YT-DLP Telegram Bot

A Telegram bot that downloads media on Telegram using yt-dlp, with support for:

• YouTube
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Twitter / X
• Bluesky

Public bot: @SatoruBot

Need more help? Join the support group or the status channel

Table of Contents

• Features
• Commands
• Requirements
  • Local run
  • Docker run
• Quick Start (Local)
• Configuration Reference
• Docker Tutorial
  • 1) Prepare config
  • 2) Build and start container
  • 3) Check logs
  • 4) Stop / restart / update
  • 5) Troubleshooting Docker setup
• Usage Notes
• Telegram File Size Limit
• Cookies Support
• License

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Features

• Download video with /download <url>
• Download audio (MP3 extract) with /audio <url>
• Choose custom format with /custom <url>
• Cookie support for authentication
• Optional logging to a Telegram chat/channel
• Domain allowlist for safer URL handling
• Docker support with docker-compose

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Commands

• /start or /help - Show usage help
• /download <url> - Download video
• /audio <url> - Download and extract MP3
• /custom <url> - Show available formats and pick one
• /cookies - Attach a cookies txt file to be used when downloading videos
• /id - Return current chat ID (useful for logs config)
• /queue - Return the number of videos currently in the queue

In private chat, you can also just send a URL directly.

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Requirements

Local run

• Python 3.11+
• ffmpeg installed on your system
• A Telegram bot token from @BotFather

Docker run

• Docker
• Docker Compose plugin (docker compose)

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Quick Start (Local)

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/ssebastianoo/yt-dlp-telegram
   cd yt-dlp-telegram

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Create config.py from the example:

   cp example.config.py config.py

4. Edit config.py (at minimum set token).

5. Start the bot:

   python3 main.py

If everything is correct, you should see output similar to: ready as @your_bot_username

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Configuration Reference

Create a config.py file in the project root. config.py example here

Concurrency limits

• max_user_concurrent_downloads — Maximum number of concurrent downloads per user. Extra requests are rejected.
• max_global_concurrent_downloads — Maximum number of concurrent downloads across all users. Extra requests are queued (FIFO).

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Docker Tutorial

This project includes:

• Dockerfile (Python + ffmpeg + app)
• docker-compose.yml (single bot service)

1) Prepare config

From project root:

cp example.config.py config.py

Edit config.py and set at least:

• token
• optionally logs, max_filesize, etc.

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2) Build and start container

docker compose up -d --build

This will:

• build the image
• mount your local config.py into container as read-only:
  • ./config.py:/app/config.py:ro
• start bot with restart policy unless-stopped

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3) Check logs

docker compose logs -f bot

Look for: ready as @your_bot_username

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4) Stop / restart / update

Stop:

docker compose down

Restart:

docker compose restart bot

Rebuild after code changes:

docker compose up -d --build

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5) Troubleshooting Docker setup

• Bot not starting

  • Verify config.py exists in project root.
  • Verify token is valid.
  • Check logs: docker compose logs -f bot.

• No logs sent to logs chat

  • Ensure bot is in that chat/channel.
  • Ensure logs is correct numeric chat ID.
  • Ensure bot has permission to send messages.

• Downloads fail due to size

  • Reduce quality / choose smaller format via /custom.
  • Lower max_filesize to fail fast and avoid long downloads.
  • Telegram limits still apply.

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Usage Notes

• In private chats, paste a link directly.
• In groups, use commands like /download <url>.
• /custom can list many formats depending on source media.
• Audio mode uses FFmpeg post-processing to extract MP3.

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Telegram File Size Limit

Bots are limited by Telegram upload constraints.
Reference: https://core.telegram.org/bots/faq#how-do-i-upload-a-large-file

Set max_filesize according to what you want the bot to attempt and what Telegram will accept in your use case.

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Cookies Support

Some websites may require authentication to download content, this can be set by passing a cookies.txt file to the /cookie command. YouTube requires a js challenge to be solved to download videos using cookies, this needs js_runtime to be set in config.py, for example if you use Node you can set:

js_runtime: dict[str, dict[str, str] | None] | None = {"node": {"path": "node"}}

# Or if you use Bun
js_runtime: dict[str, dict[str, str] | None] | None = {"bun": {"path": "bun"}}

Cookies are stored in db.db (using Sqlite3) and encrypted with a secret_key that can be set in the config file.

Where can I find cookies.txt

You need to export it from your browser using an extension like this one

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License

This project is licensed under the repository’s LICENSE file.