How to download Youtube Video using PHP ?

In this post, we will be writing a PHP script to download a YouTube video using PHP.

We have a Youtube Downloader Class provided by CodexWorld. We will be using the same class to download YouTube video.

There are two php files for this. index.php and youtube.php

The demo can be found here : DEMO : YouTube Video Downloader Using PHP

The source codes are provided below.

Youtube Downloader Class

youtube.php

<?php 
/** 
 * CodexWorld 
 * 
 * This Downloader class helps to download youtube video. 
 * 
 * @class       YouTubeDownloader 
 * @author      CodexWorld 
 * @link        http://www.codexworld.com 
 * @license     http://www.codexworld.com/license 
 */ 
class YouTubeDownloader { 
    /* 
     * Video Id for the given url 
     */ 
    private $video_id; 
      
    /* 
     * Video title for the given video 
     */ 
    private $video_title; 
      
    /* 
     * Full URL of the video 
     */ 
    private $video_url; 
     
    /* 
     * store the url pattern and corresponding downloader object 
     * @var array 
     */ 
    private $link_pattern; 
     
    public function __construct(){ 
        $this->link_pattern = "/^(?:http(?:s)?:\/\/)?(?:www\.)?(?:m\.)?(?:youtu\.be\/|youtube\.com\/(?:(?:watch)?\?(?:.*&)?v(?:i)?=|(?:embed)\/))([^\?&\"'>]+)/"; 
    } 
     
    /* 
     * Set the url 
     * @param string 
     */ 
    public function setUrl($url){ 
        $this->video_url = $url; 
    } 
     
    /* 
     * Get the video information 
     * return string 
     */ 
    private function getVideoInfo(){ 
        return file_get_contents("https://www.youtube.com/get_video_info?video_id=".$this->extractVideoId($this->video_url)."&cpn=CouQulsSRICzWn5E&eurl&el=adunit"); 
    } 
      
    /* 
     * Get video Id 
     * @param string 
     * return string 
     */ 
    private function extractVideoId($video_url){ 
        //parse the url 
        $parsed_url = parse_url($video_url); 
        if($parsed_url["path"] == "youtube.com/watch"){ 
            $this->video_url = "https://www.".$video_url; 
        }elseif($parsed_url["path"] == "www.youtube.com/watch"){ 
            $this->video_url = "https://".$video_url; 
        } 
         
        if(isset($parsed_url["query"])){ 
            $query_string = $parsed_url["query"]; 
            //parse the string separated by '&' to array 
            parse_str($query_string, $query_arr); 
            if(isset($query_arr["v"])){ 
                return $query_arr["v"]; 
            } 
        }    
    } 
     
    /* 
     * Get the downloader object if pattern matches else return false 
     * @param string 
     * return object or bool 
     *  
     */ 
    public function getDownloader($url){ 
        /* 
         * check the pattern match with the given video url 
         */ 
        if(preg_match($this->link_pattern, $url)){ 
            return $this; 
        } 
        return false; 
    } 
      
    /* 
     * Get the video download link 
     * return array 
     */ 
    public function getVideoDownloadLink(){ 
        //parse the string separated by '&' to array 
        parse_str($this->getVideoInfo(), $data); 
        $videoData = json_decode($data['player_response'], true); 
        $videoDetails = $videoData['videoDetails']; 
        $streamingData = $videoData['streamingData']; 
        $streamingDataFormats = $streamingData['formats']; 
          
        //set video title 
        $this->video_title = $videoDetails["title"]; 
          
        //Get the youtube root link that contains video information 
        $final_stream_map_arr = array(); 
          
        //Create array containing the detail of video  
        foreach($streamingDataFormats as $stream){ 
            $stream_data = $stream; 
            $stream_data["title"] = $this->video_title; 
            $stream_data["mime"] = $stream_data["mimeType"]; 
            $mime_type = explode(";", $stream_data["mime"]); 
            $stream_data["mime"] = $mime_type[0]; 
            $start = stripos($mime_type[0], "/"); 
            $format = ltrim(substr($mime_type[0], $start), "/"); 
            $stream_data["format"] = $format; 
            unset($stream_data["mimeType"]); 
            $final_stream_map_arr [] = $stream_data;          
        } 
        return $final_stream_map_arr; 
    } 
      
    /* 
     * Validate the given video url 
     * return bool 
     */ 
    public function hasVideo(){ 
        $valid = true; 
        parse_str($this->getVideoInfo(), $data); 
        if($data["status"] == "fail"){ 
            $valid = false; 
        }  
        return $valid; 
    } 
      
}

index.php

<?php
if(isset($_POST['url']) && $_POST['url']!=''){
    
    // Load and initialize downloader class 
    include_once 'youtube.php'; 
    $handler = new YouTubeDownloader(); 
     
    // Youtube video url 
    $youtubeURL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7wcKoEbUSA'; 
    $youtubeURL = $_POST['url'];
     
    // Check whether the url is valid 
    if(!empty($youtubeURL) && !filter_var($youtubeURL, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) === false){ 
        // Get the downloader object 
        $downloader = $handler->getDownloader($youtubeURL); 
         
        // Set the url 
        $downloader->setUrl($youtubeURL); 
         
        // Validate the youtube video url 
        if($downloader->hasVideo()){ 
            // Get the video download link info 
            $videoDownloadLink = $downloader->getVideoDownloadLink(); 
             
            $videoTitle = $videoDownloadLink[0]['title']; 
            $videoQuality = $videoDownloadLink[0]['qualityLabel']; 
            $videoFormat = $videoDownloadLink[0]['format']; 
            $videoFileName = strtolower(str_replace(' ', '_', $videoTitle)).'.'.$videoFormat; 
            $downloadURL = $videoDownloadLink[0]['url']; 
            $fileName = preg_replace('/[^A-Za-z0-9.\_\-]/', '', basename($videoFileName)); 
             
            if(!empty($downloadURL)){ 
                // Define header for force download 
                header("Cache-Control: public"); 
                header("Content-Description: File Transfer"); 
                header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$fileName"); 
                header("Content-Type: application/zip"); 
                header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary"); 
                 
                // Read the file 
                readfile($downloadURL); 
            } 
        }else{ 
            echo "The video is not found, please check YouTube URL."; 
        } 
    }else{ 
        echo "Please provide valid YouTube URL."; 
    } 

}

else{ ?>
    <form action="" method="post">
        <label></label>
        <input type="text" style="width:400px;" name="url" placeholder="Youtube Video URL" required>
        <input type="submit" value="Download Video">
    </form>
<?php } ?>