this directory includes the source code for cobalt api. it's made with express.js and love!
if you want to run your own instance for whatever purpose, follow this guide. we recommend to use docker compose unless you intend to run cobalt for developing/debugging purposes.
there is currently no publicly available pre-hosted api. we recommend deploying your own instance if you wish to use the cobalt api.
you can read the api documentation here.
Warning
the v7 public api (/api/json) will be shut down on november 11th, 2024. you can access documentation for it here.
this list is not final and keeps expanding over time. if support for a service you want is missing, create an issue (or a pull request 👀).
service | video + audio | only audio | only video | metadata | rich file names |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
bilibili | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
bluesky | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
dailymotion | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ | |
✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ | |
loom | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ |
ok.ru | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ | |
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | |
rutube | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
snapchat | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
soundcloud | ➖ | ✅ | ➖ | ✅ | ✅ |
streamable | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
tiktok | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
tumblr | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
twitch clips | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
twitter/x | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ |
vimeo | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
vk videos & clips | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
youtube | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
emoji | meaning |
---|---|
✅ | supported |
➖ | impossible/unreasonable |
❌ | not supported |
service | notes or features |
---|---|
supports reels, photos, and videos. lets you pick what to save from multi-media posts. | |
supports public accessible videos content only. | |
supports photos, gifs, videos and stories. | |
supports gifs and videos. | |
snapchat | supports spotlights and stories. lets you pick what to save from stories. |
rutube | supports yappy & private links. |
soundcloud | supports private links. |
tiktok | supports videos with or without watermark, images from slideshow without watermark, and full (original) audios. |
twitter/x | lets you pick what to save from multi-media posts. may not be 100% reliable due to current management. |
vimeo | audio downloads are only available for dash. |
youtube | supports videos, music, and shorts. 8K, 4K, HDR, VR, and high FPS videos. rich metadata & dubs. h264/av1/vp9 codecs. |
cobalt api code is licensed under AGPL-3.0.
this license allows you to modify, distribute and use the code for any purpose as long as you:
- give appropriate credit to the original repo when using or modifying any parts of the code,
- provide a link to the license and indicate if changes to the code were made, and
- release the code under the same license
cobalt heavily relies on ffmpeg for converting and merging media files. it's an absolutely amazing piece of software offered for anyone for free, yet doesn't receive as much credit as it should.
you can support ffmpeg here!
we use ffmpeg-static to get binaries for ffmpeg depending on the platform.
you can support the developer via various methods listed on their github page! (linked above)
cobalt relies on youtube.js for interacting with the innertube api, it wouldn't have been possible without it.
you can support the developer via various methods listed on their github page! (linked above)
cobalt also depends on:
- content-disposition-header to simplify the provision of
content-disposition
headers. - cors to manage cross-origin resource sharing within expressjs.
- dotenv to load environment variables from the
.env
file. - esbuild to minify the frontend files.
- express as the backbone of cobalt servers.
- express-rate-limit to rate limit api endpoints.
- hls-parser to parse
m3u8
playlists for certain services. - ipaddr.js to parse ip addresses (for rate limiting).
- nanoid to generate unique (temporary) identifiers for each requested stream.
- node-cache to cache stream info in server ram for a limited amount of time.
- psl as the domain name parser.
- set-cookie-parser to parse cookies that cobalt receives from certain services.
- undici for making http requests.
- url-pattern to match provided links with supported patterns.
...and many other packages that these packages rely on.