NVDA YouTube Downloader

An accessible NVDA add-on that allows users to download videos and audio from YouTube directly within the NVDA screen reader environment.

Features

• Accessible UI: specialized dialogs designed for screen reader users.
• Format Support: Download as Audio (MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, OGG) or Video (MP4).
• Quality Options: Select from various bitrates (320kbps, 128kbps) or resolutions (1080p, 720p).
• Playlist Support: Detects playlists and allows batch downloading of selected videos.
• Trimming: Download specific sections of a video by specifying start and end times.
• Auto-Updates: Automatically keeps the underlying yt-dlp downloader up to date for reliability.
• SponsorBlock: Option to automatically skip/remove non-music sections like sponsors and intros.
• Metadata Embedding: Automatically adds artist, title, and chapter information to your files.
• Subtitles: Option to automatically download and embed English subtitles.
• Audio Normalization: Normalize audio loudness to a consistent, professional level (perfect for playlists).

Installation

1. Go to the Releases page.
2. Download the latest youtubeDownloader-x.y.nvda-addon file.
3. Open the file to verify and install it in NVDA.
4. Restart NVDA when prompted.

The required yt-dlp and FFmpeg binaries are downloaded automatically the first time you start a download, so no manual setup is needed.

Usage

1. Copy a YouTube URL to your clipboard.
2. Press NVDA+Shift+Y (default shortcut) to open the Downloader Dialog.
3. The URL field should automatically be populated.
4. Choose your desired Format (Audio/Video) and Quality.
5. (Optional) Enter Start/End times to download a clip.
6. Press Download.

Development

To run this add-on from source for development:

1. Clone this repository into your NVDA user configuration's addons directory (e.g., %APPDATA%\nvda\addons).
2. Restart NVDA to load the plugin features. (yt-dlp.exe, ffmpeg.exe, and ffprobe.exe are fetched automatically on first use into the add-on's bin folder; you do not need to add them manually.)

Building

Run the build script to create an .nvda-addon package:

python build_addon.py

Credits

• Core downloading power provided by yt-dlp.
• powered by FFmpeg.

License

MIT License.