Download videos directly from the YouTube app on Android using Termux

Boredom proves useful (again)

A week or so ago, I was a bit bored. I didn't really know what to do. This happens quite often, I reckon. But during that initial state of boredom I decided to search the Web for interesting things I can do using Termux on Android. And that's when the fun started. Just a quick Google search and I've came across a Reddit post that proved itself insanely valuable. I've found a way to download videos to my phone directly from the YouTube app.

Following the Reddit post

As I've said before I had nothing in particular to do. Therefore I've decided to try what Reddit post has suggested.

What I want to do now is walk you thru the steps necessary to configure Termux in a way that will allow you to download YouTube videos straight from the app. First, I'll go thru the steps described in the Reddit post. Following that I'll also show you how to make downloading the videos a bit easier. If you follow this blog post till the end, you will be able to choose between video, audio and both formats when downloading videos.

Now come and join me on this epic journey. ;-)

If you haven't already, please install Termux from Google Play Store.

Alternatively (preferably, if you ask me), download Termux from F-Droid.

Hint: Termux is free in Google Play Store as well in F-Droid. But Termux:API, which you will need if you want to follow the second part of the tutorial (my customizations) costs 2.09 EUR in Google Play Store. However, it's free if you download it from F-Droid (you can still donate to the developer if you wish).

First, we update and upgrade Termux apps:

apt update && apt upgrade

Giving Termux access to phone's filesystem via ~/storage/shared is a piece of cake:

termux-setup-storage

After that we need to install some packages:

#install python
pkg install python 

#install youtube-dl
pip install youtube-dl

At this point I was already thinking about downloading not only video but also audio files (more on that later), therefore I've created folders in which I'll be saving downloaded video (and audio) files. We will do the same, because, why not:

mkdir -p /data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/{audio,video}

In order to tell youtube-dl how and where to download files, we create a configuration file ~/.config/youtube-dl/config:

#open new file using nano
nano ~/.config/youtube-dl/config

In that file, we put the following:

--no-mtime
-o /data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/video/%(title)s.%(ext)s
-f "best[height<=1080]"

The [height<=1080] tells youtube-dl to download the best quality version up to 1080px in width. You can change it to 240, 360, 420, 720, etc. to suit your needs/bandwidth restrictions.

We then save the file with Ctrl+O ("Volume-down"+O) and close nano with Ctrl+X ("Vol-down"+X).

In order to be able to "open" YouTube videos using Termux, we need to create termux-url-opener file in ~/bin:

mkdir ~/bin
cd ~/bin
nano termux-url-opener

In that file, we place:

youtube-dl $1

Save the file with Ctrl+O ("Volume-down"+O) and close nano with Ctrl+X ("Vol-down"+X).

And viola, we are done!

Now when you want to download a YouTube video from within the Youtube app, click Share under the video, then choose Termux. Termux will open and the download will start. Downloaded videos will be available in the Youtube/video folder in the root of your internal storage.

Making the experience even better

I know youtube-dl. I use it often enough on my computer. And I know that it is capable of downloading just the audio from any YouTube video. Therefore the idea of having the ability to choose which format to download seemed appealing to me. And I was 100% sure I can bring that idea to life. And I did it. I've made myself a script which opens up a popup window where I choose the format. The chosen format is then downloaded into the appropriate folder on my phone.

Now come and follow me. I'm sure you won't regret it. :-)

First, install Termux:API either from Google Play Store (2.09 EUR) or from F-Droid (free).

Then open Termux app and run:

pkg install termux-api

Now we need to make a script which will ask us to choose the format and then download whatever format we choose. To get the user's choice, we will use a Termux:API implementation called termux-dialog.

Now go ahead and copy&paste the code below into ~/bin/ytdl.sh in Termux. Or you can download the script from my GitHub repository and save it into ~/bin/ytdl.sh in Termux.

#!/bin/bash

CHOICE="$(termux-dialog radio -v "Video only,Audio only,Video and audio" -t "Select format:" | grep index | tr -d -c 0-9 &)"

if [ "$CHOICE" = 0 ]
then
    youtube-dl -o "/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/video/%(title)s.%(ext)s" $1
elif [ "$CHOICE" = 1 ]
then
    youtube-dl -o "/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/audio/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -f 140 $1 
else
    youtube-dl -o "/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/video/%(title)s.%(ext)s" $1
    youtube-dl -o "/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/shared/Youtube/audio/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -f 140 $1
fi

Now we need to make this script executable. In Termux type:

chmod +x ~/bin/ytdl.sh

In order for youtube-dl to work properly we need to edit its configuration file:

#open youtube-dl config file with nano
nano ~/.config/youtube-dl/config

Now replace the current content of the configuration file with the following:

--no-mtime
-f "best[height<=1080]"

Again, the [height<=1080] tells youtube-dl to download the best quality version up to 1080px in width. You can change it to 240, 360, 420, 720, etc. to suit your needs/bandwidth restrictions.

The only thing left to do now is changing the termux-url-opener file. Go ahead and open that file with nano:

nano ~/bin/termux-url-opener

Replace the current content of the file with the following:

bash /data/data/com.termux/files/home/bin/ytdl.sh $1

That's it. We are done. Now go ahead and give it a try.