YoutubeExplode.Converter

YoutubeExplode.Converter

YoutubeExplode.Converter is an extension package for YoutubeExplode that provides capabilities for downloading YouTube videos with conversion to other formats. This package relies on FFmpeg under the hood.

Install

• 📦 NuGet: dotnet add package YoutubeExplode.Converter

Usage

YoutubeExplode.Converter exposes its functionality by enhancing YoutubeExplode's types with additional extension methods. To use them, simply add the corresponding namespace and follow the examples below.

Warning: This package requires the FFmpeg CLI to work, which can be downloaded here. Ensure that the FFmpeg binary is located in your application's probe directory or on the system's PATH, or provide a custom location directly using various overloads.

Downloading video with conversion

You can download a video with conversion through one of the extension methods provided on VideoClient. For example, to download a video in the specified format using the highest quality streams, simply call DownloadAsync(...) with the video ID and the destination file path:

using YoutubeExplode;
using YoutubeExplode.Converter;

var youtube = new YoutubeClient();
await youtube.Videos.DownloadAsync("https://youtube.com/watch?v=u_yIGGhubZs", "video.mp4");

Under the hood, this resolves the video's media streams and selects the best candidates based on format, bit rate, quality, and frame rate. If the specified output format is a known audio-only container (e.g. mp3 or ogg) then only the audio stream is downloaded.

Warning: Stream muxing is a CPU-heavy process. You can reduce resource usage and execution time by using streams that don't require transcoding to the output format (e.g. mp4 audio/video streams for mp4 output format). Currently, YouTube only provides adaptive streams in mp4 or webm containers, with the highest quality video streams (e.g. 4K) only available in webm.

Custom conversion options

To configure various aspects of the conversion process, use the following overload of DownloadAsync(...):

using YoutubeExplode;
using YoutubeExplode.Converter;

var youtube = new YoutubeClient();

await youtube.Videos.DownloadAsync("https://youtube.com/watch?v=u_yIGGhubZs", "video.mp4", o => o
    .SetContainer("webm") // override format
    .SetPreset(ConversionPreset.UltraFast) // change preset
    .SetFFmpegPath("path/to/ffmpeg") // custom FFmpeg location
);

Manually selecting streams

If you need precise control over which streams are used for conversion, you can also provide them yourself instead of relying on automatic resolution:

using YoutubeExplode;
using YoutubeExplode.Videos.Streams;
using YoutubeExplode.Converter;

var youtube = new YoutubeClient();

// Get stream manifest
var streamManifest = await youtube.Videos.Streams.GetManifestAsync(
    "https://youtube.com/watch?v=u_yIGGhubZs"
);

// Select streams (1080p60 / highest bitrate audio)
var audioStreamInfo = streamManifest.GetAudioStreams().GetWithHighestBitrate();
var videoStreamInfo = streamManifest.GetVideoStreams().First(s => s.VideoQuality.Label == "1080p60");
var streamInfos = new IStreamInfo[] { audioStreamInfo, videoStreamInfo };

// Download and process them into one file
await youtube.Videos.DownloadAsync(streamInfos, new ConversionRequestBuilder("video.mp4").Build());