lyt

Tired of sketchy ad-filled websites just to download a YouTube video?

lyt kills that workflow. One command, clean output, no browser needed.

yt3 "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"           # grab audio
yt4 -q 1080p "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"  # grab video

• yt3 for audio, yt4 for video, lyt for the full CLI
• Pick quality by name — -q 1080p, -q 4k, -q best — no memorizing format codes
• Download multiple links in parallel with --jobs
• Auto-installs yt-dlp and ffmpeg on first use — no manual setup
• Interactive mode if you'd rather be prompted than remember flags
• Zero runtime npm dependencies. Small on purpose.

npm install -g lyt

Note: Only download content you own or have permission to use. Downloading from YouTube may violate their Terms of Service depending on how you use it. You are responsible for your own use of this tool.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer

That's it. lyt fetches yt-dlp and ffmpeg automatically the first time it needs them — no manual setup required.

| OS | Where they're cached | | --- | --- | | Windows | %LOCALAPPDATA%\lyt\bin | | macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/lyt/bin | | Linux | ~/.local/share/lyt/bin |

yt-dlp downloads are verified against the project's published checksums. A system-wide install always takes priority — if you already have these tools on PATH, those are used instead.

Prefer to install them yourself?

Pass --no-download (or set LYT_NO_DOWNLOAD=1) to require them on PATH:

| Platform | Command | | --- | --- | | Windows | winget install yt-dlp.yt-dlp and winget install Gyan.FFmpeg | | macOS | brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg | | Linux | sudo apt install ffmpeg and install yt-dlp from its docs |

On Windows, lyt also tries common WinGet-installed yt-dlp.exe and C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe locations if your current shell has not picked up PATH changes yet.

Install

From npm (recommended)

npm install -g lyt

This puts three commands on your PATH — lyt, yt3, and yt4 — usable in PowerShell, cmd, bash, or zsh. Update later with:

npm update -g lyt

From GitHub (no npm account needed)

npm install -g github:TanaTTV/yt2audio-fast

Re-run the same command to update.

From source

git clone https://github.com/TanaTTV/yt2audio-fast.git
cd yt2audio-fast
npm install -g .

Easy install (less terminal)

Helper scripts in install/ wrap the steps above.

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install\install.ps1

Then, optionally, add right-click menu entries so anyone can download without touching a terminal:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install\windows-context-menu.ps1

Copy a YouTube link → right-click inside a folder → Download audio here. Copy several links at once and it grabs them all. Remove the entries later with the same script and -Remove. No administrator rights needed.

macOS / Linux:

bash install/install.sh

Quick Start

# Audio (native format, fastest)
yt3 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# Audio as MP3
yt3 --mp3 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# Video at 1080p
yt4 -q 1080p "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# Save somewhere specific
yt3 --mp3 -o "$HOME/Music" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# Preview the exact yt-dlp command without downloading
yt4 --dry-run "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Multiple Downloads

Pass as many URLs as you like to yt3 or yt4, and use --jobs to download them in parallel:

yt3 "URL_1" "URL_2" "URL_3"
yt4 --jobs 3 -q 1080p "URL_1" "URL_2" "URL_3"

When several downloads run at once in a terminal, lyt shows one tidy progress bar per download instead of letting yt-dlp's output interleave. In a pipe or CI it falls back to plain per-item status lines.

Choosing Quality

You do not have to memorize resolution numbers. In video mode, -q (or --quality) takes friendly names:

yt4 -q 1080p "URL"     # Full HD
yt4 -q 4k "URL"        # 2160p
yt4 -q 8k "URL"        # 4320p, when the video offers it
yt4 -q best "URL"      # highest available (default)

Accepted video values: 144p, 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p/hd, 1080p/fhd, 1440p/2k, 2160p/4k, 4320p/8k, plain numbers like 1080, and best. If a video is not available at the size you ask for, yt-dlp automatically falls back to the closest lower quality.

In audio mode, -q is the MP3 bitrate (128K, 192K, 320K, or 0 for best VBR — see the Speed Guide).

See what a video actually offers

Not sure how high a video goes? List its real qualities:

yt4 --list-formats "URL"

Some Video Title
  video: 2160p (4K), 1440p (2K), 1080p (Full HD), 720p (HD)
  download best with: yt4 -q 2160p -- "URL"
  audio: 160k, 128k, 70k

Interactive Mode

Run with -i, or just run a command with no URL in a terminal, and lyt asks you what you want:

lyt -i

It prompts for the URL(s), audio vs video, quality, output directory, and (for multiple URLs) the number of parallel jobs. In video mode it can list the real available qualities and let you pick one from a numbered menu. Pressing Enter through the prompts uses the same defaults as the plain commands.

