YouTubeWhat

A lightweight JavaScript/TypeScript utility for parsing, validating, and cleaning YouTube URLs.

Features

• Robust Parsing: Handles standard, shortened, shorts, live, embed, and nocookie URLs.
• Type Detection: Identifies if a link is a video, playlist, or channel.
• Thumbnail Generation: Get thumbnail URLs with various quality options.
• URL Cleaning: Remove tracking parameters while keeping essential IDs and timestamps.
• TypeScript Support: Fully typed for a great developer experience.

Installation

npm install youtubewhat

Usage

Parsing a URL

import { parseYouTubeUrl } from "youtubewhat";

const info = parseYouTubeUrl("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ");
// {
//   isValid: true,
//   id: 'dQw4w9WgXcQ',
//   type: 'video',
//   isShorts: false,
//   isLive: false,
//   originalUrl: '...'
// }

Getting a Thumbnail

import { getThumbnailUrl } from "youtubewhat";

const thumb = getThumbnailUrl("dQw4w9WgXcQ", { quality: "maxres" });
// https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Cleaning a URL

import { cleanYouTubeUrl } from "youtubewhat";

const clean = cleanYouTubeUrl(
  "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=share&t=10s"
);
// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=10s

Supported Patterns

• Standard: youtube.com/watch?v=...
• Shortened: youtu.be/...
• Shorts: youtube.com/shorts/...
• Live: youtube.com/live/...
• Embed: youtube.com/embed/...
• Privacy-enhanced: youtube-nocookie.com/embed/...
• Playlists: youtube.com/playlist?list=...
• Channels: @handle, /channel/ID, /c/Custom, /user/Name

License

MIT