Runtime dependencies.
macOS says the developer cannot be verified. What now?
The first time you open it, right-click the app in Finder and choose Open, or allow it under
System Settings → Privacy & Security. If it still fails, see the troubleshooting guide.
Some videos fail to download. What now?
Many sites require you to be signed in. Make sure you are allowed to access the content, then let DownVid read
your browser session or import a cookies.txt. Site changes can also affect extraction success.
DownVid started from Videdown and has since been substantially
modified, refactored and extended. Thanks to cshuangyy for the original work; the original copyright and
license notice is preserved in LICENSE.
Thanks also to the community contributors and to the maintainers of the projects we depend on:
DownVid 是一款现代的跨平台开源桌面应用，可以从 YouTube、Bilibili、抖音、TikTok 等 1000 多个网站下载视频和音频，没有水印也没有广告。