What is yt-dlp-tauri?

yt-dlp-tauri is a small desktop app for downloading videos without typing command-line options by hand. You paste a video URL from any site supported by the yt-dlp tool, preview details like the title, thumbnail, duration, and available quality options, then pick a quality and download the file. It runs on Windows and macOS as a focused desktop program, not as a hosted web service, and it does not offer multi-user accounts. The app can parse video metadata and show a live download progress bar with speed, time remaining, and a cancel option. It supports Cookie files for sites that require you to be logged in, including standard cookies.txt files and one-line browser cookie headers. From the Settings screen, the app can install, repair, and verify the underlying tools it depends on, checking them against fixed download links and SHA-256 checksums so you know the files have not been tampered with. The interface can switch between English and Chinese, and the app can check GitHub for new releases, with an optional proxy route for regions where GitHub access is unreliable. It also keeps local logs of recent activity for troubleshooting. Under the hood, the app pairs a Rust backend with a Tauri 2 desktop shell and a plain TypeScript and Vite frontend, giving it a small, fixed-size window rather than a resizable browser-style layout. Downloaded videos land in a dedicated folder inside your Downloads directory by default, while app state, logs, and the managed copies of yt-dlp, ffmpeg, and other helper tools are stored in your local app data folder. Setting it up for development requires Node.js, a Rust toolchain, and either Windows or macOS, since release builds are meant to be produced on their target platform. The project ships under the GPL-3.0 license and bundles third-party command-line tools that carry their own separate licenses. It is not affiliated with yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, or Tauri.