self-host reclip in 60 seconds: free open-source video downloader

the demo clip lives on the original @nicnonac post; it didn't make the trip here.

ReClip is a self-hosted video downloader. Open-source, MIT-licensed, no ads, no signup, no rate limits. Paste a link from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Reddit, Twitch, Vimeo, Loom, or 1000+ other sites, pick a format and resolution, and it pulls the file straight to your machine.

It's ~150 lines of Python (Flask) wrapping yt-dlp with a clean browser UI. Thousands of GitHub stars. Repo: github.com/averygan/reclip.

why bother

The free downloader sites you find on Google are mostly ad-laden traps. Pop-ups, fake download buttons, "HD requires premium", sometimes outright malware. ReClip runs on localhost, so your URLs and files never leave your machine.

what you get

• MP4 (video) or MP3 (audio)
• Pick your resolution (up to whatever the source has)
• Batch download multiple links at once
• Browser UI at http://localhost:8899
• Supports anything yt-dlp supports (1000+ sites)

setup (mac / linux, ~60 seconds)

Three commands.

1. Install dependencies.

# macOS
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg && pip install yt-dlp

2. Clone and run.

git clone https://github.com/averygan/reclip.git
cd reclip
./reclip.sh

3. Open it. Visit http://localhost:8899 in your browser. Paste a link, pick a format, hit download. That's it.

setup (docker, optional)

If you'd rather not touch Python at all:

docker build -t reclip . && docker run -p 8899:8899 reclip

Same UI, same port.

notes

• Personal use only. The README is explicit: respect copyright and each platform's ToS. Downloading something doesn't mean you own it or can re-upload it.
• Auth-walled content needs cookies. Private IG, members-only YouTube, age-gated videos won't work out of the box. yt-dlp supports cookie files if you need them: --cookies-from-browser firefox.
• Update yt-dlp regularly. Platforms break extractors constantly. pip install -U yt-dlp or brew upgrade yt-dlp fixes most "suddenly stopped working" bugs.