Universal Video Downloader

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.