Media Information Download

Terminal application for downloading media from YouTube URLs or RSS feeds, converting audio to MP3, and generating Whisper Markdown transcripts.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• ffmpeg on PATH
• A terminal with ANSI escape support for the framed TUI. macOS Terminal, iTerm2, Windows Terminal, and current PowerShell terminals are supported.

macOS:

brew install ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version

Windows:

winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
ffmpeg -version

Python dependencies are installed into the project-local .venv folder. Run commands from this folder so the local environment is used.

macOS Setup

Option 1, installer script:

zsh scripts/install_macos.sh
./run.sh

Option 2, manual setup:

brew install ffmpeg
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements-transcribe.txt

Optional editable install:

source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[transcribe]"

Windows Setup

Use Windows Terminal or PowerShell. Install Python 3.10+ and ffmpeg first, then use the local project environment.

Option 1, installer script:

winget install Python.Python.3.12
winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\install_windows.ps1
.\run.ps1

Option 2, manual setup:

py -3 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements-transcribe.txt
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e ".[transcribe]"
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe media_tui.py

After editable install, these console commands are available inside the active environment on both platforms:

media-information-download
media-info-download
media-info-cli

npm Install

The package is also published as an npm CLI wrapper. It still requires Python 3.10+ and ffmpeg on PATH.

npm install -g @jakende/media-info-cli
media-info-cli

On first run, the npm wrapper creates a Python virtual environment in ~/.media-information-download/venv and installs the Python dependencies there. Npm installs write generated media and transcripts to ~/.media-information-download/output by default.

To create a Desktop alias/shortcut to the output folder:

media-info-cli --desktop-output-alias

To use a different venv or output location:

MEDIA_INFORMATION_DOWNLOAD_VENV=/path/to/venv media-information-download
MEDIA_OUTPUT_DIR=/path/to/output media-information-download

TUI

./run.sh

or:

source .venv/bin/activate
python3 media_tui.py

On Windows:

.\run.ps1

If the project is installed into the active environment, you can also run:

media-information-download
media-info-cli

The TUI lets you choose YouTube or RSS input, start downloads, watch progress messages, trigger transcription, and list or open generated files. Long-running download, MP3 conversion, and transcription steps show a visible WORKING activity bar while active. Interactive screens render inside a left-aligned framed viewport that resizes with the current terminal window.

Keyboard controls:

• Navigation controls are shown at the bottom of the active menu or submenu
• Up/Down: move through selectable menu items
• Enter: select
• Backspace: go back from a submenu or choice screen
• Escape: cancel/back from submenus; quit from the main menu
• URL entry screens show their own controls: type or paste text, Enter continues, Backspace/Escape goes back
• Paste is supported in URL entry screens, including terminal bracketed paste, macOS clipboard paste, and Windows clipboard paste with Ctrl+V in PowerShell/Windows Terminal

For multiple YouTube URLs, separate entries with commas, spaces, or line breaks:

https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_TWO, https://youtu.be/VIDEO_THREE

Non-Interactive Usage

Download and transcribe a YouTube URL:

python3 media_tui.py --source youtube --url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Download and convert a YouTube URL to MP3 without transcription:

python3 media_tui.py --source youtube --url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --no-transcribe

Download supported media from an RSS feed and transcribe it:

python3 media_tui.py --source rss --url "https://example.com/feed.xml"

Compatibility commands still work:

python3 youtube_download.py --url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
python3 youtube_download_transcribe.py --url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Configuration

• MEDIA_OUTPUT_DIR: output folder. Defaults to ./output
• YTDL_OUTPUT_DIR: legacy output folder fallback
• WHISPER_MODEL: Whisper model. Defaults to large
• WHISPER_LANGUAGE: optional language code. If unset, Whisper auto-detects language
• YTDL_COOKIES_FROM_BROWSER: optional browser cookies for YouTube, for example safari or chrome

All generated audio is saved as .mp3. Non-MP3 RSS downloads are converted and removed as intermediates, so new RSS audio output does not remain as .wav. Transcripts are saved as .md next to the MP3 files.

Architecture

• media_tui.py: direct script entry point
• youtube_download.py: compatibility entry point for YouTube download and MP3 conversion
• youtube_download_transcribe.py: compatibility entry point for YouTube download, MP3 conversion, and transcription
• media_information_download/sources/: input source handling for YouTube and RSS
• media_information_download/downloaders/: YouTube and HTTP media downloaders
• media_information_download/audio.py: audio extraction and MP3 conversion
• media_information_download/transcription.py: Whisper model loading and transcription, adapted from the macOS transcription workflow
• media_information_download/output.py: Markdown transcript and output file handling
• media_information_download/pipeline.py: orchestration across source, download, conversion, transcription, and output
• media_information_download/tui.py: terminal UI and non-interactive CLI entry point

This structure keeps new media sources or formats isolated to source handlers, downloaders, and supported format lists.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.