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Edvin
Edvin

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I built the Ultimate Open Source YouTube Downloader (No Ads, Next.js 16) 🎥

#webdev #nextjs #react #opensource

I built the Ultimate Open Source YouTube Downloader (No Ads, Next.js 16) 🎥

Hi everyone! 👋

Let's be honest: downloading a YouTube video in 2025 is a nightmare. You search for a converter, and you are bombarded with shady pop-ups, fake download buttons, and NSFW ads.

I got tired of risking malware just to save a song or a tutorial. So, I built WavePipe.

It is a clean, modern, and open-source web application to download videos and playlists, powered by the industry-standard yt-dlp.

🚀 What is WavePipe?

WavePipe is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that converts YouTube links into MP3 (Audio) or MP4 (Video) files instantly. It's built to be fast, responsive, and completely free of clutter.

✨ Key Features

  • 🚫 Zero Ads: No pop-ups, no tracking, no nonsense. Just a clean tool.
  • 📦 Playlist Support: Download entire playlists in one go (most tools charge for this!).
  • ⚡ Modern Tech: Built with Next.js 16 and Tailwind CSS.
  • 📱 PWA Ready: You can install it on your phone or desktop as a native-like app.
  • 💪 Power Under the Hood: It uses yt-dlp, the most robust downloader engine available.

📸 Preview

🛠️ How to use it

  1. Go to the app: WavePipe Demo
  2. Paste a YouTube Video or Playlist URL.
  3. Choose your format (MP3 or MP4).
  4. Hit Download and watch the magic happen.

👨‍💻 For Developers (The Tech Stack)

This isn't just a frontend wrapper; it's a full-stack solution handling complex media streams.

  • Frontend: Next.js 16 (App Router) for server-side rendering and speed.
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS for a responsive, mobile-first design.
  • Core Engine: yt-dlp (Python). The app spawns a process to handle the extraction and conversion logic securely on the server side.
  • Architecture: It handles stream piping to deliver files to the browser without overloading server memory.

It is fully Open Source. If you want to see how I handled the child processes or the Next.js API routes, check out the code:

👉 GitHub Repository: EdvinCodes/WavePipe

🐛 Feedback

I built this to have a tool I can trust on my own devices. I hope you find it as useful as I do!

If you like the project, a Star ⭐️ on GitHub is greatly appreciated.

Happy downloading! 🌊

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