Command Reference

lyt [options] <youtube-url> [more-urls...]
yt3 <url>   # audio shortcut
yt4 <url>   # video shortcut

| Option | Description | | --- | --- | | --mp3 | Convert extracted audio to MP3 with ffmpeg. | | --native | Save the native audio stream when possible. Default for audio. | | --video | Download video (best video+audio, muxed to mp4). Default for yt4. | | --audio | Download audio only. Default for lyt/yt3. | | -q, --quality <value> | Audio: MP3 bitrate (128K, 192K, 320K, 0). Video: a resolution like 1080p, 720p, 4k, 8k, or best. | | --max-height <value> | Cap video resolution; alias of -q in video mode. | | -L, --list-formats | List the qualities available for each URL, then exit. | | -f, --fragments <n> | Concurrent fragments per download. Default is 8. | | -j, --jobs <n> | Parallel downloads for multiple URLs. Default is 1. | | -o, --output-dir <dir> | Output directory. Default is downloads. | | --template <template> | Custom yt-dlp output template. | | --downloader <name> | External downloader, e.g. aria2c. | | --downloader-args <args> | Arguments for the external downloader, e.g. "-x16 -s16 -k1M". | | --no-part | Write directly to the output file instead of a .part file. | | -i, --interactive | Prompt for options interactively. | | --playlist | Allow playlist downloads. | | --no-playlist | Download only the single video URL. This is the default. | | --embed-metadata | Embed metadata. May add time. | | --embed-thumbnail | Embed thumbnail. May add time. | | --force-overwrite | Replace existing files. | | --no-download | Don't auto-fetch yt-dlp/ffmpeg; require them on PATH instead. | | --print-command | Print the generated yt-dlp commands before running. | | --dry-run | Print the generated commands without running downloads. | | -h, --help | Show help. | | -v, --version | Show version. |

Speed Guide

Native audio is fastest

yt3 "URL"

YouTube commonly serves audio as m4a or webm. Keeping that native format avoids a conversion step and is usually fastest.

MP3 quality

yt3 --mp3 -q 320K "URL"   # constant 320 kbps
yt3 --mp3 -q 0 "URL"      # best VBR: high quality, smaller, fast

A numeric 0 selects ffmpeg's best VBR (variable bitrate). A value like 320K forces a constant bitrate, producing larger files.

External downloader (aria2c)

--fragments only helps segmented (DASH/HLS) streams. For audio served as a single progressive stream, YouTube's per-connection throttling caps the speed. Handing the download to aria2c, which opens several connections per file, can give a 2–5x speedup:

yt3 --downloader aria2c --downloader-args "-x16 -s16 -k1M" "URL"

This is opt-in because aria2c is a separate install and some hosts reject large connection counts. If a download becomes unstable, lower -x/-s or drop the flag.

Fragment concurrency

yt4 --fragments 16 "URL"

Higher values can be faster on strong connections, but are not always better. If downloads become unstable, lower the value.

Output Naming

The default output template is:

%(title).180B [%(id)s].%(ext)s

That keeps filenames readable while including the video ID to avoid collisions. Use a custom template:

yt4 --template "%(uploader)s - %(title).120B [%(id)s].%(ext)s" "URL"

Platform Support

| Platform | Audio | Video | MP3 | Auto-installs yt-dlp/ffmpeg | | --- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | | Windows 10/11 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | macOS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Linux | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |

Updating

npm update -g lyt                              # if installed from npm
npm install -g github:TanaTTV/yt2audio-fast   # if installed from GitHub

Troubleshooting

Downloads are slower than expected — Try native audio instead of --mp3, avoid --embed-metadata/--embed-thumbnail, try the aria2c downloader, or adjust --fragments.

PowerShell blocks npm — Use npm.cmd instead of npm.

yt-dlp or ffmpeg errors after auto-install — Delete the cached binaries and let lyt re-fetch them:

# Windows
rmdir /s "%LOCALAPPDATA%\lyt\bin"

# macOS
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/lyt/bin

# Linux
rm -rf ~/.local/share/lyt/bin

Want to use your own installs instead of the managed ones? — Pass --no-download or set LYT_NO_DOWNLOAD=1.

Development

npm test                                   # run the test suite (node:test)
node bin/yt4.js --dry-run -q 4k "URL"     # run without installing globally

Project Structure

bin/lyt.js            CLI entry point (full CLI, audio default)
bin/yt3.js            Audio shortcut command
bin/yt4.js            Video shortcut command
src/cli.js            Runtime command orchestration
src/ytDlp.js          Argument parsing and yt-dlp command construction
src/quality.js        Friendly video-quality presets and labels
src/formats.js        Reads available qualities from yt-dlp (-J)
src/interactive.js    Interactive prompt mode (node:readline)
src/progress.js       Progress parsing and multi-bar rendering
src/bootstrap.js      Auto-provisioning of yt-dlp and ffmpeg binaries
install/              Install scripts and Windows right-click menu
test/                 Node test runner coverage (63 tests)
app/                  Tauri desktop app (Rust + webview)

License

MIT