Download It

A beautiful, native macOS video downloader.

Download for macOS

Download It lets you download, quickly copy, reveal, and trim videos from social media and video platforms in one focused, Spotlight-style app. Paste a URL from services such as YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, Vimeo, Reddit, and thousands of other sites supported by yt-dlp; the app detects the available resolutions, downloads an MP4 at the quality you pick, copies the finished file to the clipboard, saves it to your chosen folder, and keeps a local history for fast access.

Features

• No setup required — on first launch the app downloads the tools it needs (yt-dlp + ffmpeg) automatically. No Homebrew, no Terminal.
• Download videos from thousands of yt-dlp-supported websites.
• Paste (or drag-and-drop) a URL into a clean, Spotlight-style window.
• Pick the resolution per video — the app probes the link and shows the actual available qualities (up to 4K/8K), as selectable boxes.
• Live download progress with a percentage ring.
• Convert and merge downloads to broadly compatible MP4 (H.264/AAC when possible).
• Automatically copy the downloaded file after completion.
• Keep a local download history with thumbnails; swipe a row left to delete.
• Copy files again, reveal them in Finder, or open the original source URL from history.
• Trim downloaded videos and either save the trimmed MP4 or copy the trimmed clip.
• Choose and persist a custom download folder.
• Check GitHub Releases for app updates from the settings menu.

Runtime dependencies

Download It uses yt-dlp and ffmpeg under the hood. End users don't need to install anything — the app downloads these tools itself on first launch (into ~/Library/Application Support/MediaDownloader/bin) and keeps yt-dlp updated. See NOTICE.md for attribution and licenses.

If you already have them on your PATH (e.g. via brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg), the app will use those instead.

Local Development Requirements

To build from source:

• macOS 14 or newer
• Xcode Command Line Tools or Xcode with Swift 5.9+

xcode-select --install

Build and Run (Local Development)

From the repository root:

./script/build_and_run.sh

The script runs swift build, creates a local development app bundle at dist/Download It.app, and launches it.

You can also use SwiftPM directly:

swift build
swift test   # requires full Xcode (XCTest); Command Line Tools alone cannot run tests

Useful development script modes:

./script/build_and_run.sh --verify
./script/build_and_run.sh --logs
./script/build_and_run.sh --telemetry
./script/build_and_run.sh --debug
./script/build_and_run.sh --setup

Release: Signing and Notarization

For a download that opens without Gatekeeper warnings, the app must be signed with a "Developer ID Application" certificate and notarized by Apple. This requires an Apple Developer Program membership.

1. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your signing identity and App Store Connect API key. Never commit .env, .p8, .p12, certificates, or private keys — the repo ignores them.

2. Create signed, notarized artifacts and publish a GitHub release:

   ./script/release_macos.sh v1.0.0

   This runs tests, builds a release Download It.app, signs it with a hardened runtime, submits it to Apple notarization, staples the ticket, creates dist/release/DownloadIt-macos-<arch>.zip and DownloadIt-macos-<arch>.dmg, and uploads both to the matching GitHub release.

3. To build signed, notarized artifacts locally without publishing:

   ./script/package_macos.sh

The in-app updater checks https://api.github.com/repos/arnabbagxd/Downloader/releases/latest and compares the latest release tag (e.g. v1.0.0) against CFBundleShortVersionString.

How It Works

Download It uses yt-dlp to fetch media and ffmpeg to merge, convert, trim, and export video files. Downloads are saved to the selected local folder. App preferences are stored in UserDefaults, while history and generated thumbnails are stored under the app's Application Support directory.

Project Structure

• Package.swift — Swift Package Manager manifest.
• Sources/MediaDownloader — macOS app source code.
• Tests/MediaDownloaderTests — unit tests.
• script/build_and_run.sh — local build, bundle, launch, debug, and logging helper.
• script/package_macos.sh — signed, notarized local artifacts.
• script/release_macos.sh — signed, notarized artifacts published to a GitHub release.
• script/create_dmg.sh — creates the drag-to-Applications DMG from a built app bundle.
• dist/ — generated local app bundle output.

Notes

Site support depends on the installed yt-dlp version. If a site stops working, update yt-dlp first:

brew upgrade yt-dlp

Credits

Built on the excellent yt-dlp and ffmpeg projects. Icons by Lucide.