MeTube — Self-Hosted Web UI for YouTube and Video Downloads

Introduction

MeTube wraps yt-dlp in a clean web interface so you can paste a URL and download video or audio without touching the command line. Self-hosting means your downloads stay on your server with no third-party service involved.

What MeTube Does

• Downloads video and audio from YouTube, Vimeo, and hundreds of other supported sites
• Provides format and quality selection through a simple web form
• Queues multiple downloads with progress tracking in the browser
• Extracts audio-only files in MP3, M4A, or other formats
• Integrates with browser extensions for one-click downloads

Architecture Overview

MeTube is a Python Flask application with an Angular frontend. It shells out to yt-dlp for the actual downloading and FFmpeg for post-processing (format conversion, thumbnail embedding). The web UI communicates with the backend via a REST API and WebSocket for real-time progress updates.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Run the Docker container with a volume mount for the downloads directory
• Set output templates and default quality via environment variables
• Configure a dark theme toggle and custom download paths
• Optionally set authentication via a reverse proxy for private access
• Supports running behind Nginx or Traefik with path-based routing

Key Features

• Clean responsive web UI with real-time download progress
• Supports playlist downloads with individual track selection
• Audio extraction with metadata and thumbnail embedding
• Queue management with pause, resume, and cancel controls
• Automatic updates to yt-dlp within the container

Comparison with Similar Tools

• yt-dlp (CLI) — command-line only; MeTube adds a graphical web interface
• Tube Archivist — full media library management; MeTube focuses on quick downloads
• Stacher — desktop GUI for yt-dlp; MeTube is web-based and self-hosted
• AllTube — similar web UI but less actively maintained
• Invidious — alternative YouTube frontend with download links but no queue management

FAQ

Q: Which sites does MeTube support? A: Any site supported by yt-dlp, which includes YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Reddit, and hundreds of others.

Q: Can I download entire playlists? A: Yes, paste a playlist URL and MeTube will queue all videos for download.

Q: Does it support authentication? A: MeTube itself does not have built-in auth, but you can place it behind a reverse proxy with basic auth or SSO.

Q: How does it stay up to date with site changes? A: The container can auto-update yt-dlp on startup, so format extraction stays current as sites change.

Sources

• https://github.com/alexta69/metube