The latest articles on DEV Community by Oleg Che (@oleg_che_e5f5713b4bf33876). https://dev.to/oleg_che_e5f5713b4bf33876 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4215507%2F2d123b54-17f1-407c-8364-365a1417ae04.jpg https://dev.to/oleg_che_e5f5713b4bf33876 en Oleg Che Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:51:41 +0000 https://dev.to/oleg_che_e5f5713b4bf33876/i-built-a-free-youtubesoundcloud-downloader-for-windows-that-runs-entirely-on-your-pc-4dd7 https://dev.to/oleg_che_e5f5713b4bf33876/i-built-a-free-youtubesoundcloud-downloader-for-windows-that-runs-entirely-on-your-pc-4dd7 <p>Every "download a YouTube video" website looks the same: ads, pop-ups, and a big green button that takes you somewhere you did not want to go. And if you need a different site (SoundCloud, Vimeo, TikTok...), you need a different downloader.</p> <p>I wanted one place where I could drop <em>any</em> link and get a normal file. So I built <strong>Universal Downloader</strong>, a free, open-source Windows app on top of <a href="https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp" rel="noopener noreferrer">yt-dlp</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fbbw4ntjukafulyj5xtjn.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fbbw4ntjukafulyj5xtjn.png" alt="Pasting a link and picking a quality" width="800" height="680"></a></p> <h2> What it does </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Paste a link, get a file.</strong> YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, TikTok, Instagram and 1000+ other sites that yt-dlp supports. MP4 from 144p to 4K, MP3 with cover art and tags, or M4A without re-encoding.</li> <li> <strong>Playlists and queues.</strong> Paste a playlist link to take the whole thing, or paste several links (one per line) and they download one after another.</li> <li> <strong>Music by name.</strong> The Music tab searches YouTube, SoundCloud and Rutube at once. You get one list with covers, can listen in a built-in player, tick a few songs and download them with one button.</li> <li> <strong>Audio tracks and subtitles.</strong> Pick a language, embed subtitles or save a separate <code>.srt</code>.</li> <li> <strong>A browser extension</strong> (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox) or a bookmarklet for everything else: open a video, click, and the app picks up the link.</li> <li> <strong>Works behind a proxy.</strong> If a site does not open directly, the app can go through your VPN app's local proxy (v2rayN, Clash, Hiddify...).</li> <li>Light and dark theme, Russian and English interface, and it keeps itself and yt-dlp up to date.</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ff1o7q9xrs470mlqbd8ga.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ff1o7q9xrs470mlqbd8ga.png" alt="Searching music by name" width="800" height="891"></a></p> <h2> No ads, no accounts, no servers </h2> <p>Everything happens on your computer. The UI is just a local web page, served by a tiny Flask server that listens on <code>127.0.0.1</code> only. There is nothing to sign up for and no third-party server in the middle.</p> <p>You do not need to install Python either. On first start a small script downloads a private copy of Python 3.12, yt-dlp, ffmpeg and Deno into the app folder and verifies every download with SHA-256. Nothing is installed system-wide, and the bundled uninstall script (<code>Удалить.bat</code>) removes it all.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <ol> <li>Download <code>universal-downloader.zip</code> from the <a href="https://github.com/OlegChe77/universal-downloader/releases/latest/download/universal-downloader.zip" rel="noopener noreferrer">latest release</a> (Windows 10/11, about 350 MB after the first-run setup).</li> <li>Unpack it and double-click <code>Запуск.bat</code> ("Start").</li> <li>A tray icon appears and the app opens in your browser.</li> </ol> <p>Source code and docs: <strong><a href="https://github.com/OlegChe77/universal-downloader" rel="noopener noreferrer">github.com/OlegChe77/universal-downloader</a></strong></p> <h2> What I would love to hear </h2> <ul> <li>Sites or links that fail for you (the error message has a "Details" button with the raw yt-dlp output, which is handy for an issue).</li> <li>What is confusing on first start.</li> <li>Missing options you would actually use.</li> </ul> <p>It is a wrapper for personal use, so please download only what you have the right to, and follow the terms of the sites you use.</p> <p>If you try it, tell me how it went in the comments or open an issue on GitHub.</p> showdev opensource python microsoft