SoundCloudOpen

SoundCloudOpen is a free, open-source, cross-platform command-line frontend for yt-dlp that bulk-downloads SoundCloud playlists/tracks together with artwork and metadata.

Use SoundCloudOpen only for audio you own, content SoundCloud explicitly permits you to download, or content you otherwise have permission to save. It does not bypass SoundCloud account permissions or DRM.

What it does

The default download mirrors the working workflow:

• downloads the whole playlist
• continues past individual failures
• resumes interrupted downloads
• does not overwrite completed files
• saves separate JPG artwork for every track
• embeds artwork into the audio file
• embeds available metadata
• converts audio to high-quality MP3 by default
• numbers files in playlist order
• supports authenticated/private playlists by reading cookies from your own browser session

Output:

~/Music/SoundCloud/
└── Playlist Name/
    ├── 001 - Artist - Track.mp3
    ├── 002 - Artist - Track.mp3
    └── Artwork/
        ├── 001 - Artist - Track.jpg
        └── 002 - Artist - Track.jpg

Platforms

CI tests the project on:

• macOS
• Windows
• Linux
• Python 3.10 and 3.12

Docker is also supported.

Browsers supported for authenticated cookies include Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and Safari where supported by yt-dlp.

Get SoundCloudOpen

Clone the public repository:

git clone https://github.com/sonoxo/soundcloudopen.git
cd soundcloudopen

macOS / Linux

bash scripts/install.sh

Or manually:

python3 -m pip install .

FFmpeg must be installed. On macOS:

brew install ffmpeg

Windows

From PowerShell:

git clone https://github.com/sonoxo/soundcloudopen.git
cd soundcloudopen
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process Bypass
.\scripts\install.ps1

Check the setup

soundcloudopen --check

Short alias:

sco --check

Download a playlist

soundcloudopen "https://soundcloud.com/USERNAME/sets/PLAYLIST"

For a private playlist visible in Chrome:

soundcloudopen --browser chrome "https://soundcloud.com/USERNAME/sets/PLAYLIST"

Browser auto-detection is enabled by default:

soundcloudopen "https://soundcloud.com/USERNAME/sets/PLAYLIST"

For a public playlist with no browser-cookie access:

soundcloudopen --browser none "https://soundcloud.com/USERNAME/sets/PLAYLIST"

Working example

soundcloudopen --browser chrome "https://soundcloud.com/almightysonoxo/sets/all-songs"

Choose another output folder

macOS/Linux:

soundcloudopen -o "$HOME/Desktop/SoundCloud" "PLAYLIST_URL"

Windows PowerShell:

soundcloudopen -o "$HOME\Desktop\SoundCloud" "PLAYLIST_URL"

Other audio formats

soundcloudopen --format m4a "PLAYLIST_URL"
soundcloudopen --format flac "PLAYLIST_URL"
soundcloudopen --format wav "PLAYLIST_URL"
soundcloudopen --format opus "PLAYLIST_URL"

Note: converting a lossy SoundCloud source to FLAC/WAV does not increase original source quality.

Save metadata JSON too

soundcloudopen --save-json "PLAYLIST_URL"

List tracks without downloading

soundcloudopen --list "PLAYLIST_URL"

See the exact yt-dlp command

soundcloudopen --print-command --browser chrome "PLAYLIST_URL"

Docker

Build:

docker build -t soundcloudopen .

Public playlist example:

docker run --rm -v "$HOME/Music/SoundCloud:/root/Music/SoundCloud" soundcloudopen --browser none "PLAYLIST_URL"

Browser cookie extraction is intended for native installs because host-browser cookie databases are not automatically available inside a container.

Under the hood

The core download intentionally maps to these yt-dlp options:

--yes-playlist
--ignore-errors
--continue
--no-overwrites
--write-thumbnail
--convert-thumbnails jpg
--embed-thumbnail
--embed-metadata
--extract-audio
--audio-format mp3
--audio-quality 0

Authenticated playlists add:

--cookies-from-browser <browser>

Development

python3 -m pip install -e . pytest
pytest -q

License

MIT