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Ytdlp.NET

Ytdlp.NET is an open-source, modern .NET wrapper library for yt-dlp, the popular command-line audio/video downloader and metadata extractor.
It provides a fluent, strongly-typed API to build yt-dlp commands, fetch rich metadata, list formats, monitor progress, and execute downloads with full event support.

Ytdlp.NET
Developer	Manojbabu (manusoft/manuhub)
Initial release	2025
Stable release	3.0.0
Repository	github.com/manusoft/Ytdlp.NET
Written in	C# (.NET 8.0 or later)
License	MIT
Website	https://github.com/manusoft/Ytdlp.NET

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✨ Features

• Fluent API (WithXxx() methods)
• Immutable design (thread‑safe instances)
• Real‑time progress events
• Metadata & format probing
• Batch downloads
• Cancellation support
• Cross‑platform support
• Strongly typed event system
• Async execution
• IAsyncDisposable support

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⚠️ Important Notes

• Namespace migrated: ManuHub.Ytdlp.NET — update your using directives.
• External JS runtime: yt-dlp requires an external JS runtime like deno.exe (from denoland/deno) for YouTube downloads with JS challenges.
• Required tools:

Tools/
├─ yt-dlp.exe
├─ deno.exe
├─ ffmpeg.exe
└─ ffprobe.exe

Recommended: Use companion NuGet packages:

• ManuHub.Ytdlp
• ManuHub.Deno
• ManuHub.FFmpeg
• ManuHub.FFprobe

Example path resolution in .NET:

var ytdlpPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "tools", "yt-dlp.exe");
var ffmpegPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "tools");

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🔧 Basic Usage

Download a video

await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp("tools\\yt-dlp.exe")
    .WithFormat("best")
    .WithOutputFolder("./downloads")
    .WithOutputTemplate("%(title)s.%(ext)s");

ytdlp.OnProgressDownload += (s, e) =>
    Console.WriteLine($"{e.Percent:F1}% {e.Speed} ETA {e.ETA}");

await ytdlp.DownloadAsync("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID");

---

🎧 Extract audio

await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp()
    .WithExtractAudio("mp3")
    .WithOutputFolder("./audio");

await ytdlp.DownloadAsync(url);

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📊 Monitor Progress

ytdlp.OnProgressDownload += (s, e) =>
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{e.Percent:F1}%  {e.Speed}  ETA {e.ETA}");
};

ytdlp.OnCompleteDownload += (s, msg) =>
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Finished: {msg}");
};

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📦 Fetch Metadata

await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp();

var metadata = await ytdlp.GetMetadataAsync(url);

Console.WriteLine(metadata?.Title);
Console.WriteLine(metadata?.Duration);

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🎬 Auto‑Select Best Formats

await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp();

string bestVideo = await ytdlp.GetBestVideoFormatIdAsync(url, 1080);
string bestAudio = await ytdlp.GetBestAudioFormatIdAsync(url);

await ytdlp
    .WithFormat($"{bestVideo}+{bestAudio}/best")
    .DownloadAsync(url);

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⚡ Parallel Downloads

var urls = new[]
{
    "https://youtu.be/video1",
    "https://youtu.be/video2"
};

var tasks = urls.Select(async url =>
{
    await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp()
        .WithFormat("best")
        .WithOutputFolder("./batch");

    await ytdlp.DownloadAsync(url);
});

await Task.WhenAll(tasks);

OR

var urls = new[] { "https://youtu.be/vid1", "https://youtu.be/vid2" };

 await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp("tools\\yt-dlp.exe")
        .WithFormat("best")
        .WithOutputFolder("./batch");

await ytdlp.DownloadBatchAsync(urls, maxConcurrency: 3);

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📡 Events

Event	Description
OnProgressDownload	Download progress
OnProgressMessage	Informational messages
OnCompleteDownload	File finished
OnPostProcessingComplete	Post‑processing finished
OnOutputMessage	Raw output line
OnErrorMessage	Error message
OnCommandCompleted	Process finished

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🔧 Thread Safety & Disposal

• Immutable & thread-safe: Each WithXxx() call returns a new instance.
• Async disposal: Ytdlp implements IAsyncDisposable.

Sequential download example:

await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp("tools\\yt-dlp.exe", new ConsoleLogger())
    .WithFormat("best")
    .WithOutputFolder("./downloads");

ytdlp.OnProgressDownload += (s, e) => Console.WriteLine($"Progress: {e.Percent:F2}%");
ytdlp.OnCompleteDownload += (s, msg) => Console.WriteLine($"Download complete: {msg}");

await ytdlp.DownloadAsync("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGg-Qx1rL9U");

Parallel download example:

var urls = new[] { "https://youtu.be/video1", "https://youtu.be/video2" };

var tasks = urls.Select(async url =>
{
    await using var ytdlp = new Ytdlp("tools\\yt-dlp.exe", new ConsoleLogger())
        .WithFormat("best")
        .WithOutputFolder("./batch");

    ytdlp.OnProgressDownload += (s, e) => Console.WriteLine($"[{url}] {e.Percent:F2}%");
    ytdlp.OnCompleteDownload += (s, msg) => Console.WriteLine($"[{url}] Download complete: {msg}");

    await ytdlp.DownloadAsync(url);
});

await Task.WhenAll(tasks);

Key points:

1. Always create a new instance per download for parallel operations.
2. Always use await using for proper resource cleanup.
3. Attach events after the WithXxx() call.

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Dependencies

• .NET 8.0 or later
• yt-dlp executable (required)
• FFmpeg / FFprobe (recommended for merging, audio extraction, thumbnails)

See also

• yt-dlp — upstream project
• Ytdlp.NET GitHub Repository
• .NET Package Manager (NuGet)

References

1. GitHub repository: https://github.com/manusoft/Ytdlp.NET
2. yt-dlp releases: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases
3. FFmpeg builds: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/

This page was last edited on MArch 24, 2026.