Tartube: a Gtk front-end where the downloader stays a separate program

A front-end, with the downloader staying separate

Tartube is a graphical front-end for youtube-dl, yt-dlp and other compatible video downloaders. It is written in Python 3 with Gtk 3 and runs on MS Windows, Linux, BSD and MacOS, under the LGPL.

The important structural point is that the downloader is a separate program, not a library baked into the application. The first run makes that concrete: a setup window appears, you are asked to choose a folder where the application can store videos, and then you are asked to choose a downloader.

What happens next depends on your system. On some systems you are prompted to install the downloader and FFmpeg from inside the application. On other systems you have to install them yourself. That difference is not incidental: it is the line between a distribution that lets a bundled installer write to your system and one that does not, and it is why the same build behaves differently across Linux packaging formats.

Two ways to add the same channel

The application offers two workflows, and choosing between them is the first decision a new user makes.

The database mode is the fuller one. You find a channel on a video site, click the button to add a new channel or use the menu path Media and Add channel, and in the dialogue you enter the channel name and its URL. Click OK, then click the check all button and Tartube fetches the list of videos in the channel. Click all videos to see that list, and download all to fetch them. Because the channel is stored rather than pasted, this is the mode that grows with use.

Classic mode is the minimal one. You paste the channel URL into the box at the top of the tab, click the button to select a download destination and a video or audio format, click the add URLs button, and then click download all when you are ready.

The two modes exist because the first needs state and the second does not, and the documentation describes both in full rather than treating Classic mode as a legacy fallback.

Stable and development versions run on different clocks

Two versions are named at the top of the documentation, and they are not close together. The stable release is v2.5.231, dated 24 May 2026, and the development release is v2.5.250, dated 21 September 2026.

The published release history puts that in perspective: v2.5.164 in August 2025, v2.5.197 in January 2026, and v2.5.231 in May 2026. So the stable line moves roughly every three to five months, while the development build was already nineteen revisions past it in September, with the repository's last commit on the same date.

Practically, that means the development release is where fixes land first and where regressions land first too. If you install the stable build you get May's code; if you follow the repository you get the current tree, and the two are far enough apart that they behave as different applications on the sites whose pages change often.

STRICT packages exist because distribution rules forbid bundled updates

Among the download options there is a variant worth understanding rather than skipping: official STRICT packages.

In these packages, updates to youtube-dl from within Tartube have been disabled. The reasoning given is about distribution rather than about the user: if Tartube is to be uploaded to a repository with a lot of rules, such as the official Debian repository, then the STRICT packages are the ones you should use.

That is a self imposed constraint, and it tells you something useful about the project. A desktop application that can update a network client on your machine is convenient and is exactly the sort of behaviour strict distributions forbid, so instead of removing the feature the project ships a second flavour with it turned off.

The same reasoning explains why the long description inside `setup.py` is written differently from the public documentation: it is modified only for the Debian and RPM packages. Read the version your package manager shows you, not the website, when the two disagree.

Where to download it, and which sources are official

The documentation opens with an instruction that tells you what kind of project this is: download Tartube from trustworthy websites, not fake ones, with the link pointing at the project's own releases page.

The official packages come from SourceForge. On Windows there is a 64-bit installer, a separate 64-bit installer that bundles FFmpeg, and a portable edition as a ZIP. For Linux there is a DEB for Debian-based distributions such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and an RPM for RHEL-based ones such as Fedora. The source tarball is also on SourceForge, with the source and issue tracker on GitHub, and there is an official backup on GitLab in case the GitHub repository goes away.

Semi-official packages exist for Windows through Chocolatey, for Arch through the AUR, and for Gentoo as an ebuild in the src_prepare-overlay repository.

One support statement is worth noting before you pick a package: Tartube is no longer supported on older versions of MS Windows, and the FAQ names 32-bit Windows, Windows 7 and Windows 8 specifically.

The feature list is also a list of things it will not do

Several of the advertised features are absences rather than additions, which is unusual and worth reading closely.

Tartube will not manipulate search results, will not repeatedly unsubscribe you from your favourite channels, and will not deliberately conceal videos. Those three claims are about the platform's own behaviour and about what a downloader front-end should not add on top.

The positive features follow the same logic of restraint. It can fetch a list of videos from a channel rather than just a single URL. If buffering is an issue, it can download a temporary copy and then open that copy in your media player automatically. It can organise videos into folders if you want that. It can alert you when livestreams and debut videos are starting, which works on YouTube, Twitch and Odysee by default. If a creator uploads to more than one site, such as YouTube and BitChute, it can watch both without creating duplicates.

And for the case where a site removes a video against its creator's wishes before you have seen it, it can make an archive copy, including an audio only copy when you would rather not keep the video.

The repository is packaging heavy and the Makefile has two targets

The tree tells you what kind of project this is. Alongside `tartube/`, `docs/`, `tests/`, `setup.py`, `VERSION`, `CHANGES`, `AUTHORS` and `LICENSE`, there are `nsis/` for the Windows installer, `pack/` for packaging, `locale/` for translations, `sounds/` for notification sounds, `icons/` and `screenshots/`.

The Windows entry points are in the tree as well: `tartube_64bit.bat`, `tartube_mswin.sh` and `tartube_mswin_repair.sh`, which is the repair script for a Windows installation that has gone wrong.

The `Makefile` has two targets and no more. `init` runs `pip install -r requirements.txt`, and `test` runs `nosetests tests`. A build and packaging toolchain that spans Windows installers, DEB, RPM and portable archives is driven from elsewhere; the Makefile is for setting up a development checkout, not for releasing.

The `setup.py` header carries the licence text and a copyright line running from 2019 to 2026, which is a reasonable proxy for how long the project has been in circulation.

Editorial conclusion

Use Tartube if you want a desktop application rather than a command line for the video sites it supports, and if you want scheduled channel fetching with livestream and debut alerts rather than a one-off download. It suits people who follow channels and want the archive organised locally, and its database mode with status tracking fits that better than pasting URLs. Skip it if you are scripting downloads, because the value here is the interface, and skip the development build unless you are testing a fix, since it sits a full minor series ahead of the stable one. Before installing, take the package from the releases page or SourceForge rather than a search result, choose STRICT packages if you are packaging for a strict distribution repository, and check the support statement about 32-bit Windows and Windows 7 or 8.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. axcore/tartube on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: LGPL-2.1
4. README
5. Releases