Universal Video Downloader

Universal video downloader supporting multiple platforms (Douyin, Bilibili, YouTube, TikTok, etc.). Can download videos by URL or search by keyword (Douyin supported). Use when users need to download videos from video platforms.

A versatile video downloading tool that supports multiple video platforms with intelligent platform detection and multiple download methods.

Supported Platforms

• Douyin (抖音) - Chinese TikTok
• Bilibili (B站) - Chinese video platform
• YouTube - Global video platform
• TikTok - International short video
• Xigua (西瓜视频) - Chinese video platform
• Kuaishou (快手) - Chinese short video
• Generic - Any other video site (using browser mode)

Features

• Automatic Platform Detection - Identifies platform from URL
• Smart Download Method - Uses yt-dlp for most sites, DrissionPage for anti-crawl sites
• Search & Download - Search Douyin by keyword and download results
• Batch Download - Download multiple videos at once
• Metadata Extraction - Saves title, author, platform info

Prerequisites

# Required dependencies
pip install yt-dlp requests DrissionPage

# For DrissionPage browser automation
# Chrome browser will be auto-downloaded on first use

Usage

Download Single Video

# Douyin
python scripts/video_downloader.py "https://www.douyin.com/video/xxx"

# Bilibili
python scripts/video_downloader.py "https://www.bilibili.com/video/xxx"

# YouTube
python scripts/video_downloader.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxx"

# Any other platform
python scripts/video_downloader.py "https://example.com/video"

Batch Download

python scripts/video_downloader.py \
  -u "https://www.douyin.com/video/xxx" \
  -u "https://www.bilibili.com/video/yyy" \
  -u "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzz"

Search and Download (Douyin)

# Search "美女" and download 5 videos
python scripts/video_downloader.py 美女 --search --count 5

# Search with custom count
python scripts/video_downloader.py 美女 --search --count 10

Force Browser Mode

For sites with strong anti-crawl protection:

python scripts/video_downloader.py "https://example.com/video" --browser

Specify Output Directory

python scripts/video_downloader.py "URL" --output "D:\\MyVideos"

Parameters

• url_or_keyword - Video URL or search keyword
• --url, -u - Video URL(s), can be used multiple times
• --search, -s - Enable search mode (for Douyin)
• --platform, -p - Platform for search (default: douyin)
• --count, -n - Number of videos to download (default: 5)
• --output, -o - Output directory (default: D:\video_downloads)
• --browser, -b - Force use browser mode for downloading

Output Structure

video_downloads/
├── single_20240312_121029/
│   ├── 001_video_title.mp4
│   └── 001_video_title.json
├── batch_20240312_121102/
│   ├── 001_video1.mp4
│   ├── 001_video1.json
│   ├── 002_video2.mp4
│   ├── 002_video2.json
│   └── _summary.json
└── douyin_keyword_20240312_121205/
    ├── 001_video1.mp4
    ├── 001_video1.json
    ├── 002_video2.mp4
    ├── 002_video2.json
    └── _summary.json

Metadata Format

{
  "index": 1,
  "title": "Video Title",
  "author": "Uploader Name",
  "platform": "douyin",
  "url": "https://www.douyin.com/video/xxx",
  "video_filename": "001_video_title.mp4",
  "file_size_mb": 16.84,
  "download_time": "2024-03-12T12:20:30"
}

How It Works

Platform Detection

The tool automatically detects the platform from the URL:

• douyin.com → Douyin
• bilibili.com / b23.tv → Bilibili
• youtube.com / youtu.be → YouTube
• tiktok.com → TikTok
• etc.

Download Methods

1. yt-dlp (default for most platforms)

   • Fast and reliable
   • Supports 1000+ sites
   • Best for YouTube, Bilibili, etc.

2. DrissionPage (for anti-crawl sites)

   • Real browser automation
   • Bypasses most anti-crawl protections
   • Used automatically for Douyin
   • Can be forced with --browser flag

Search Functionality

For Douyin search:

1. Opens browser and navigates to search page
2. Extracts video links from search results
3. Downloads each video using browser session

Troubleshooting

"yt-dlp not installed"

pip install yt-dlp

"DrissionPage not installed"

pip install DrissionPage

Download fails for specific site

Try forcing browser mode:

python video_downloader.py "URL" --browser

Chrome not found (DrissionPage)

DrissionPage will auto-download Chrome on first use. If it fails:

1. Install Chrome manually
2. Or set Chrome path in DrissionPage config

Connection errors

Some sites may block automated access. Try:

• Using a VPN
• Waiting a few minutes between requests
• Using --browser mode

Notes

• Respect Copyright - Only download videos you have permission to use
• Rate Limiting - The tool includes delays to avoid overwhelming servers
• Cookie Support - DrissionPage mode uses browser cookies for authenticated access
• File Naming - Special characters in titles are sanitized for filesystem compatibility

Dependencies

• Python 3.8+
• yt-dlp
• DrissionPage
• requests
• BeautifulSoup4 (optional, for parsing)

License

This tool is for educational and personal use only. Respect the terms of service of video platforms.