YTGrab 1.22.0

Local captions: subtitles made on your computer, for videos that have none.

Added

• Local captions. Downloads without subtitles can get them, made on your computer by whisper.cpp: install it once in Settings → Audio & video (about 160 MB, checked against pinned checksums), then Make captions in the Library. The captions are saved beside the file as .whisper.srt, play in your player, and make the video searchable. The sound never leaves your computer. Make captions for new downloads captions every download that finishes without subtitles from then on, including watched channels'.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.21.0

Search inside your videos.

Added

• Search inside your videos. The Library's search box also finds words in the subtitles saved with your downloads, and each match links to that moment: clicking the time plays the file from there in the browser, on the computer or your phone. The search index stays on your computer and updates as downloads finish.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.20.0

A library you can keep: original audio, files that play everywhere, watches that tidy up after themselves, and imports from yt-dlp.

Added

• Plays everywhere. A video format for phones, older TVs, and podcast apps: MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, up to 1080p.
• Keep only the newest. A watch can keep its newest 5, 10, 20, or 50 videos, or those from the last 7, 30, or 90 days, and deletes its older downloads with their files, so a busy channel doesn't fill the disk or its podcast feed. Only the watch's own downloads are deleted, and deleted videos aren't downloaded again.
• Import a yt-dlp archive. Settings → Backup reads a yt-dlp --download-archive file; its videos, like the ones finished in your Library, count as already downloaded. Playlist reviews mark them Already downloaded and leave them unticked, and watches skip them.
• Export all podcast feeds as OPML, from Watching, for podcast apps that import a list.
• Audio language. For videos dubbed into several languages, the formats now offer Audio language: the original by default, or any dubbed track. The file name ends with the language, so it never replaces the original's.

Fixed

• Choosing an exact audio format for a dubbed video could save a dubbed track instead of the original, since YouTube lists the dubbed ones first. The list now shows the original's tracks.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.19.0

Podcast feeds for watched channels.

Added

• Podcast feeds for watched channels. Each watch has a feed address (the new feed button in Watching) for podcast apps that refresh on the phone, such as AntennaPod and Podcast Addict: new episodes from the channel arrive in the app by themselves while the phone is on your Wi-Fi. Needs phone access on; Settings → Phone can retire all feed addresses.

Fixed

• The update notice for Homebrew installs now says brew update && brew upgrade ytgrab: Homebrew checks for new versions only once a day, so brew upgrade alone could still report the old version as the latest.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.18.0

YTGrab as an archiver: media-server folders, metadata files, downloads from your phone, and a way past YouTube's bot check.

Added

• Save metadata files. Settings → Downloads can keep each video's details (yt-dlp's info.json), description, and thumbnail as files beside it, for archives and media servers.

• Save a yt-dlp archive. Settings → Backup saves your finished YouTube and Vimeo downloads as a yt-dlp --download-archive file, so yt-dlp scripts and other tools skip what you already have.

• Jellyfin and Plex layout. A new file-name style, For Jellyfin and Plex, saves each channel as a show: a Season <year> folder per upload year, episodes named S2005E0424 by upload date, a poster, and .nfo files with the title, date, and description, so Jellyfin, Kodi, Emby, and Plex list videos with their details.

• Use YTGrab from your phone. Settings → Phone (off by default) lets phones on the same Wi-Fi add links, follow downloads, use Watching, and Save to phone finished downloads. Pair a phone by scanning a QR code; only paired phones get in, they can't change settings or delete files on the computer, and you can remove one any time. If the router gives the computer a new address, YTGrab says so and shows a new code to reconnect the phone.

• ytgrab app adds YTGrab, with its icon, to Launchpad and Spotlight on macOS, or to the applications menu on Linux. Homebrew installs only the program, so Homebrew users now get the app too (brew install says so).

Fixed

• Deleting a download's file now also deletes the subtitle files and other files yt-dlp saved beside it.
• Open at login on macOS kept pointing at the Homebrew version it was turned on with, so it stopped working after brew upgrade; it now uses Homebrew's path that follows upgrades.
• Downloads keep working through YouTube's bot check. YouTube sometimes asks a whole internet address to confirm it isn't a bot, which on shared mobile and home internet happens without any downloading, and every YouTube download and format check then failed. YTGrab now switches to YouTube's embedded players, which still get every quality, for six hours, and goes back once the check is over. If a video won't play embedded either, the message says what helps (Browser sign-in, another network) instead of only asking you to wait.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.17.0

Steadier YouTube downloads, clearer errors, and data-saving formats.

