pytube/pytube
Lightweight, dependency-free Python library and CLI for downloading YouTube videos, playlists, and captions. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
23/100
- Activity 0
- Release rhythm 8
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 5281
- days_rel: n/a
- days_push: 748
- n_releases_24m: 0
Adoption not part of the score
13169 stars · 2489 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
pytube is a lightweight, dependency-free Python library and command-line utility for downloading YouTube videos, playlists, and caption tracks. It supports progressive and DASH streams, progress/complete callbacks, and exports captions to SRT format.
Use cases
- download a youtube video from a python script
- save youtube playlists locally
- extract youtube captions as srt files
- cli tool to download youtube videos
- get youtube video thumbnail urls
- script bulk youtube downloads with progress callbacks
When to choose
- you need a pure-Python YouTube downloader with no third-party dependencies
- you want programmatic access to streams, captions, and metadata
- you prefer a simple CLI for quick downloads
When to avoid
- you need guaranteed reliability against frequent YouTube API changes, since pytube often breaks and requires updates
- you need features like format conversion, metadata tagging, or sponsorblock support that yt-dlp provides
- you need long-term maintenance guarantees
Facets
library · maturity maintenance
video-processing http-client cli media developer-tools python cli cross-platform youtube-downloader youtube video-download captions playlists no-dependencies video automation
3 sources
- readme: https://github.com/pytube/pytube · fetched 2026-08-28 · e54a9bc936ed
- homepage: https://pytube.io · fetched 2026-08-29 · 5a737271f831
- registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/pytube/json · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1f817c709dfd
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| pytube/pytube | main | 23 |
For agents
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem