Cookie support improves matching accuracy and helps with age-restricted or similar content.
- Docker: browser cookie extraction is not available inside the container; use
cookies.txtif needed - Local / desktop: browser cookie extraction is available when supported on the host platform
- Windows: Chrome cookie extraction may fail while the browser is running; Firefox or another supported browser is usually safer
To download age-restricted content you need:
- cookies (browser extraction or
cookies.txt) deno
In current builds, deno is usually handled automatically by the runtime binary manager. If you disable auto-management or force custom binary paths, make sure DENO_BIN resolves correctly. See BINARY_MANAGEMENT.md.
| Environment | Browser cookie extraction | cookies.txt |
Binary management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Docker | No | Optional | Auto-managed in the provided compose / run setup |
| Local (Node.js) | Yes | Optional | Auto-managed by default |
| AppImage / EXE | Yes | Optional | Auto-managed by default |
| Manual / custom binaries | Depends on your setup | Optional | Use *_BIN env vars or npm run download:binaries |
The following variables control cookie and language/region behavior. Full descriptions are in CONFIGURATION.md.
YT_STRIP_COOKIESYTDLP_COOKIESYTDLP_COOKIES_FROM_BROWSERYT_UI_FORCE_COOKIESYT_LANGYT_FORCE_IPV4YT_ACCEPT_LANGUAGEYT_DEFAULT_REGIONYT_403_WORKAROUNDSYT_USE_MUSICYTDLP_UA