YouTube Extractor

This powerful little app extracts just about everything from a YouTube video.

1. Open a new folder in VisualStudio and create a new file called: extract_youtube_video.py
2. Copy and paste this code and save.

import yt_dlp
import json
from pathlib import Path

def main():
    print("🎙️ Output.GURU YouTube Audio + Metadata Extractor\n")

    # Ask for URL
    url = input("Enter YouTube URL: ").strip()
    if not url:
        print("❌ No URL entered. Exiting.")
        return

    # Extract metadata only (no download yet)
    with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL({"skip_download": True}) as ydl:
        info = ydl.extract_info(url, download=False)
        title = info.get("title", "outputguru_audio")
        license_type = info.get("license", "Unknown")

    print(f"\n📄 Video: {title}")
    print(f"📄 License: {license_type}")

    # License check
    if "Creative Commons" not in license_type:
        print("⚠️ WARNING: This video is NOT under a Creative Commons license!")
        choice = input("Do you still want to proceed with download? (y/N): ").strip().lower()
        if choice != "y":
            print("🚫 Download cancelled.")
            return
    else:
        print("✅ Creative Commons license detected. Safe to proceed.")

    # Ask for format
    fmt = input("Preferred audio format (default=mp3): ").strip().lower() or "mp3"

    # Ask for quality
    quality = input("Preferred quality (default=192): ").strip() or "192"

    print("\n⏳ Downloading... please wait\n")

    ydl_opts = {
        "format": "bestaudio/best",
        "outtmpl": "%(title)s.%(ext)s",
        "postprocessors": [
            {
                "key": "FFmpegExtractAudio",
                "preferredcodec": fmt,
                "preferredquality": quality,
            }
        ],
        "writeinfojson": True,   # save metadata JSON
        "writethumbnail": True,  # save thumbnail image
    }

    with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
        info = ydl.extract_info(url, download=True)

    # File paths
    audio_file = Path(f"{title}.{fmt}")
    json_file = Path(f"{title}.info.json")
    thumb_file = Path(f"{title}.jpg")

    # Show results
    if audio_file.exists():
        print(f"✅ Audio saved: {audio_file.name}")
    if json_file.exists():
        print(f"✅ Metadata saved: {json_file.name}")
    if thumb_file.exists():
        print(f"✅ Thumbnail saved: {thumb_file.name}")

    print("\n🎉 Done! Files are saved in the current folder.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

3. Required Dependencies

Open terminal inside your root folder and install these dependencies.

pip install yt-dlp

4. Install FFmpeg (Windows)

• Download from: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ (get the release full .zip).
• Extract it, e.g. to: C:\ffmpeg\
• Add C:\ffmpeg\bin to your PATH:
  • Windows Search → “Environment Variables”
  • Edit Path → Add new entry: C:\ffmpeg\bin
• Verify: ffmpeg -version → should print version info.

5. Open a terminal window inside your folder and type in python extract_yoube_video.py

Example output: When ran in Terminal in Visual Studio

The audio file, thumbnail image and JSON metadata are saved in the root folder.