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Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

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Re: Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

#4

Post by progbits »

Can anyone explain specifically what the YT code does that the existing python interpreter is unusable and apparently quickjs takes 20 minutes to run it?

Is it just a lot of CPU-bound code and the modern JIT runtimes are simply that much faster, or is it doing some trickery that deno optimizes well?

Re: Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

#5

Post by adzm »

I was surprised they went with Deno instead of Node, but since Deno has a readily available single-exe distribution that removes a lot of potential pain. This was pretty much just a matter of time, though; the original interpreter in Python was a brilliant hack but limited in capability. It was discussed a few years ago for the YouTube-dl project here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32793061

Re: Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

#7

Post by nicce »

adzm wrote: post #5

I was surprised they went with Deno instead of Node, but since Deno has a readily available single-exe distribution that removes a lot of potential pain. This was pretty much just a matter of time, though; the original interpreter in Python was a brilliant hack but limited in capability. It was discussed a few years ago for the YouTube-dl project here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32793061

Node does not have the concept of security and isolation like the Deno has. There is maintainer comment in the same thread.

Re: Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

#8

Post by progbits »

progbits wrote: post #4

Can anyone explain specifically what the YT code does that the existing python interpreter is unusable and apparently quickjs takes 20 minutes to run it? Is it just a lot of CPU-bound code and the modern JIT runtimes are simply that much faster, or is it doing some trickery that deno optimizes well?

From https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/33186

> Currently, a new style of player JS is beginning to be sent where the challenge code is no longer modular but is hooked into other code throughout the player JS.

So it's no longer a standalone script that can be interpreted but it depends on all the other code on the site? Which could still be interpreted maybe but is a lot more complex and might need DOM etc?

Just guessing here, if anyone knows the details would love to hear more.

Re: Yt-dlp: Upcoming new requirements for YouTube downloads

#9

Post by piyuv »

I’m a paying YouTube premium subscriber. Last weekend, I wanted to download something so I can watch it on my way in the train. The app got stuck at “waiting for download..” on my iPad. Same on iPhone. Restart did not work. I gave up after an hour (30 mins hands on trying stuff, 30 mins waiting for it to fix itself). Downloaded the video using yt-dlp, transferred it to my USB c flash drive, and watched it from that.

Awaiting their “premium cannot be shared with people outside household” policy so I can finally cancel. Family members make good use of ad-free.

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