YouTube (Music) Playlist Tools

A simple application to process YouTube (and YouTube Music) playlists and export them as audio or video files - or just grab the track list.

Table of Contents

• Preview
• Features
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Usage
• Troubleshooting
• Roadmap
• Credits
• License

Preview

Features

• Export playlist: Save a .txt file with the title, artist, and video ID for each track.
• Audio compilation (optional): Downloads all tracks and merges them into a single MP3 using ffmpeg.
• Video compilation (optional): Creates an MP4 with static image or GIF background and audio.
• Flexible input: Accepts both full playlist URLs and plain playlist IDs.
• Encoder caching: Caches available ffmpeg encoders and presets for faster future runs.
• Cache management: Includes a button to clear the encoder cache if needed.

On first launch, building the encoder cache may take a second.

Prerequisites

• FFmpeg installed and available in your system PATH.

Tip for Windows users:

The easiest (and safest) way to install FFmpeg on Windows is with winget, the official Windows Package Manager.

With winget, you get:

• Automatic download of the latest official FFmpeg release from trusted sources
• System-wide installation - no manual unzipping, copying, or adding to PATH
• Easy updates and uninstalls in the future

To install FFmpeg via winget, open PowerShell or Command Prompt and run:

winget install ffmpeg

This is way easier and safer than manually downloading and extracting the binaries.

Finding Your Playlist ID

1. Open the playlist in your browser (YouTube or YouTube Music).
2. In the URL, locate the list= parameter. For example, in https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxyz123456, the playlist ID is PLxyz123456.

Paste either the full URL or just the ID - both work.

Installation

Option 1: Windows Installer

Download the latest installer (YTMTools-Setup.exe) from Releases for a standard Windows installation.

Option 2: Portable Version

Download the latest zip from Releases.

Note: All binaries are unsigned - if you prefer, build from source.

Option 3: Build from Source

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/Locko2901/YouTubeMusicTools.git
   cd YouTubeMusicTools

2. Compile with Nuitka:

• For a standalone build:

  python -m nuitka --mingw64 --standalone --windows-console-mode=disable --include-data-files=assets/icons/img.ico=assets/icons/img.ico --include-data-files=assets/images/default.png=assets/images/default.png --enable-plugin=tk-inter --nofollow-import-to=yt_dlp.extractor.lazy_extractors --windows-icon-from-ico=assets/icons/img.ico --output-dir=ytmtools.dist --output-filename=ytmtools src/main.py

• For a non-standalone build:

  python -m nuitka --mingw64 --enable-plugin=tk-inter --follow-imports --nofollow-import-to=yt_dlp.extractor.lazy_extractors --windows-icon-from-ico=assets/icons/img.ico --output-filename=ytmtools src/main.py

Or just run directly: python src/main.py

Usage

Launch the tool and follow the labels. It’s mostly self-explanatory. If not, yell at your screen (or check the logs).

Note: Playlist has to be public or unlisted.

Troubleshooting

If something breaks:

• Try clearing the encoder cache
• Check the logs
• Open an issue
• Or hey, maybe fix it yourself
• Or don't. It's your time.

Roadmap

• Parallel download (maybe someday)
• Better threading, so GUI is less laggy (also maybe someday)

Credits

• yt-dlp - handles all the downloading
• Nuitka - compiles Python into binaries
• FFmpeg - the audio/video backend hero

This app is, aside from one core feature, essentially a GUI wrapper around yt-dlp - shoutout to the legends behind it.

License

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