Pytube3 | Introducing to pytube3 | Usage, Tutorial and more

Installation

Download using pip via pypi.

$ pip install pytube3 --upgrade

(Mac/homebrew users may need to use pip3)

Quick start

 >>> from pytube import YouTube
 >>> YouTube('https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0').streams.get_highest_resolution().download()
 >>>
 >>> yt = YouTube('http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0')
 >>> yt.streams
  ... .filter(progressive=True, file_extension='mp4')
  ... .order_by('resolution')[-1]
  ... .download()

A GUI frontend for pytube3 is available at YouTubeDownload

Features

Support for Both Progressive & DASH Streams
Support for downloading complete playlist
Easily Register on_download_progress & on_download_complete callbacks
Command-line Interfaced Included
Caption Track Support
Outputs Caption Tracks to .srt format (SubRip Subtitle)
Ability to Capture Thumbnail URL.
Extensively Documented Source Code
No Third-Party Dependencies

Usage

Let's begin with showing how easy it is to download a video with pytube:

>>> from pytube import YouTube
>>> YouTube('http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0').streams[0].download()

This example will download the highest quality progressive download stream available.

Next, let's explore how we would view what video streams are available:

>>> yt = YouTube('http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0')
>>> print(yt.streams)
 [<Stream: itag="22" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.64001F" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
 <Stream: itag="43" mime_type="video/webm" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp8.0" acodec="vorbis">,
 <Stream: itag="18" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.42001E" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
 <Stream: itag="36" mime_type="video/3gpp" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="mp4v.20.3" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
 <Stream: itag="17" mime_type="video/3gpp" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="mp4v.20.3" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
 <Stream: itag="137" mime_type="video/mp4" res="1080p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.640028">,
 <Stream: itag="248" mime_type="video/webm" res="1080p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="136" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401f">,
 <Stream: itag="247" mime_type="video/webm" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="135" mime_type="video/mp4" res="480p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
 <Stream: itag="244" mime_type="video/webm" res="480p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="134" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
 <Stream: itag="243" mime_type="video/webm" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="133" mime_type="video/mp4" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d4015">,
 <Stream: itag="242" mime_type="video/webm" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="160" mime_type="video/mp4" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d400c">,
 <Stream: itag="278" mime_type="video/webm" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
 <Stream: itag="140" mime_type="audio/mp4" abr="128kbps" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
 <Stream: itag="171" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="128kbps" acodec="vorbis">,
 <Stream: itag="249" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="50kbps" acodec="opus">,
 <Stream: itag="250" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="70kbps" acodec="opus">,
 <Stream: itag="251" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="160kbps" acodec="opus">]

Selecting an itag

You may notice that some streams listed have both a video codec and audio codec, while others have just video or just audio, this is a result of YouTube supporting a streaming technique called Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH).

In the context of pytube, the implications are for the highest quality streams; you now need to download both the audio and video tracks and then post-process them with software like FFmpeg to merge them.

The legacy streams that contain the audio and video in a single file (referred to as "progressive download") are still available, but only for resolutions 720p and below.

To only view these progressive download streams:

 >>> yt.streams.filter(progressive=True)
  [<Stream: itag="22" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.64001F" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="43" mime_type="video/webm" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp8.0" acodec="vorbis">,
  <Stream: itag="18" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.42001E" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="36" mime_type="video/3gpp" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="mp4v.20.3" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="17" mime_type="video/3gpp" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="mp4v.20.3" acodec="mp4a.40.2">]

Conversely, if you only want to see the DASH streams (also referred to as "adaptive") you can do:

>>> yt.streams.filter(adaptive=True)
 [<Stream: itag="137" mime_type="video/mp4" res="1080p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.640028">,
  <Stream: itag="248" mime_type="video/webm" res="1080p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="136" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401f">,
  <Stream: itag="247" mime_type="video/webm" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="135" mime_type="video/mp4" res="480p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
  <Stream: itag="244" mime_type="video/webm" res="480p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="134" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
  <Stream: itag="243" mime_type="video/webm" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="133" mime_type="video/mp4" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d4015">,
  <Stream: itag="242" mime_type="video/webm" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="160" mime_type="video/mp4" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d400c">,
  <Stream: itag="278" mime_type="video/webm" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="vp9">,
  <Stream: itag="140" mime_type="audio/mp4" abr="128kbps" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="171" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="128kbps" acodec="vorbis">,
  <Stream: itag="249" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="50kbps" acodec="opus">,
  <Stream: itag="250" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="70kbps" acodec="opus">,
  <Stream: itag="251" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="160kbps" acodec="opus">]

Playlists

You can also download a complete Youtube playlist:

>>> from pytube import Playlist
>>> playlist = Playlist("https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLynhp4cZEpTbRs_PYISQ8v_uwO0_mDg_X")
>>> for video in playlist:
>>>  video.streams.get_highest_resolution().download()

This will download the highest progressive stream available (generally 720p) from the given playlist.

