yt-dlp-gui

A modern, PowerShell GUI for yt-dlp that lets you download videos and audio with ease. No complex commands - everything runs locally on Windows.

---

✨ Features

• Modern Dark UI - Clean, consistent colour scheme with smooth animations.
• Video Analysis - Preview metadata and thumbnails before downloading.
• Flexible Formats - Support for MP4, MKV, MP3, WAV, and FLAC.
• Quality Options - Download from 360p to 4K resolution.
• Smart Options - Playlist support, subtitles, 60fps preference, thumbnail embedding.
• Real-time Progress - Live download progress with speed and ETA tracking.

---

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Windows PowerShell 5.1 or later (pre-installed on Windows 10/11).
• Python 3.7 or later (recommended).

Installation

1. Install Python Dependencies

Quick Install (Recommended)

pip install yt-dlp ffmpeg-python

Or install separately:

pip install yt-dlp
pip install ffmpeg-python

Alternative: Using standalone executables

• Download yt-dlp.exe from yt-dlp releases.
• Download FFmpeg from ffmpeg.org.
• Place both in your system PATH or in the same folder as the GUI script.

2. Run the GUI

1. Download the latest yt-dlp-gui.ps1 file.
2. Right-click and select "Run with PowerShell".
   • If you get an execution policy error, run:

   Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Verify Installation

Check if yt-dlp is properly installed:

yt-dlp --version

Check if FFmpeg is properly installed:

ffmpeg -version

Usage

1. Paste URL - Enter any supported video URL.
2. Analyse - Click "Analyse" to preview video information.
3. Configure - Select format, quality, and options.
4. Download - Click "START DOWNLOAD".

🎨 Supported Formats

Video

• MP4 - Standard quality, universal compatibility.
  • ⚠️ Note: 4K 60fps may not work reliably with MP4 due to codec limitations. Use MKV for high resolution 60fps content.
• MKV - Best quality with HDR support (recommended for 4K 60fps)

Audio

• MP3 - Standard audio compression.
• WAV - High resolution, lossless.
• FLAC - Lossless audio codec.

🛠️ Configuration Options

• Quality Selection - 360p to 4K.
• Playlist Mode - Download entire playlists.
• Subtitles - Embed available subtitles.
• 60fps Preference - Prioritise high frame rate videos.
• Thumbnail Embedding - Add thumbnails to media files (not supported for WAV and MKV).
• Metadata Embedding - Include title, artist, and description.

🎯 Features in Detail

Video Analysis

• View title, uploader, duration, and view count.
• Preview video thumbnail.
• Read description before downloading.

Progress Tracking

• Real-time percentage updates.
• Download speed monitoring.
• Estimated time remaining.
• Console-style logging with timestamps.

Smart Downloads

• Automatic format merging.
• Best quality selection within constraints.
• Partial download cleanup on cancellation.

💡 Tips & Best Practices

Format Recommendations

Use Case	Recommended Format	Notes
4K 60fps videos	MKV	MP4 has codec compatibility issues
Standard quality	MP4	Best compatibility across devices
HDR content	MKV	Preserves HDR metadata
Audio only	MP3 or FLAC	MP3 for compatibility, FLAC for quality
Maximum compatibility	MP4	Works everywhere

Known Limitations

• MP4 + 4K 60fps: May fail or fall back to lower quality due to h264 codec limitations.
• Thumbnail embedding: Not supported for WAV and MKV formats.
• HDR content: Best preserved in MKV format.

🐛 Troubleshooting

"yt-dlp not found"

• Ensure yt-dlp is installed: pip install yt-dlp.
• Or download standalone executable from yt-dlp releases.
• Verify it's in your PATH: yt-dlp --version.

"ffmpeg not found" or format conversion fails

• Install FFmpeg: pip install ffmpeg-python.
• Or use package managers:
  • Chocolatey: choco install ffmpeg.
  • Scoop: scoop install ffmpeg.
• Verify installation: ffmpeg -version.

Download fails

• Check your internet connection.
• Update yt-dlp: pip install --upgrade yt-dlp.
• Verify the URL is valid and accessible.

4K 60fps download fails with MP4

• Switch to MKV format.
• Or disable the "60fps" option and download at 30fps.
• This is a codec limitation, not a bug.

Thumbnail embedding fails

• Ensure FFmpeg is installed (required for embedding).
• Note: WAV and MKV don't support thumbnail embedding.

📦 Dependencies

Package	Purpose	Installation
yt-dlp	Core download engine	pip install yt-dlp
ffmpeg-python	Format conversion & merging	pip install ffmpeg-python
PowerShell 5.1+	GUI framework	Pre-installed on Windows

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Report bugs.
• Suggest features.
• Submit pull requests.

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

🔗 Related Projects

• yt-dlp - The core download engine.
• FFmpeg - Required for format conversion.