downvid README

The project's README from github.com/yxxbc/downvid. As one markdown file: README.md.

DownVid Logo

DownVid

Save the videos you like, locally.

Open source · Cross-platform · Simple

 DownVid desktop app preview

Downloads Latest Release GitHub Stars AlternativeTo CI Linux CI macOS CI Windows CodeQL MIT License

Website · Download · Report an issue · Installation guide

简体中文 | English

[!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.

Contents

About

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?

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:

China International
Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, Xigua, Bilibili YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook

For everything else see the yt-dlp supported sites list. Availability can change as sites change.

Install

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

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.

Documentation

Document Contents
Installation Install instructions for macOS, Windows and Linux
Build from source Development environment, dependencies and build flow
Troubleshooting Common errors and how to diagnose them
FAQ Usage questions and answers
Architecture Process structure, IPC and download flow
Project structure Directory guide and where to make changes
Repository standards Branch, commit, issue and PR conventions
Release process Versioning and release artifact maintenance
Contributing How to contribute
Security policy How to report security issues
Code of conduct Community expectations

The in-depth docs are currently written in Chinese. Contributions that translate them are very welcome.

Tech stack and architecture

Tech stack

Technology Purpose
Electron Cross-platform desktop shell
Vue 3 User interface
TypeScript Type safety
Tailwind CSS Styling
Vite Development and build
Pinia State management
Go Dependency sidecar that detects and installs yt-dlp / FFmpeg
yt-dlp Video and audio extraction engine
FFmpeg Merging and transcoding
Vitest Pure-logic unit tests

Architecture overview

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

See the project structure doc for the full tree.

FAQ

It says yt-dlp or FFmpeg is missing. What now?

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.

More in the FAQ and troubleshooting guide.

Contributing

Issues, documentation improvements and pull requests are all welcome.

Before submitting, please run:

pnpm vue-tsc --noEmit
pnpm test
pnpm lint:ipc

See the contributing guide and repository standards for the rest.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to DownVid:

Contributors

Star history

Star History Chart

License and credits

DownVid is released under the MIT License.

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:

Supporting the project

If DownVid is useful to you, you can buy the author a coffee. WeChat tip code:

Show tip code WeChat tip code

DownVid · Made with care by yxxbc

downvid (yxxbc/downvid)

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957 ·GitHub
Downvid
What is this?DownVid is a modern, cross-platform open-source desktop app for downloading videos and audio from YouTube, Bilibili, Douyin, TikTok and 1000+ other sites, without watermarks or ads.
Is this a standalone downloader or just a GUI wrapper for yt-dlp?It is an Electron desktop GUI that wraps yt-dlp and FFmpeg so you get a clean, native app instead of using the command line directly.
Do I need yt-dlp and FFmpeg installed first?No. DownVid automatically detects copies already on your system, or it can download and manage its own isolated yt-dlp and FFmpeg binaries in-app.
Does video downloading always work?No. Many sites require you to be signed in, so you may need to let DownVid read your browser cookies or import a cookies.txt file, and extraction can break when a site changes.
Does it come with ads or tracking?No. It has no bundled third-party junk, no background telemetry and no forced watermarks, and it's fully open-source under MIT.
Does it support fast parallel downloads?Yes - direct downloads use a multi-threaded chunk worker queue (up to 16 threads by default), can optionally use aria2 for multi-connection transfers, and support concurrent HLS/DASH fragment downloading.
Which Chinese platforms does it specifically support?Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, Xigua and Bilibili have dedicated built-in parsers, on top of 1000+ international sites like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X handled through yt-dlp.
Is this a brand-new project or based on something else?DownVid started from the Videdown project and has since been substantially modified, refactored and extended by the current maintainer and contributors.
Does it keep track of what I've downloaded?Yes, it keeps a download history of the last 100 downloads with queue, pause, resume and retry support.
What are similar projects?res-downloader, rayburst, yoinks, ytDownloader, lux, Ghost-Downloader-3, pickoo-your-favorites, linksift
Which topics is it in?aria2, kuaishou, media-downloader, pinia, youtube-downloader, douyin, download-manager, yt-dlp, video-downloader, bilibili, vue3, material-design
Creator
yxxbc
Size
67.4 MB
Stars
957
Updated
CommitOct 16Releasev1.4.0Oct 16
Age
1mo
Commits · 90 Days