YTAudioBar

A feature-rich desktop application for streaming and downloading YouTube audio on Windows and Linux. Extract audio from YouTube videos, stream them directly, or download for offline listening with a Spotify-inspired interface.

For the native macOS version, see YTAudioBar-macos

Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• System Requirements
• Development
• Architecture
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Stream YouTube Audio — Play high-quality audio directly from YouTube with intuitive playback controls
• Download for Offline — Download tracks locally in FLAC format with automatic metadata
• Queue Management — Build and manage playback queues on the fly
• Unlimited Playlists — Create custom playlists and organize your music collection
• Fast Seeking — Near-instant seeking in downloaded tracks using FLAC seek tables
• OS Media Controls — Full integration with Windows SMTC and Linux media controls
• Media Key Support — Control playback with media keys (Play, Pause, Next, Previous, Seek)
• Search Modes — Toggle between general search and music-optimized search
• System Tray — Minimize to system tray for always-on access
• Auto-start — Optional automatic startup with your system

Installation

Windows

Download the latest .exe installer from GitHub Releases or the official website.

1. Download YTAudioBar_x64-setup.exe
2. Run the installer
3. On first launch, the app will automatically download yt-dlp and ffmpeg (~15 MB)

Minimum requirements: Windows 10 or later

Linux

Download the latest .AppImage from GitHub Releases or the official website.

1. Download YTAudioBar_*.AppImage
2. Make it executable: chmod +x YTAudioBar_*.AppImage
3. Run: ./YTAudioBar_*.AppImage
4. On first launch, the app will automatically download yt-dlp and ffmpeg (~15 MB)

Minimum requirements: Ubuntu 20.04+ or equivalent

Desktop Integration (Linux)

Create a .desktop file for application menu integration:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
# Copy the AppImage to ~/.local/share/applications/
# Create YTAudioBar.desktop with appropriate paths

Usage

Basic Playback

1. Use the Search tab to find YouTube videos
2. Click a result to start playback
3. Use playback controls or media keys
4. Adjust volume and seek through the track

Downloads

Switch to the Downloads tab to:

• View download progress
• Download tracks for offline playback
• Downloaded tracks support full seeking and faster playback

Playlists

1. Click the Playlists tab
2. Create new playlists with the + button
3. Add tracks via the playlist icon during playback
4. Organize your music collection

Settings

Access Settings tab to:

• Enable/disable auto-start on system boot
• Configure output device (if available)
• Adjust UI preferences

Windows

• OS: Windows 10 or later (tested on Windows 11)
• RAM: 256 MB minimum
• Disk Space: ~5 MB for installation + 15 MB for runtime dependencies (downloaded on first launch)

Linux

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04+ or equivalent distribution
• RAM: 256 MB minimum
• Disk Space: ~70 MB for AppImage + 15 MB for runtime dependencies (downloaded on first launch)
• Dependencies: libssl, libxcb (automatically handled by AppImage)

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ (Install Rust)
• Node.js 16+ (Install Node.js)
• Visual Studio Build Tools (Windows) or standard C compiler (Linux)

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ilyassan/ytaudiobar.git
cd YTAudioBar-tauri

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Install Rust dependencies
cd src-tauri && cargo fetch && cd ..

Development Build

# Run in development mode with hot reload
npm run tauri dev

Production Build

# Build optimized release
npm run tauri build

Type Checking

npx tsc --noEmit

Technology Stack

Frontend:

• React
• TypeScript
• Tauri IPC
• TailwindCSS

Backend:

• Tauri 2.x
• Symphonia (audio decoding)
• rodio (audio output)
• SQLite
• reqwest
• yt-dlp
• FFmpeg

Audio Pipeline

YouTube URL
    ↓
yt-dlp (extract stream)
    ↓
Symphonia (decode)
    ↓
rodio Sink (output)

Playback Modes

• Downloaded Tracks: File-based playback with fast seeking (<100ms) using FLAC seek tables
• Streamed Tracks: Memory-buffered playback with seeking support (loads audio into memory)

Project Structure

src/                               Frontend (React)
├── features/
│   ├── player/                   Player UI components
│   ├── search/                   Search functionality
│   ├── queue/                    Queue management
│   ├── playlists/                Playlist UI
│   ├── downloads/                Downloads UI
│   └── settings/                 Settings UI
├── stores/                       State management (Zustand)
├── lib/tauri.ts                  IPC bindings
└── app/routes/home.tsx           Main page

src-tauri/                        Backend (Rust)
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs                   App setup
│   ├── audio_manager.rs          Audio playback
│   ├── download_manager.rs       Downloads & FLAC conversion
│   ├── media_key_manager.rs      OS media controls
│   ├── database.rs               SQLite management
│   └── models.rs                 Data structures
└── Cargo.toml                    Rust dependencies

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Related Projects

• YTAudioBar-macos — Native macOS version
• yt-dlp — YouTube audio extraction
• Tauri — Desktop app framework
• Symphonia — Audio decoding library
• rodio — Audio output library

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Made by Ilyass for the open source community