Introduction

Youtube-upload is a command line Python script that uploads videos to Youtube (it should work on any platform -GNU/Linux, BSD, OS X, Windows, ...- that runs Python) using theYoutube APIv3.

Dependencies

• Python 2.6/2.7/3.x.
• Packages: google-api-python-client, progressbar2 (optional).

Check if your operating system provides those packages (check also those deb/rpm/mac files), otherwise install them with pip:

$ sudo pip install --upgrade google-api-python-client progressbar2

Install

$ wget https://github.com/tokland/youtube-upload/archive/master.zip
$ unzip master.zip
$ cd youtube-upload-master
$ sudo python setup.py install

• Or run directly from sources:

$ cd youtube-upload-master
$ PYTHONPATH=. python bin/youtube-upload ...

Authentication

You'll see that there is no email/password options. Instead, the Youtube API uses OAuth 2.0 to authenticate the upload. The first time you try to upload a video, you will be asked to follow a URL in your browser to get an authentication token. If you have multiple channels for the logged in user, you will also be asked to pick which one you want to upload the videos to. You can use multiple credentials, just use the option --credentials-file. Also, check the token expiration policies.

The package includes a default client_secrets.json file. If you plan to make a heavy use of the script, please create and use your own OAuth 2.0 file, it's a free service. Steps:

• Go to the Google console.
• Create project.
• Side menu: APIs & auth -> APIs
• Top menu: Enabled API(s): Enable all Youtube APIs.
• Side menu: APIs & auth -> Credentials.
• Create a Client ID: Add credentials -> OAuth 2.0 Client ID -> Other -> Name: youtube-upload -> Create -> OK
• Download JSON: Under the section "OAuth 2.0 client IDs". Save the file to your local system.
• Use this JSON as your credentials file: --client-secrets=CLIENT_SECRETS

Examples

• Upload a video:

$ youtube-upload --title="A.S. Mutter" anne_sophie_mutter.flv
pxzZ-fYjeYs

• Upload a video with extra metadata, with your own client secrets and credentials file, and to a playlist (if not found, it will be created):

$ youtube-upload \
  --title="A.S. Mutter" 
  --description="A.S. Mutter plays Beethoven" \
  --category=Music \
  --tags="mutter, beethoven" \
  --recording-date="2011-03-10T15:32:17.0Z" \
  --default-language="en" \
  --default-audio-language="en" \
  --client-secrets=my_client_secrets.json \
  --credentials-file=my_credentials.json \
  --playlist "My favorite music" \
  anne_sophie_mutter.flv
tx2Zb-145Yz

Other extra medata available :

--privacy (public | unlisted | private)  
--publish-at (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sZ)  
--location (latitude=VAL,longitude=VAL[,altitude=VAL])  
--thumbnail (string)  

• Upload a video using a browser GUI to authenticate:

$ youtube-upload --title="A.S. Mutter" --auth-browser anne_sophie_mutter.flv

• Split a video with ffmpeg

If your video is too big or too long for Youtube limits, split it before uploading:

$ bash examples/split_video_for_youtube.sh video.avi
video.part1.avi
video.part2.avi
video.part3.avi

• Use a HTTP proxy

Set environment variables http_proxy and https_proxy:

$ export http_proxy=http://user:password@host:port
$ export https_proxy=$http_proxy
$ youtube-upload ....

Get available categories

• Go to the API Explorer

• Search "youtube categories" -> youtube.videoCategories.list
• This bring you to youtube.videoCategories.list service
• part: id,snippet
• regionCode: es (2 letter code of your country)
• Authorize and execute

And see the JSON response below. Note that categories with the attribute assignable equal to false cannot be used.

Using shoogle:

$ shoogle execute --client-secret-file client_secret.json \
                  youtube:v3.videoCategories.list <(echo '{"part": "id,snippet", "regionCode": "es"}')  | 
    jq ".items[] | select(.snippet.assignable) | {id: .id, title: .snippet.title}"

Notes for developers

• Main logic of the upload: main.py (function upload_video).
• Check the Youtube Data API.
• Some Youtube API examples provided by Google.

Alternatives

• shoogle can send requests to any Google API service, so it can be used not only to upload videos, but also to perform any operation regarding the Youtube API.

• youtubeuploader uploads videos to Youtube from local disk or from the web. It also provides rate-limited uploads.

More

• License: GNU/GPLv3.

Feedback

• Donations.
• If you find a bug, open an issue.
• If you want a new feature to be added, you'll have to send a pull request (or find a programmer to do it for you), currently I am not adding new features.