Developer API Documentation

Authentication

All API requests require a valid Developer API Key. You can obtain your key from the Profile page after subscribing to the Developer Plan.

Pass your API key as a query parameter:

GET /open/v1/video/info?url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY

For POST requests, you can also include apikey in the JSON body.

Base URL

https://ytdlp.online/open/v1

All endpoint paths below are relative to this base URL.

Rate Limits

Adaptive rate limits are enforced per IP and API key to ensure service stability. Under normal usage you are unlikely to hit any limits.

If you receive a 429 Too Many Requests response, implement retry with exponential backoff.

Error Handling

All errors return a JSON object with an error field:

{
  "error": "Description of what went wrong",
  "details": "Optional additional details"
}

Retrieve full JSON metadata for a single video, including title, description, duration, formats, thumbnails, and more.

Parameters

Example

curl "https://ytdlp.online/open/v1/video/info?url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "title": "Video Title",
    "duration": 212,
    "view_count": 1500000,
    "thumbnail": "https://...",
    "formats": [...]
  }
}

Extract subtitles (manual or auto-generated) for a video and return as text content.

Parameters

Example

curl "https://ytdlp.online/open/v1/video/subtitles?url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en&format=srt&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "content": "1\n00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000\nHello world\n...",
    "lang": "en",
    "format": "srt"
  }
}

Get metadata for all videos in a playlist. Uses flat extraction for speed — returns basic info (title, ID, URL) for each entry without fetching full details.

Parameters

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "playlist_count": 25,
    "videos": [
      {"id": "abc123", "title": "Video 1", "url": "..."},
      {"id": "def456", "title": "Video 2", "url": "..."}
    ]
  }
}

Extract the real underlying stream URL from a live broadcast page and return a 302 redirect. Ideal for use with media players like VLC or Astra CeSBo — they will auto-follow the redirect to the actual stream.

Parameters

Example

curl -L "https://ytdlp.online/open/v1/live/stream?url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=LIVE_ID&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY"

Note: Use the -L flag in cURL to follow the 302 redirect automatically.

Submit an asynchronous download task. The file will be processed in the background. Use the returned task_id to poll for status.

Request Body (JSON)

Example

curl -X POST "https://ytdlp.online/open/v1/download" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "format": "mp4", "apikey": "YOUR_API_KEY"}'

{
  "status": "success",
  "task_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "message": "Download task submitted successfully."
}

Check the status of a previously submitted download task.

Status Values

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "status": "completed",
    "url": "https://youtube.com/watch?v=...",
    "format": "mp4",
    "download_url": "/open/v1/download/TASK_ID/file/Video%20Title.mp4"
  }
}

Download the actual file once the task is completed. The download_url from the status response can be used directly. No API key required for this endpoint.

Check your API account status and verify your key is working.

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "level": "developer",
    "status": "active"
  }
}