API

Public API documentation

OpenUtils YTDL exposes a simple public API to fetch YouTube video metadata and trigger MP3 or MP4 downloads directly from your integrations.

Overview

The current API exposes three public endpoints: video info, MP3 audio streaming, and MP4 video streaming. Downloads are streamed directly without durable server-side storage.

Rate limit

The public API is protected by IP-based rate limiting at the proxy layer. If you need heavier usage, contact us directly.

Video info

Returns the metadata needed to display title, thumbnail, duration, and available formats.

GET/api/info?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

MP3 audio stream

Streams MP3 audio directly in the HTTP response.

GET/api/stream?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

MP4 video stream

Streams MP4 video with server-side audio/video muxing.

GET/api/stream/video?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&fmt=mp4-720

Parameters

url: public YouTube URL to convert.
fmt: target video format. Supported values: mp4-720, mp4-1080.

cURL examples

curl "https://ytdl.openutils.net/api/info?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

curl -L "https://ytdl.openutils.net/api/stream?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" \
  --output audio.mp3

curl -L "https://ytdl.openutils.net/api/stream/video?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&fmt=mp4-720" \
  --output video.mp4

Responses

The info endpoint returns JSON. The stream endpoints return the audio or video file directly in the HTTP response.

Healthcheck

curl https://ytdl.openutils.net/api/health

GET /api/health lets you verify that the yt-dlp + ffmpeg engine is responding correctly.