SaveKaro - All Video Downloader

SaveKaro is a full-stack video downloader web application that extracts media metadata and provides downloadable formats using yt-dlp.

Live URL: https://savekaro-sv.vercel.app/

Overview

This repository contains:

• Frontend: React + Vite app for URL input, format listing, and browser download flow.
• Backend: Express API that extracts format metadata and streams downloaded files.
• Mobile: Placeholder directory for future mobile app work.

The app is designed for a simple user flow:

1. Paste a public video URL.
2. Extract available formats.
3. Choose a format.
4. Download media directly from the browser.

Key Features

• Multi-platform URL extraction via yt-dlp.
• Format-wise download options (quality, extension, resolution, file size).
• Binary streaming download endpoint from backend.
• Friendly API error handling for private/login-required/temporary blocked content.
• CORS configuration for local and deployed clients.
• Global API rate limiting.
• Temporary file cleanup for server storage hygiene.
• Production-safe Express middleware setup with centralized error handling.

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 19
• Vite 8
• Axios
• React Icons

Backend

• Node.js + Express 5
• yt-dlp-exec
• express-rate-limit
• cors
• morgan
• dotenv

Tooling

• ESLint (frontend)
• Nodemon (backend development)

Monorepo Structure

all-video-downloader/
  backend/
    src/
      controllers/
      middleware/
      routes/
      services/
      utils/
      temp/
  frontend/
    src/
      api/
      components/
      utils/
  mobile/

API Endpoints

Base URL (local): http://localhost:5000

• GET /

  • Health endpoint.
  • Returns service status, environment, uptime, timestamp.

• POST /api/v1/downloader/extract

  • Extracts media metadata and available formats.
  • Request body:

    {
      "url": "https://example.com/video"
    }

• POST /api/v1/downloader/download

  • Downloads selected format and streams file as binary.
  • Request body:

    {
      "url": "https://example.com/video",
      "format_id": "18"
    }

Environment Variables

Backend (backend/.env)

PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
JSON_LIMIT=1mb
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS=900000
RATE_LIMIT_MAX=120

# Optional: ffmpeg custom locations
FFMPEG_PATH=
FFMPEG_LOCATION=
FFMPEG_BINARY=

Notes:

• CLIENT_URL supports comma-separated origins.
• Backend auto-adds http://localhost:5173 to allowed origins.

Frontend (frontend/.env)

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000

Local Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm
• ffmpeg recommended on server for best merge/format compatibility

1) Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
npm run dev

Backend runs on: http://localhost:5000

2) Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend runs on: http://localhost:5173

Production / Deployment Notes

Live frontend is hosted at:

• https://savekaro-sv.vercel.app/

Important behavior observed in deployment:

• YouTube downloads may be blocked intermittently in hosted environment.
• Instagram may also be blocked in some cases.
• Facebook links are working more reliably.
• On localhost, all currently supported flows work as expected.

Possible reasons:

• Platform anti-bot/rate-limit controls.
• Region/network level restrictions.
• Host environment differences (binary/network/cookies/runtime constraints).

Current Limitations

• Some platforms may require login, cookies, or fail due to temporary blocking.
• Availability can vary by source platform and deployment environment.
• Download success depends on current extractor compatibility of yt-dlp for the URL.

Future Roadmap

• Build and release a dedicated mobile APK for Android.
• Improve reliability for blocked platforms in hosted deployments.
• Add retry intelligence and platform-specific fallback strategies.
• Add analytics and download job observability.

Scripts

Backend

• npm run dev - Run backend with Nodemon.
• npm start - Run backend in production mode.

Frontend

• npm run dev - Start Vite dev server.
• npm run build - Build production frontend.
• npm run preview - Preview production build locally.
• npm run lint - Run ESLint checks.

Security and Compliance Note

Use this project responsibly and only for content you have rights/permission to download. Platform terms of service and regional regulations may apply.

Author

Shivam Verma