No paywall, ever
Every feature here is free today and stays free in future updates. No tiers, no locked resolutions, no daily download caps.
Free & open source · no accounts · no server
Your own personal,
offline video archive.
SlothArchiver is a free desktop app for downloading and organizing videos and audio from YouTube and other platforms into a permanent library on your own computer. Point it at a folder, and it does the archiving for you — no subscriptions, no re-uploading to yet another cloud service, no losing access when a video gets taken down or a channel disappears.
- Windows · macOS · Linux
- GPL-3.0 licensed
- Zero paywall, forever
Why SlothArchiver
The lazy option, in the best sense.
Self-hosted servers like TubeArchivist or Pinchflat give you a real archive, but only if you're willing to run Docker, manage a server, and keep a machine on around the clock. Lightweight downloaders skip the setup, but most just drop files in a folder and call it done — no real organization, nothing actually archived. SlothArchiver is a normal app you install like any other: zero server to babysit, zero config to get right, and a real searchable library, playlist tracking, and version history that happen automatically from there.
| SlothArchiver | Arroxy | TubeArchiver | TubeArchivist / Pinchflat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, no paywall | Yes | Yes | Tiered plans | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Runs locally — no Docker or server | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Real searchable library | Yes | No | History list only | Yes |
| Playlist tracking detects removed videos | Yes | No | One-time fetch | Yes |
| Per-video version history | Yes | No | No | No |
| Library is plain files, no hidden database | Yes | Yes | N/A | Elasticsearch |
| Built-in playback in the app | Yes | No | No | Web UI |
| In-app clipping, MP3 extraction & format tools | Yes | No | No | No |
| macOS / Windows / Linux | Yes | Yes | Mac/Win only | Via Docker |
No other tool in this space currently checks every one of those boxes at once — that combination is the whole point of SlothArchiver.
Features
Everything you need. Nothing behind a paywall.
Download video or audio
From YouTube and a growing list of platforms — SoundCloud, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Dailymotion, and more — in the quality you choose.
A real library, not a folder
Every video is organized by channel, searchable, and keeps a history of versions if you ever re-fetch it. SlothArchiver actually keeps track of what you have.
Playlist archiving
Save an entire playlist at once, refresh it later to pick up new additions, and get removed videos automatically flagged instead of silently disappearing.
Bulk downloading
Paste a whole list of links or a playlist and let the app work through them in the background, several at a time.
Built-in playback
Watch or listen to anything in your library right inside the app — no need to hunt for the file afterward.
Handy media tools
Extract audio as MP3, convert formats, trim clips, and embed metadata/cover art, all without leaving the app.
Stays current
The app can update its own download engine on demand, so it keeps working as sites change.
See it in action
Demos
A quick look at some of the features that make SlothArchiver more than just a download button.
Up to 8K resolution
Every quality the source video offers, personally tested up to 4320p — no resolution locked behind a paywall.
Playlist saving
Save a playlist once and SlothArchiver remembers exactly what was on it — even for videos that later get pulled.
Version history
Download the original before it changes, and keep the newer version side by side instead of overwriting what you already had.
Seriously long videos
Working directly with yt-dlp at a low level, SlothArchiver has been tested successfully on uploads over 12 hours long.
Fast library search & sorting
Search across your whole library, sort by date, channel, title, or quality, and browse by channel or playlist.
Light footprint, no lock-in
Your library lives as plain files and folders. Want it gone? Delete the folder and it's gone, completely.
Built-in media utilities
Extract MP3s, embed metadata and cover art, cut a clip, or convert format — all from the library view.
More than just YouTube
SoundCloud, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Dailymotion, and more — SlothArchiver figures out the platform automatically.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is SlothArchiver free?
Yes — it's free and open source, in full, with no plan to change that.
Is it legal to download videos with this app?
SlothArchiver uses yt-dlp to download video and metadata, which acts the same way a real viewer's browser would — it requests a public page and reads back whatever that page already serves. For a few platforms, yt-dlp also has to mimic a real browser more closely to get past automated bot-detection checks, which doesn't unlock anything private or bypass any actual access control. Either way, nothing here involves hacking, cracking DRM, or accessing content that isn't already publicly available. YouTube, however, doesn't approve the use of these tools or any means of downloading videos even if they are public.
SlothArchiver is a personal-use, local tool — everything it downloads stays in your own library on your own machine. It doesn't upload, host, re-share, or otherwise distribute anything you download. What you do with the files afterward, and whether that complies with a given platform's Terms of Service or your local copyright law, is your responsibility as the user.
What platforms can I download from?
YouTube is fully supported for downloads, library, and playlists. For pure downloads, virtually any site yt-dlp itself supports works — 1800+ platforms — including TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, and Dailymotion, to name a few with dedicated recognition in the app's UI.
What operating systems does SlothArchiver run on?
Windows, macOS, and Linux. This is a solo dev project and executables are built manually per platform, so expect the occasional OS-specific rough edge — raise an issue on GitHub if you hit one.
Do I need a YouTube account or to sign in?
No — it works without an account. Keep in mind you might be locked out of downloading certain videos (like age-restricted ones), or temporarily blocked by YouTube if it detects a high volume of downloads.
Where are my downloaded videos stored?
Wherever you tell it to — you set up a library folder on first install, and that becomes the base path everything gets organized under. After that, it's best not to move or change the library files directly unless you know what you're doing, since the app expects the filesystem to stay consistent. For one-off downloads, you pick the destination each time (or set a default).
What video quality can I download?
Every quality yt-dlp exposes for the source video — for YouTube and Dailymotion that's been personally tested up to 4320p (8K), depending on what the original upload offers.
Can I download an entire playlist?
Yes, for YouTube — as part of the bulk-add feature, which saves both the playlist and the video data into your library. Other platforms currently support single-video downloads only.
Does SlothArchiver collect any of my data?
No. The app is designed not to collect or require data anywhere it can avoid it — that's also why library management runs on the plain filesystem instead of a database.
How do I report a bug or request a feature?
Raise an issue on GitHub — for bugs, include enough detail to reproduce it; for features, a clear description of what you'd like to see. This is a solo project worked on in spare time, so thorough reports help a lot.
Have a more detailed question? The full FAQ lives in the project README.
Get started
Point it at a folder. That's the whole setup.
All builds are unsigned, so your OS will show a first-run security warning on first launch — that's expected for any unsigned app, not a sign anything's wrong. See the Installing guide on GitHub for the two-second bypass on each platform.
All downloads take you to the latest release on GitHub, where you'll find the exact file for your system.