# Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader: A C# Desktop App for Downloading YouTube Videos and Playlists > YoutubeDownloader is a cross-platform GUI application built on YoutubeExplode that downloads videos, playlists, channels and search results. It is a desktop tool for people who want a window and a format picker rather than a command line. **Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader** — Downloads videos and playlists from YouTube - Repository: https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader - Website: https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader/releases - Stars: 16,329 · Forks: 2,069 - Language: C# - License: MIT - Published: 2026-09-21 · Updated: 2026-09-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/tyrrrz-youtubedownloader ## What Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader actually does The README describes it in one line: an application that lets you download videos from YouTube. You paste the URL of a video, a playlist or a channel, and the app downloads it in a format you choose. It also searches by keyword, so you can find a video inside the app and download it without leaving for a browser. The intended user is someone at a desktop. The repository layout is a .NET solution: YoutubeDownloader.slnx, a YoutubeDownloader/ project and a YoutubeDownloader.Core/ project, with Directory.Build.props and Directory.Packages.props at the top level. There is no server component, no Dockerfile and no CLI entry point listed. If you were hoping to drop this into a cron job or a container, the README gives you nothing to work with. The GUI is the product. The feature list is short and concrete: cross-platform GUI, download by URL, download from playlists or channels, download by search query, selectable quality and format, automatic embedding of audio tracks in alternative languages, automatic subtitle embedding, automatic media tag injection, and login with a YouTube account for private content. That last item is the one that separates it from a plain scraper: the app can carry your session, which is what private or restricted content requires. ## How the app talks to YouTube: YoutubeExplode underneath YoutubeDownloader does not talk to YouTube itself. The README states that it uses YoutubeExplode under the hood, and links to a blog post on reverse-engineering YouTube. That is the architecture in one sentence: this repository is the UI and the download orchestration, and YoutubeExplode is the client that resolves URLs, extracts stream information and fetches media. The practical consequence is that the failure mode is shared. When YouTube changes something on its side, the fix lands in YoutubeExplode, and this app picks it up when its dependency is bumped. The README does not document a fallback path, an alternate extractor, or a bundled copy of anything that would keep downloads working independently of that library. So the question "does it still work" is really a question about the current state of YoutubeExplode and about how recently the app's package references were updated. The Core project in the repository layout suggests the download logic is separated from the window, but the README does not describe a public API on that project or a way to consume it from your own code. Treat the separation as internal structure, not as a supported library surface. ## Installing YoutubeDownloader and downloading your first playlist The README points at the releases page for the stable build, and the homepage field in the repository metadata is the same releases URL. There is no installer walkthrough; you download the build for your platform and run it. On Windows, the README lists a community-maintained Scoop package: ```bash scoop install extras/youtubedownloader ``` On Arch, there is a community-maintained AUR package: ```bash yay -S youtubedownloader ``` The README adds a caveat that matters: community-maintained packages are published independently from this repository and may not always be up to date with the latest release. If you want the current version, the releases page is the source of truth. On macOS, the README warns that you may need to clear the quarantine attribute before the app will launch: ```bash xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine YoutubeDownloader.app ``` That is a Gatekeeper workaround, not a signing story. The README does not say the app is notarized, so expect to run that command after each download. Once it opens, the workflow the README describes is paste-and-choose: paste a video, playlist or channel URL, or type a search query, then pick quality and format. The app handles subtitle embedding, alternative-language audio tracks and media tag injection automatically, meaning you do not configure those per download. If you need private content, log in with a YouTube account from inside the app. ## Where YoutubeDownloader is the wrong tool The README's own status badge reads maintenance. That is the project's self-description, and it should shape expectations: a maintenance status is not the same as active feature development, and the README does not promise new capabilities. The last push to the default branch was on 2026-09-11, and release 1.17 carries the same date, so the code is not dormant, but the label tells you what kind of work to expect. The second limitation is structural. There is no documented command-line interface, no configuration file format, no environment variables and no headless mode. If your use case is "download this channel's new uploads every night on a server," this app does not fit. You would be launching a GUI, or reimplementing the Core project yourself, and the README does not present that