Reclip — Self-Hosted Video Downloader with Clean Web UI

Introduction

Reclip is a self-hosted web application for downloading videos from hundreds of websites. It provides a clean, modern interface without the ads and popups common on public video download sites, giving you a private tool for saving media content on your own infrastructure.

What Reclip Does

• Downloads videos from YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and hundreds of other platforms
• Provides format and quality selection before downloading
• Offers audio-only extraction for music and podcast content
• Stores downloaded files locally with organized directory structure
• Runs entirely on your own hardware with no external service dependencies

Architecture Overview

Reclip is a Node.js web application that wraps yt-dlp as its download engine. The frontend is a lightweight HTML/CSS/JS interface served by the same process. Downloads are processed server-side and stored in a configurable output directory. The application handles URL parsing, format enumeration, and progress tracking through a simple REST API.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker with a single container; mount a volume for downloaded files
• Configure output directory, maximum concurrent downloads, and file naming templates
• Runs on port 3000 by default; place behind a reverse proxy for HTTPS access
• Supports authentication to restrict access in shared or public-facing deployments
• yt-dlp updates automatically to maintain compatibility with supported sites

Key Features

• Support for 1000+ video hosting sites via yt-dlp backend
• Real-time download progress indication in the browser
• Format selection including resolution, codec, and audio-only options
• No ads, tracking, or data collection of any kind
• Mobile-responsive design for use on phones and tablets

Comparison with Similar Tools

• MeTube — Similar yt-dlp web frontend; Reclip offers a more modern UI design and simpler configuration
• AllTube — PHP-based downloader; Reclip uses Node.js with a lighter resource footprint
• Tube Archivist — Full media management platform with metadata and search; Reclip focuses on simple one-off downloads
• yt-dlp CLI — Command-line tool with maximum flexibility; Reclip adds a web UI for non-technical users or quick access from any device

FAQ

Q: Does Reclip store my download history? A: Downloaded files are kept in the configured directory. The application itself does not maintain a persistent history database.

Q: Can multiple users download simultaneously? A: Yes, concurrent downloads are supported. You can configure the maximum number of parallel downloads to manage bandwidth.

Q: How do I update yt-dlp when sites change? A: The Docker image includes automatic yt-dlp updates on container restart, or you can trigger an update manually from the settings.

Q: Is there a file size limit? A: No artificial limits exist. Downloads are constrained only by available disk space on your server.

Sources

• https://github.com/averygan/reclip