youtube-downloader

This project was inspired by a very popular youtube-dl python package:
https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl

Yes, there are multiple PHP-based youtube downloaders on the Internet, but all of them haven't been updated in years or they depend on youtube-dl.

This script does not depend on anything other than cURL. No Javascript interpreters, no calls to shell... nothing but pure PHP with no heavy dependencies either.

That's all there is to it!

🆕 Update -- January 26, 2020!

Updated to work with the January changes to YouTube.
As of right now, this is probably the only working PHP-based youtube downloader out there.

Demo

Just to prove its reliability and the fact that it works even with YouTube videos that encrypt their signature, visit this URL:

https://api.unblockvideos.com/youtube_downloader?id=e-ORhEE9VVg&selector=mp4

Or stream it directly:

https://api.unblockvideos.com/youtube_downloader?id=e-ORhEE9VVg&selector=mp4&redirect=true

Works with Age-Restricted videos too

• TODO

Installation

Recommended way of installing this is via Composer:

composer require athlon1600/youtube-downloader

Usage

use YouTube\YouTubeDownloader;

$yt = new YouTubeDownloader();

$links = $yt->getDownloadLinks("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxsmWxxouIM");

var_dump($links);

Result:

array(5) {
  [22]=>
  array(2) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(670) "https://r3---sn-vgqs7ney.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?ratebypass=yes&requiressl=yes&initcwndbps=1142500&nh=IgpwZjAxLm9yZDM1Kg42Ni4yMDguMjI4LjIwMQ&key=yt6&mime=video%2Fmp4&mn=sn-vgqs7ney&mm=31&id=o-APybfQxBq_Uf0UwtAWdBuT2hoXzus5lvuXnd9VSmh5Dl&ip=67.184.200.25&gcr=us&sparams=dur%2Cei%2Cgcr%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cnh%2Cpl%2Cratebypass%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1482861742&ms=au&pl=16&itag=22&ei=Fq1iWM-PIsLyugLMor-gBA&mv=m&source=youtube&upn=pDkyvSW9InM&dur=265.357&ipbits=0&expire=1482883446&lmt=1478829845344913&signature=A27686411B20AD4EB61A29BC695509DB4D003681.9AE606614F809319EEE0B230BFCEFD09F5C39E12"
    ["format"]=>
    string(13) "MP4 720p (HD)"
  }
  [43]=>
  array(2) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(704) "https://r3---sn-vgqs7ney.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?ratebypass=yes&requiressl=yes&initcwndbps=1142500&nh=IgpwZjAxLm9yZDM1Kg42Ni4yMDguMjI4LjIwMQ&key=yt6&gir=yes&mime=video%2Fwebm&mn=sn-vgqs7ney&mm=31&id=o-APybfQxBq_Uf0UwtAWdBuT2hoXzus5lvuXnd9VSmh5Dl&clen=23934795&ip=67.184.200.25&gcr=us&sparams=clen%2Cdur%2Cei%2Cgcr%2Cgir%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cnh%2Cpl%2Cratebypass%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1482861742&ms=au&pl=16&itag=43&ei=Fq1iWM-PIsLyugLMor-gBA&mv=m&source=youtube&upn=pDkyvSW9InM&dur=0.000&ipbits=0&expire=1482883446&lmt=1466552369088504&signature=4A9B43F989EF4DB937C56AC889BF9AFAA1363439.87B358B93A19E3C292BE823A2E7FD505E527956C"
    ["format"]=>
    string(9) "WebM 360p"
  }
  [18]=>
  array(2) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(705) "https://r3---sn-vgqs7ney.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?ratebypass=yes&requiressl=yes&initcwndbps=1142500&nh=IgpwZjAxLm9yZDM1Kg42Ni4yMDguMjI4LjIwMQ&key=yt6&gir=yes&mime=video%2Fmp4&mn=sn-vgqs7ney&mm=31&id=o-APybfQxBq_Uf0UwtAWdBuT2hoXzus5lvuXnd9VSmh5Dl&clen=18431345&ip=67.184.200.25&gcr=us&sparams=clen%2Cdur%2Cei%2Cgcr%2Cgir%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cnh%2Cpl%2Cratebypass%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1482861742&ms=au&pl=16&itag=18&ei=Fq1iWM-PIsLyugLMor-gBA&mv=m&source=youtube&upn=pDkyvSW9InM&dur=265.357&ipbits=0&expire=1482883446&lmt=1478827692757115&signature=0C2203FABCEBC01A0B154C109EA7A03EBB778A17.7FFE657A41B06ABB4729E03253A92E1AA5562D3E"
    ["format"]=>
    string(8) "MP4 360p"
  }
  [36]=>
  array(2) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(677) "https://r3---sn-vgqs7ney.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?requiressl=yes&initcwndbps=1142500&nh=IgpwZjAxLm9yZDM1Kg42Ni4yMDguMjI4LjIwMQ&key=yt6&gir=yes&mime=video%2F3gpp&mn=sn-vgqs7ney&mm=31&id=o-APybfQxBq_Uf0UwtAWdBuT2hoXzus5lvuXnd9VSmh5Dl&clen=7400500&ip=67.184.200.25&gcr=us&sparams=clen%2Cdur%2Cei%2Cgcr%2Cgir%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cnh%2Cpl%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1482861742&ms=au&pl=16&itag=36&ei=Fq1iWM-PIsLyugLMor-gBA&mv=m&source=youtube&upn=pDkyvSW9InM&dur=265.404&ipbits=0&expire=1482883446&lmt=1466551971126275&signature=121F4D6F18C10D31951E2C2A857E52351BCC1A8C.B6EFCCB6734190053A0F3980FC67D3E508EA30FF"
    ["format"]=>
    string(7) "Unknown"
  }
  [17]=>
  array(2) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(677) "https://r3---sn-vgqs7ney.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?requiressl=yes&initcwndbps=1142500&nh=IgpwZjAxLm9yZDM1Kg42Ni4yMDguMjI4LjIwMQ&key=yt6&gir=yes&mime=video%2F3gpp&mn=sn-vgqs7ney&mm=31&id=o-APybfQxBq_Uf0UwtAWdBuT2hoXzus5lvuXnd9VSmh5Dl&clen=2661359&ip=67.184.200.25&gcr=us&sparams=clen%2Cdur%2Cei%2Cgcr%2Cgir%2Cid%2Cinitcwndbps%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Clmt%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cnh%2Cpl%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mt=1482861742&ms=au&pl=16&itag=17&ei=Fq1iWM-PIsLyugLMor-gBA&mv=m&source=youtube&upn=pDkyvSW9InM&dur=265.404&ipbits=0&expire=1482883446&lmt=1466551946325771&signature=9C0017C6EE3EC754BCB73E4546483807143CC495.A738E50D2B2C9073E9369A8828BA780B6BA453F7"
    ["format"]=>
    string(8) "3GP 144p"
  }
}

How does it work

A more detailed explanation on how to download videos from YouTube will be written soon. For now, there is this:

#25 (comment)

Other Links

https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipeExtractor/blob/d83787a5ca308c4ca4e86e63a8b63c5e7c4708d6/extractor/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/extractor/services/youtube/extractors/YoutubeStreamExtractor.java

https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py

To-do list

• Optional command that finds ALL video formats.