yt-dlp Player

YT-DLP Web Player is a web player that plays internet videos using yt-dlp as its backend.

Its core goals are fast loading and universal playback. Most videos open within 4 seconds, and if that fails, it progressively falls back to starting transcoding, and if that still fails, it downloads the entire file.

Key features include:

• URL pasting, search query input, automatic clipboard pasting
• Fullscreen/fit-to-device zoom, loop playback, download
• Audio visualizer for music
• PWA and share target support for Android/iOS
• Clean UI with configurable theme colors
• SponsorBlock integration for YouTube
• A browser extension that embeds the player on any site and adds Open link in YT-DLP Player to the context menu

The tech stack is also specified.

• HLS: for short loading times and improved performance
• video.js: for custom video element support
• yt-dlp: for video extraction/downloading
• ffmpeg: to ensure format compatibility
• Media Session API: for system playback control integration
• Audio Context API: for over-amplification and the visualizer

The limitations are also clear.

• Only videos supported by yt-dlp can be played
• All videos are HLS transcoded in real time, so server performance matters
• Transcoding proceeds from the start of the video, so later sections may require waiting for buffering
• Some features are disabled by default and require .env configuration

Docker Compose is the preferred deployment method, though local execution is also possible. However, it states that no official hosted instance is provided due to the anti-bot policies of popular video platforms.