45,953
stars
+17
4,064
forks
197
watchers
506
prs
1,047
issues
0
releases
8
discussions
README
best way to save what you love
cobalt.tools
💬 community discord server
🐦 twitter
🦋 bluesky
cobalt is a media downloader that doesn't piss you off. it's friendly, efficient, and doesn't have ads, trackers, paywalls or other nonsense.
paste the link, get the file, move on. that simple, just how it should be.
cobalt monorepo
this monorepo includes source code for api, frontend, and related packages:
- api tree & readme
- web tree & readme
- packages tree
it also includes documentation in the docs tree:
- how to run a cobalt instance
- how to protect a cobalt instance
- cobalt api instance environment variables
- cobalt api documentation
ethics
cobalt is a tool that makes downloading public content easier. it takes zero liability.
the end user is responsible for what they download, how they use and distribute that content.
cobalt never caches any content, it works like a fancy proxy.
cobalt is in no way a piracy tool and cannot be used as such.
it can only download free & publicly accessible content.
same content can be downloaded via dev tools of any modern web browser.
contributing
if you're considering contributing to cobalt, first of all, thank you! check the contribution guidelines here before getting started, they'll help you do your best right away.
thank you
cobalt is sponsored by royalehosting.net. a part of our infrastructure is hosted on their network. we really appreciate their kindness and support!
licenses
for relevant licensing information, see the api and web READMEs.
unless specified otherwise, the remainder of this repository is licensed under AGPL-3.0.Top issues
#1356Can't download videos from YouTube on cobalt.tools49 comments · 2025-06-19#811Cloudflare Turnstile keeps running checks without ever giving access to downloading30 comments · 2024-10-06#768Website feature removed26 comments · 2024-09-21#722Add a Docker image for the web instance19 comments · 2024-09-09#1024How can we add po_token and visitor_data in cookie.json file17 comments · 2024-12-28#889Cobalt instance cannot retrieve YouTube cookies17 comments · 2024-11-06#1455Encountering 'file tunnel is empty' Issue When Attempting Self Hosting13 comments · 2025-10-04#254Make a CLI version of cobalt15 comments · 2023-11-25
Discussions
#137411.2: local processing for everyone, subtitles, audio covers, and more6 comments · 2025-06-30#128811.0: local media processing, better performance, and a lot of polish3 comments · 2025-05-29#101610.5: merry christmas and happy new year!2 comments · 2024-12-23#88510.3: fastest cobalt yet, new youtube features, translation platform, and a lot more3 comments · 2024-11-04#876brownout timeline for the public v7 api (api.cobalt.tools/api/json)5 comments · 2024-10-31#860important notice for instance hosters and public v7 api users (api.cobalt.tools)7 comments · 2024-10-21#859welcome to cobalt github discussions!0 comments · 2024-10-21#211YouTube videos downloading at 0 kb1 comments · 2023-10-03