project as a supported API. The third is the dependency. Because the extraction lives in YoutubeExplode, this app cannot fix a YouTube-side change on its own. The README documents no workaround, no proxy configuration, no cookie export path beyond logging in through the app, and no rate-limit handling. When something breaks, the answer is a new release, and you are waiting on someone else's schedule. Finally, the terms of use section is unusual. By using the project, the README states you grant implicit agreement to a set of political statements about Russia and Ukraine. That is not a technical constraint, but it is part of adopting this software, and teams with policies about political statements in their dependency chain should read it before deployment. ## YoutubeDownloader compared with yt-dlp The obvious alternative for anyone who can use a terminal is yt-dlp, and the difference is not cosmetic. yt-dlp is a command-line program; YoutubeDownloader is a graphical application. That single distinction drives everything else. With a CLI you get scripting, scheduling, piping, batch files and integration into existing automation. You also get a different maintenance model: yt-dlp is a standalone Python program that ships its own extractors, so a YouTube change is fixed in the same artifact you run. YoutubeDownloader delegates extraction to YoutubeExplode, a .NET library, so the fix arrives through a package bump and a new app release. The trade-off runs the other way too. A GUI gives you a format picker that shows what is actually available for the item you pasted, rather than a list of format codes you have to interpret. Subtitle embedding, alternative-language audio tracks and media tag injection are described as automatic in the README, which means you do not assemble the equivalent flags yourself. For someone who downloads a handful of videos a week and does not want to read format tables, that is the whole point. Neither tool is a superset of the other. If your work is a shell script, yt-dlp is the shape you want. If your work is a window and a paste, YoutubeDownloader is the shape you want. ## Maintenance cost, packaging and the MIT licence The repository is MIT licensed, per License.txt at the top level. MIT is permissive: it allows use, modification and redistribution with the licence and copyright notice preserved. That is a statement about the licence text, not legal advice about your situation, and it says nothing about YouTube's own terms of service, which the README does not address at all. Upgrade cost is low on the surface and uncertain underneath. There is no database, no server and no migration path to worry about; you replace the binary. The Scoop and AUR packages are community-maintained and the README explicitly warns they may lag behind the latest release, so a package manager upgrade may not give you the version that contains a fix. If a download stops working, check the releases page before you assume the package is current. What you are really maintaining is a dependency on someone else's reverse-engineering work. The README links to a write-up on how YoutubeExplode interacts with YouTube, which is a fair signal that the maintainers treat this as an ongoing problem rather than a solved one. Budget for the possibility that the app stops working for a period and that the remedy is a release you do not control. ## Conclusion Adopt YoutubeDownloader if you want a desktop GUI that takes a pasted URL or a search query and writes a file, and if you accept that the project labels itself maintenance and that the client library, not this app, decides whether YouTube keeps serving it. Skip it if you need a headless pipeline, a server-side job, or a guarantee of long-term feature work; the README documents no CLI, no daemon mode and no plugin surface. Before you commit, download the build for your platform from the releases page, run it against one video and one playlist, and check whether the quality and format options you need actually appear in the picker for that content. ## FAQ ### How do I install Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader? Download the stable build from the releases page listed in the README, or use a community-maintained package such as scoop install extras/youtubedownloader on Windows or yay -S youtubedownloader on Arch. On macOS, the README says you may need to run xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine YoutubeDownloader.app before the app will launch. ### How do I use the YoutubeDownloader app? Paste the URL of a video, playlist or channel, or type a search query, then choose the quality and format you want. The README states that subtitles, alternative-language audio tracks and media tags are embedded automatically, and that you can log in with a YouTube account to reach private content. ### Which YouTube downloader is best for PC? This article only covers Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader, which is a cross-platform GUI app that downloads by URL, playlist, channel or search query. It delegates extraction to YoutubeExplode, and its README labels the project status as maintenance, so it is a desktop tool rather than an automation component. ## Sources - [License: MIT](https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader/blob/prime/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader/releases) - [README](https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader/blob/prime/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader/releases) - [Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader on GitHub](https://github.com/Tyrrrz/YoutubeDownloader) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/tyrrrz-youtubedownloader