Filtering

Pytube allows you to filter on every property available (see the documentation for the complete list), let's take a look at some of the most useful ones.

To list the audio only streams:

>>> yt.streams.filter(only_audio=True)
  [<Stream: itag="140" mime_type="audio/mp4" abr="128kbps" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="171" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="128kbps" acodec="vorbis">,
  <Stream: itag="249" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="50kbps" acodec="opus">,
  <Stream: itag="250" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="70kbps" acodec="opus">,
  <Stream: itag="251" mime_type="audio/webm" abr="160kbps" acodec="opus">]

To list only mp4 streams:

>>> yt.streams.filter(subtype='mp4')
 [<Stream: itag="22" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.64001F" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="18" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.42001E" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="137" mime_type="video/mp4" res="1080p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.640028">,
  <Stream: itag="136" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401f">,
  <Stream: itag="135" mime_type="video/mp4" res="480p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
  <Stream: itag="134" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d401e">,
  <Stream: itag="133" mime_type="video/mp4" res="240p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d4015">,
  <Stream: itag="160" mime_type="video/mp4" res="144p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.4d400c">,
  <Stream: itag="140" mime_type="audio/mp4" abr="128kbps" acodec="mp4a.40.2">]

Multiple filters can also be specified:

>>> yt.streams.filter(subtype='mp4', progressive=True)
>>> # this can also be expressed as:
>>> yt.streams.filter(subtype='mp4').filter(progressive=True)
  [<Stream: itag="22" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.64001F" acodec="mp4a.40.2">,
  <Stream: itag="18" mime_type="video/mp4" res="360p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.42001E" acodec="mp4a.40.2">]

You also have an interface to select streams by their itag, without needing to filter:

>>> yt.streams.get_by_itag(22)
  <Stream: itag="22" mime_type="video/mp4" res="720p" fps="30fps" vcodec="avc1.64001F" acodec="mp4a.40.2">

If you need to optimize for a specific feature, such as the "highest resolution" or "lowest average bitrate":

>>> yt.streams.filter(progressive=True).order_by('resolution').desc()

Note: Using order_by on a given attribute will filter out all streams missing that attribute.

Callbacks

If your application requires post-processing logic, pytube allows you to specify an "on download complete" callback function:

 >>> def convert_to_aac(stream: Stream, file_path: str):
         return  # do work

 >>> yt.register_on_complete_callback(convert_to_aac)

Similarly, if your application requires on-download progress logic, pytube exposes a callback for this as well:

 >>> def show_progress_bar(stream: Stream, chunk: bytes, bytes_remaining: int):
         return  # do work

 >>> yt.register_on_progress_callback(show_progress_bar)

Command-line interface

pytube3 ships with a simple CLI interface for downloading videos, playlists, and captions.

Let's start with downloading:

$ pytube3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 --itag=18

To view available streams:

$ pytube3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 --list

The complete set of flags are:

usage: pytube3 [-h] [--version] [--itag ITAG] [-r RESOLUTION] [-l] [-v]
               [--build-playback-report] [-c [CAPTION_CODE]] [-t TARGET]
               [-a [AUDIO]] [-f [FFMPEG]]
               [url]

Command line application to download youtube videos.

positional arguments:
  url                   The YouTube /watch or /playlist url

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  --itag ITAG           The itag for the desired stream
  -r RESOLUTION, --resolution RESOLUTION
                        The resolution for the desired stream
  -l, --list            The list option causes pytube cli to return a list of
                        streams available to download
  -v, --verbose         Verbosity level, use up to 4 to increase logging -vvvv
  --build-playback-report
                        Save the html and js to disk
  -c [CAPTION_CODE], --caption-code [CAPTION_CODE]
                        Download srt captions for given language code. Prints
                        available language codes if no argument given
  -t TARGET, --target TARGET
                        The output directory for the downloaded stream.
                        Default is current working directory
  -a [AUDIO], --audio [AUDIO]
                        Download the audio for a given URL at the highest
                        bitrate availableDefaults to mp4 format if none is
                        specified
  -f [FFMPEG], --ffmpeg [FFMPEG]
                        Downloads the audio and video stream for resolution
                        providedIf no resolution is provided, downloads the
                        best resolutionRuns the command line program ffmpeg to
                        combine the audio and video

Development

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

To run code checking before a PR use make test

Virtual environment

Virtual environment is setup with pipenv and can be automatically activated with direnv

Code Formatting

This project is linted with pyflakes, formatted with black, and typed with mypy

Code of Conduct

Treat other people with helpfulness, gratitude, and consideration! See the Python Community Code of Conduct.

GUIs and other libraries

YouTubeDownload - Featured GUI frontend for pytube3
Pytube-GUI - Simple GUI frontend for pytube3
StackOverflow questions
PySlackers - Python Slack group

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