Added

• Data-saver formats. New presets for slow or metered connections: video up to 480p or 360p, and Small audio, YouTube's own low-bitrate Opus kept as is (a 10 MB M4A becomes about 4 MB), plenty for talks and lectures. The download window gets a one-click Use night hours (22:00–08:00) for cheaper night data bundles.
• Nightly yt-dlp builds. Settings → This computer → yt-dlp builds switches to Nightly, where fixes for YouTube changes arrive a day or two before a stable release, and back. YTGrab installs the chosen build (with its checksum) between downloads, and errors from YouTube changes now suggest it.
• Sign in with a cookies.txt file. Browser sign-in can use a cookies.txt exported from your browser, which works when a browser's own sign-in can't be read (Chrome and Edge on Windows, usually). YTGrab checks the file, keeps it only in its data folder, and deletes it when you switch sign-in off or to a browser.
• Copy report. A failed download has a Copy report button, and Settings → About has Copy diagnostic report: versions, settings, the error, and yt-dlp's own words, ready to paste into a bug report.

Changed

• When a browser's sign-in can't be read, downloads and format checks try again without signing in instead of failing, and choosing Chrome, Edge, or another Chromium browser on Windows explains the problem up front.
• Clearer messages for common YouTube failures that used to say only "could not download": age-restricted and members-only videos, premieres that haven't started, a quality no longer offered, HTTP 403 refusals, and YouTube changes that need a newer yt-dlp.

Fixed

• yt-dlp now uses exactly the JavaScript runtime YTGrab checked. Before, a Deno in YTGrab's tools folder was missed when it wasn't also on PATH, and an outdated Deno could be used even when a current Node was installed, both causing YouTube failures while YTGrab said "Tools ready".

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.16.1

Fixed

• Scrolling past the end of Settings could slide the whole window up, leaving a black band at the bottom. A hidden file picker stretched the page; it now stays in its row.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.16.0

Changed

• A clearer Settings page. Settings are grouped into Downloads, Audio & video, Browser, This computer, Backup, and About, with a menu to jump between them. Each setting is one row with a short explanation beside its control, in larger, easier-to-read text.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.15.0

Added

• About YTGrab. Settings shows which YTGrab, yt-dlp, FFmpeg, and JavaScript runtime you have, with Check for updates and links to what's new, the user guide, and reporting a problem. The sidebar shows the version too; click it to open About.

Fixed

• Sending X's timeline (x.com/home) with the extension opened YTGrab with a link it can't download and no explanation. The extension now says to right-click the post's date instead, and YTGrab explains a handed-over link it can't use straight away.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.

YTGrab 1.14.0

A browser extension, Vimeo watching, and backups.

Added

• Back up and restore. Save your settings, watched channels, and Library to a file, and restore it after reinstalling or on another computer. Restored watches remember what they've already downloaded.
• Browser extension. Download with YTGrab (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) adds a toolbar button and a right-click item that send the video you're watching to YTGrab, reusing its tab. It reads nothing from your pages and needs no account. Get it from the release page.
• Watch Vimeo. Follow a Vimeo channel, group, or public showcase, and new videos download by themselves like a watched YouTube channel.

Changed

• Retry failed skips downloads that can never work (deleted, private, or copy-protected videos), and a new Remove unavailable button clears them from the Library in one click.
• New YTGrab versions show up sooner: YTGrab looks every 6 hours instead of once a day, and again when you open the page if its last look is over an hour old.

Install: on macOS and Linux run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sanoy24/ytgrab/main/install.sh | sh, or brew install sanoy24/tap/ytgrab. On Windows, scoop install sanoy24/ytgrab (after scoop bucket add sanoy24 https://github.com/Sanoy24/scoop-bucket), or download the zip below, extract it, and double-click Start YTGrab.cmd. The browser extension is ytgrab-extension-*.zip; the user guide explains how to add it. Each file has a matching .sha256 checksum.