=================================================== Tartube - The Easy Way To Watch And Download Videos

Works with YouTube, Twitch, Odysee, and hundreds of other sites

.. image:: screenshots/screenshot.png :alt: Tartube screenshot

1 Introduction_
2 Why should I use Tartube?_
3 Downloads_
4 Quick start guide_
5 Installation_
6 Using Tartube_
7 Frequently-Asked Questions_
8 Contributing_
9 Authors_
10 License_

1 Introduction

Tartube is a GUI front-end for youtube-dl <https://youtube-dl.org/>, yt-dlp <https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/> and other compatible video downloaders.

It is written in Python 3 / Gtk 3 and runs on MS Windows, Linux, BSD and MacOS.

Problems can be reported at our GitHub page <https://github.com/axcore/tartube/issues>__.

2 Why should I use Tartube?

You can fetch a list of videos from your favourite channels on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/>, Twitch <https://www.twitch.tv/>, Odysee <https://odysee.com/>__ and hundreds of other sites (see here <https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html>__ or here <https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/supportedsites.md>__ for a full list)
If buffering is an issue, you can download a temporary copy of a video before automatically opening it in your favourite media player
Tartube will organise your videos into convenient folders (if that's what you want)
Tartube can alert you when livestreams and debut videos are starting (works on YouTube, Twitch and Odysee by default)
If creators upload their videos to more than one website (YouTube and BitChute, for example), Tartube can interact with both sites without creating duplicates
Certain sites operate an "only one opinion allowed" policy. If you think that the censors will remove a video, against the wishes of its creators and before you've had a chance to watch it, Tartube can make an archive copy
Certain sites manipulate search results, repeatedly unsubscribe people from their favourite channels and/or deliberately conceal videos that they don't like. Tartube won't do any of those things
If you want to listen to your favourite discussion videos, for example while driving a car, Tartube can make an archive copy of just the audio, rather than the full video
Tartube is free and open-source software

3 Downloads

Stable release: v2.5.197 (20 Jan 2026)

Development release: v2.5.204 (2 Feb 2026)

Official packages (also available from the Github release page <https://github.com/axcore/tartube/releases>__):

MS Windows (64-bit) installer <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/install-tartube-2.5.197-64bit.exe/download>, MS Windows (64-bit) and FFmpeg installer <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/install-tartube-with-ffmpeg-2.5.197-64bit.exe/download> and portable edition <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/tartube-2.5.197-64bit-mswin-portable.zip/download>__ from Sourceforge
Tartube is no longer supported on older versions of MS Windows - see 7.24 Doesn't work on 32-bit Windows / Windows 7 / Windows 8_
DEB package (for Debian-based distros, e.g. Ubuntu, Linux Mint) <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/python3-tartube_2.5.197.deb/download>__ from Sourceforge
RPM package (for RHEL-based distros, e.g. Fedora) <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/tartube-2.5.197.rpm/download>__ from Sourceforge

Official 'Strict' packages:

Alternative DEB/RPM packages are marked STRICT. In these packages, updates to youtube-dl from within Tartube have been disabled. If Tartube is to be uploaded to a repository with lots of rules, such as the official Debian repository, then you should probably use the STRICT packages.

Semi-official packages (MS Windows):

Chocolatey package <https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/tartube>__

Semi-official packages (Linux):

Arch AUR package <https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tartube/>__
Gentoo ebuild (available in src_prepare-overlay) <https://gitlab.com/src_prepare/src_prepare-overlay/>__ from Gitlab

Source code:

Source code <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tartube/files/v2.5.197/tartube_v2.5.197.tar.gz/download>__ from Sourceforge
Source code <https://github.com/axcore/tartube>__ and support <https://github.com/axcore/tartube/issues>__ from GitHub
In case this Github repository is taken down, there is an official backup here <https://gitlab.com/axcore/tartube>__

4 Quick start guide

Install Tartube, using any of the methods described below
Start Tartube. A setup window should appear
When prompted, choose a folder in which Tartube can store videos
When prompted, choose a downloader
On some systems, you will be prompted to install the downloader and/or FFmpeg <https://ffmpeg.org/>__. On other systems, you will have to install them yourself

