squid-dl

squid-dl is a massively parallel yt-dlp-based YouTube downloader.

Installation

Run the setup.py, which will install squid-dl and its two dependencies: linode-cli and yt-dlp.

$ python3 setup.py install

Linode Setup

If you want to use the Linode SOCKS proxy feature, be sure to configure the linode-cli first:

$ linode-cli configure --token

Follow the onscreen instructions and be sure to set sensible defaults. The default region for new Linodes that you pick here is where your proxies will live. For more information, see this page on Linode's website.

Usage

To download a playlist, first fetch its metadata with squidson:

(.venv) $ squidson 'https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhI42_YpLVHvYqvjniSp7lhAM55K4fllO'
[youtube:tab] PLhI42_YpLVHvYqvjniSp7lhAM55K4fllO: Downloading webpage
[youtube:tab] PLhI42_YpLVHvYqvjniSp7lhAM55K4fllO: Downloading API JSON with unavailable videos
[download] Downloading playlist: Programming
[youtube:tab] playlist Programming: Downloading 12 videos
[download] Downloading video 1 of 12
[youtube] Wp9XD5FKZ2c: Downloading webpage
[youtube] Wp9XD5FKZ2c: Downloading android player API JSON
...
[download] Downloading video 12 of 12
[youtube] CIpfoMKqPAg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] CIpfoMKqPAg: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] CIpfoMKqPAg: Downloading MPD manifest
[youtube] CIpfoMKqPAg: Downloading MPD manifest
[download] Finished downloading playlist: Programming
[INFO]: Writing JSON-ified playlist info_dict to "Programming.json"

Now that you have the playlist .json file, you can download it with squid-dl. Use the -n flag to tell squid-dl how many workers you'd like to spawn downloading videos at once (the default is 8 workers). In this 12-video playlist example, we'll spawn 12 workers:

(.venv) $ squid-dl -n 12 Programming.json

[INFO]: Starting squid-dl...
[INFO]: saving videos to "Programming" directory

...
[download] Download completed
[download] Download completed
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Worker 80214 done...
[INFO]: Worker 80319 done...
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Worker 80150 done...
[INFO]: Worker 80248 done...
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Worker 80219 done...
[INFO]: Worker 80109 done...
[INFO]: Worker 80341 done...
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Worker 80193 done...
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Worker 80117 done...
[INFO]: All done!

For more information see the built-in help by running squid-dl -h.

Linode Proxying

With the -L option, you can run each worker through its own Linode-powered SSH-tunneled SOCKSv5 proxy! squid-dl will make an temporary SSH key in the current working directory and then get to work spinning up Linodes and downloading your videos:

(.venv) anon@fire-crotch:~/butter/youtube/btr$ squid-dl -L Mem.json

[INFO]: Creating SSH key for Linode proxying...
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Your identification has been saved in /home/anon/fuse/butter-anon/youtube/btr/proxy
_key
Your public key has been saved in /home/anon/fuse/butter-anon/youtube/btr/proxy_key
.pub
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:cSns+aK0l7xS+fRSXRdqmc5DXkT5pIQsDV8/Ql526vg anon@fire-crotch
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 3072]----+
|          .+ oo+o|
|       .  .o*.+*o|
|        + o..+*++|
|       . =   Oo.=|
|        S.  B.o..|
|        o.. .*.  |
|      .o.+.o  E  |
|     ..o+.o .    |
|      oo.. .     |
+----[SHA256]-----+

[INFO]: Starting squid-dl...
[INFO]: saving videos to "Mems" directory
[INFO]: Created Linode 30970792.
[INFO]: Waiting for Linodes to come online...........................

[INFO]: Starting proxy on port 1337 with Linode 30970792
Warning: Permanently added '45.79.47.110' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
[INFO]: SOCKS validation succeeded on port 1337 from ID 30970792
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading android player API JSON
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading iframe API JS
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading player 03869671
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading web player API JSON
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading MPD manifest
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading MPD manifest
[youtube] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading initial data API JSON
[info] fIdfGtG7Isg: Downloading 1 format(s): 22
[info] Downloading video thumbnail ...
[info] Writing video thumbnail to: Plankton goes to an anime convention [fIdfGtG7Is
g].webp
[download] Destination: Plankton goes to an anime convention [fIdfGtG7Isg].mp4
[download] Download completed
[INFO]: Cleaning up worker 83832's exclusive proxy
[CLEANUP]: Deleted Linode 30970792.
[INFO]: Worker 83832 done...
[INFO]: All done!
[CLEANUP]: Deleting Linode proxies...

Bugs

If you encounter any issues running squid-dl, please create an issue on GitHub.

This software has only tested on Linux so far (patches welcome).