Videodl Installation

Environment Requirements

  • Operating system: Linux, macOS, or Windows.

  • Python version: Python 3.10+ with requirements in videodl requirements.txt.

Installation Instructions

You have three installation methods to choose from,

# from pip
pip install videofetch
# from github repo method-1
pip install git+https://github.com/CharlesPikachu/videodl.git@master
# from github repo method-2
git clone https://github.com/CharlesPikachu/videodl.git
cd videodl
python setup.py install

Some of the video downloaders supported by videodl rely on additional CLI tools to enable video decryption, stream parsing and downloading, accelerated stream downloading, and other extended features such as resuming interrupted downloads. Specifically, these CLI tools include,

  • FFmpeg: All video downloaders that need to handle HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) streams depend on FFmpeg. ❗ Therefore, we recommend that all videodl users install FFmpeg. ❗ Specifically, you need to ensure that, after installation, FFmpeg can be invoked directly from your system environment (i.e., it is on your PATH). A quick way to verify this is to open a terminal (or Command Prompt on Windows) and run,

    ffmpeg -version

    If the installation is correct, you should see detailed version information instead of a “command not found” or “’ffmpeg’ is not recognized” error.

  • N_m3u8DL-RE: FFmpeg is a general-purpose media tool that can download standard HLS/m3u8 streams, but it assumes that the playlist and segment URLs strictly follow the protocol. N_m3u8DL-RE is a specialized m3u8 downloader that adds extensive logic for handling encryption, anti-leech headers, redirects, and malformed playlists, so it can capture many “protected” or non-standard videos that FFmpeg fails on. In many cases it’s also faster, because N_m3u8DL-RE can download HLS segments in parallel with optimized retries/merging, while FFmpeg typically pulls segments sequentially by default. ❗ Therefore, we recommend that all videodl users install N_m3u8DL-RE to ensure videodl delivers the best possible performance. ❗ You can skip installing it, but videodl may then be unable to parse some platforms, including but not limited to,

    CCTVVideoClient, FoxNewsVideoClient, TencentVideoClient, GVVIPVideoClient, 
SnapAnyVideoClient, VgetVideoClient, ArteTVVideoClient, XMFlvVideoClient, 
RedditVideoClient, IIILabVideoClient, WWEVideoClient, IQiyiVideoClient,
PlusFIFAVideoClient, IM1907VideoClient, M1905VideoClient, SENJiexiVideoClient, etc.

    and downloads from many other sites that provide m3u8/HLS streams may also be significantly limited. As with FFmpeg, after installation you should make sure this tool can be run directly from the command line, i.e., its location is included in your system PATH. A quick way to check whether N_m3u8DL-RE has been installed successfully is to open a terminal (or Command Prompt on Windows) and run,

    N_m3u8DL-RE --version

    If N_m3u8DL-RE is installed correctly, N_m3u8DL-RE --version will print the N_m3u8DL-RE version (e.g., 0.5.1+c1f6db5639397dde362c31b31eebd88c796c90da). If you see a similar command not found / not recognized error, N_m3u8DL-RE is not installed correctly or not available on your PATH.

  • Bento4: Bento4 is an open-source MP4/DASH/HLS/CMAF toolkit, and in the N_m3u8DL-RE ecosystem it is mainly related as the source of auxiliary utilities such as “mp4decrypt” for handling certain packaged media workflows. Therefore, when using N_m3u8DL-RE to handle some packaged media workflows that involve encryption (e.g., TBNUKVideoClient, PlayerPLVideoClient and PlusFIFAVideoClient), you need to make sure the Bento4 tools are available in your runtime environment. A quick way to verify Bento4 is that you should be able to run

    mp4decrypt --version

    If it returns the version information successfully, Bento4 is installed correctly, otherwise the installation has failed or the tool is not in your PATH.

  • Node.js: Currently, Node.js is only used in YouTubeVideoClient, CCTVVideoClient and TencentVideoClient to execute certain JavaScript code for video parsing. Therefore, if you don’t need to use YouTubeVideoClient, CCTVVideoClient and TencentVideoClient, you can safely skip installing this CLI tool. A quick way to check whether Node.js has been installed successfully is to open a terminal and run,

    node -v (npm -v)

    If Node.js is installed correctly, node -v will print the Node.js version (e.g., v22.11.0), and npm -v will print the npm version. If you see a similar command not found / not recognized error, Node.js is not installed correctly or not available on your PATH.

  • aria2c: videodl now also supports manually integrating aria2c to accelerate downloads (for example, MP4 files) and to enable resuming interrupted video downloads, etc. Before using this feature, you must ensure that aria2c is available on the system PATH in your runtime environment. You can verify this by opening a terminal and running aria2c --version (or aria2c -v); if the command returns version information instead of a “command not found” error, then aria2c is correctly installed and detectable. On Linux/macOS you can also run which aria2c, and on Windows where aria2c, to confirm that the executable can be found. To enable aria2c during video downloading, please refer to the Quick Start section.