Tartube can store its videos in a database. If that's what you want, then do this:

Go to a video website <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_video_platforms>__, and find your favourite channel
In Tartube's main window, click the Add a new channel button (or from the menu, click Media > Add channel... )
In the dialogue window, add the name of the channel and its URL (link)
Click the OK button to close the window
Click the Check all button. Tartube will fetch a list of videos in the channel
Click All Videos to see that list
If you want to download the videos, click the Download all button

If you just want to download videos with a minimum of fuss, do this:

Go to a video website <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_video_platforms>__, and find your favourite channel
In Tartube's main window, click the Classic Mode tab
Copy the URL (link) to the channel into the box at the top of tab
Just below that, click the button to select a download destination and a video/audio format
Click the Add URLs button
When you're ready, click the Download all button

5 Installation

5.1 Installation - MS Windows

MS Windows users should use the installer available at the Tartube website <https://tartube.sourceforge.io/>__. The installer contains everything you need to run Tartube.

There is also a portable edition; use this if you want to install Tartube onto removable media, such as a USB drive. Download the ZIP file, extract it, and run the file tartube_portable_64bit.bat.

Both the installer and the portable edition include a copy of AtomicParsley <https://bitbucket.org/jonhedgerows/atomicparsley/wiki/Home>__, so there is no need to install it yourself.

Tartube is no longer supported on older versions of MS Windows - see 7.24 Doesn't work on 32-bit Windows / Windows 7 / Windows 8_.

5.1.1 Manual installation - MS Windows


If you want to perform a manual installation, you can follow this procedure, which will take about 10-30 minutes, depending on your network speed.

- Download and install MSYS2 from `msys2.org <https://msys2.org>`__. You need the file that looks something like **msys2-x86_64-yyyymmdd.exe**
- MSYS2 wants to install in **C:\\msys64**, so do that
- Open the MINGW64 terminal, which is **C:\\msys64\\mingw64.exe**
- In the MINGW64 terminal, type:

        **pacman -Syu**

- If the terminal wants to shut down, close it, and then restart it
- Now type the following commands, one by one:

        **pacman -Su**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python3**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python-pip**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python-gobject**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python-requests**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk3**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gsettings-desktop-schemas**

- (Don't close the MINGW64 terminal until you have finished the manual installation)
- Install Microsoft Visual C++ (a free download from the Microsoft website)
- Navigate to the folder **C:\\Windows\\System32**
- Copy all the files whose name starts with **msvcr** (e.g. **msvcr1230_clr0400.dll**) into the folder **C:\\msys64\\mingw64\\bin**

- In the MINGW64 terminal, type the following commands:

        **/mingw64/bin/python3 -m venv ~/ytdl-venv**

        **source ~/ytdl-venv/bin/activate**

- In a suitable text editor, open the file **C:\\msys64\\home\\YOURNAME\\.bashrc**
- At the top of the file, add the following lines, then save it

        **export PIP_HOME="$HOME/.local/pip"**

        **export PIP_BIN_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin"**

        **export PATH="$PIP_BIN_DIR:$PATH"**

- Nagivate to **C:\\msys64\\mingw64\\lib\\python3.12\\site-packages**
- Copy the following folders to **C:\\msys64\\home\\YOURNAME\\ytdl-venv\\lib\\python3.12\\site-packages**

        **certifi**

        **charset_normalizer**

        **gi**

        **idna**

        **requests**

        **urllib3**

- If you want to install `Atomic Parsley <https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley>`__, copy the MS Windows executable into the **C:\\msys64\\usr\\bin** folder

- In the MINGW64 terminal, type the following commands:

        **pip install feedparser**

        **pip install playsound**

        **pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-aria2**

- Download the **Tartube** source code from **Sourceforge**, using the links above
- Extract it into the folder **C:\\msys64\\home\\YOURNAME**, creating a folder called **C:\\msys64\\home\\YOURNAME\\tartube**
- You're now ready to start **Tartube**
- The simplest way to start **Tartube** is to double-click the **tartube_64bit.bat** file

Tartube

Install / Use

README