yt-dlp-android

An Android library that brings yt-dlp to Android with a clean Java API — supports 1000+ sites.

Free vs Pro

	Free (yt-dlp-android)	Pro (yt-dlp-android-curl)
yt-dlp (1000+ sites)	✓	✓
Java API (YtDlp)	✓	✓
Cookie-based auth workaround	✓	✓
curl-cffi — TLS fingerprint impersonation	—	✓
Distribution	JitPack (public)	GitHub Packages (token required)
Price	Free	$24 / $62 team (5 devs)

What is TLS fingerprint impersonation? Some sites block standard HTTP clients by analyzing the TLS fingerprint of the request. curl-cffi reproduces the exact fingerprint of a real browser (Chrome, Firefox…), bypassing this protection without needing cookies or login. This feature is exclusive to the Pro version (yt-dlp-android-curl). The free version uses a cookie-based workaround instead — see Cookie Authentication.

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Installation (free version)

Option A — Maven Central (recommended)

// build.gradle — no extra repository needed
dependencies {
    implementation 'dev.ffmpegkit-maintained:yt-dlp-android:2.0.2'

    // Optional: migration shim for apps previously using yausername/youtubedl-android
    // Adds YoutubeDL, YoutubeDLRequest, YoutubeDLResponse typealiases — no code changes needed
    implementation 'dev.ffmpegkit-maintained:yt-dlp-android-compat:2.0.2'
}

Option B — JitPack

// settings.gradle
dependencyResolutionManagement {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }
}

// build.gradle
dependencies {
    implementation 'dev.ffmpegkit-maintained:yt-dlp-android:2.0.2'
}

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Usage

Initialize (once, in Application or Activity)

try {
    YtDlp.init(context);
} catch (YtDlpException e) {
    Log.e("YtDlp", "Init failed", e);
}

Download a video

String output = getExternalFilesDir(null) + "/%(title)s.%(ext)s";

YtDlpRequest request = new YtDlpRequest("https://example.com/video/...")
        .setOutputTemplate(output)
        .addOption("-f", "best[height<=720]");

YtDlp.executeAsync(request, (progress, eta, line) -> {
    Log.d("YtDlp", progress + "% - ETA " + eta + "s");
});

Sites requiring authentication (with cookies)

// Pass a Netscape-format cookies file exported from any browser session
YtDlpRequest request = new YtDlpRequest("https://example.com/video/...")
        .addOption("--cookies", cookiesFilePath)
        .setOutputTemplate(output);

YtDlp.executeAsync(request, callback);

Update yt-dlp

In-app updates are not supported — yt-dlp is bundled inside the AAR via Chaquopy. To get the latest yt-dlp, update the library version in your build.gradle.

Full documentation & tutorials → GitHub Wiki

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Pro version — curl-cffi (TLS fingerprint impersonation)

curl-cffi is not included in the free version. It is exclusively available in yt-dlp-android-curl, the paid Pro library.

Drop-in replacement — same API, no extra configuration:

// Replace YtDlp.init() with YtDlpCurl.init() — everything else is identical
YtDlpCurl.init(context);

→ Available on Jokobee · $24 individual / $62 team (5 devs) · includes Maven access + updates

Pro integration:

// settings.gradle
maven {
    url 'https://maven.pkg.github.com/ffmpegkit-maintained/yt-dlp-android-curl'
    credentials {
        username = "YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME"
        password = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" // provided after purchase
    }
}

// build.gradle
implementation 'dev.ffmpegkit_maintained:yt-dlp-android-curl:VERSION'  // version provided after purchase

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From the same maintainer

Need to process, encode or transcribe the videos you download?

ffmpeg-kit (maintained fork) — the community-maintained continuation of FFmpegKit (archived April 2025). Same API, updated for Android SDK 35 and 16 KB page sizes. Includes an optional WhisperKit tier for on-device speech recognition and SRT subtitle generation — no server required.

The natural companion to yt-dlp-android: download with this library, process with ffmpeg-kit.

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Requirements

• Android 7.0+ (API 24)
• ABI: arm64-v8a or x86_64
• INTERNET permission

Architecture

yt-dlp-android embeds a full Python 3.13 runtime inside the AAR via Chaquopy. No Python installation is needed on the device — the interpreter runs in-process inside your app.

Your app
  └─ yt-dlp-android (AAR, ~60–80 MB)
       ├─ Chaquopy runtime (CPython 3.13 · arm64-v8a + x86_64)
       ├─ yt-dlp (pure Python, version fixed at library build time)
       └─ certifi (CA certificates)

YtDlp.init(context) starts CPython in-process via Chaquopy's JNI bridge (libpython3.13.so). Every download call dispatches into ytdlp_runner.py, which calls yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(opts).download([url]) — pure Python, no subprocess, no native yt-dlp binary.

Limitations

Limitation	Details
No TLS fingerprint impersonation	Uses Python's default HTTP stack. Sites that block non-browser TLS fingerprints will return errors. Use the cookie-based workaround or upgrade to the Pro version.
AAR size ~60–80 MB	Includes CPython 3.13 for two ABI slices (arm64-v8a + x86_64) plus yt-dlp bytecode. Use Android App Bundles (AAB) + ABI splits to reduce per-device download size.
ABI: arm64-v8a + x86_64 only	32-bit devices (armeabi-v7a) are not supported.
yt-dlp not updatable in-app	Bundled at library build time. Update yt-dlp by bumping the library version in build.gradle.

What changed in v2.0.0

v2.0.0 replaces the youtubedl-android dependency with Chaquopy (Python 3.13 embedded). This makes the free and Pro versions share the same architecture and API — upgrading to Pro is a one-line change.

The Java API is compatible: YtDlp.init(), YtDlpRequest, YtDlpResponse, DownloadProgressCallback all work the same. The only removed feature is in-app yt-dlp updates (use a new library release instead).

License

MIT — see LICENSE

Third-Party Notices

Third-party components bundled or built into this project retain their original licenses. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt, which is also copied into the AAR assets at build time (readable at runtime via context.assets.open("THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt")).