youtube-upload

Introduction

Youtube-upload is a command line Python script that uploads videos to Youtube (it should work on any platform -GNU/Linux, BSD, OS X, Windows, ...- that runs Python) using theYoutube APIv3.

Dependencies

• Python 2.6 or 2.7. Python 3.0 is NOT supported.
• Python Google API

Install

$ wget https://github.com/tokland/youtube-upload/archive/master.zip
$ unzip master.zip
$ cd youtube-upload-master
$ sudo python setup.py install

• Or run directly from sources:

  $ cd youtube-upload-master
  $ PYTHONPATH=. python youtube_upload/youtube_upload.py ...
  

Authentication

You'll see that there is no email/password options. Instead, the Youtube API uses OAuth 2.0 to authenticate the upload. The first time you try to upload a video, you will be asked to follow a URL in your browser to get an authentication token. If you have multiple channels for the logged in user, you will also be asked to pick which one you want to upload the videos to. You can use multiple credentials, just use the option --credentials-file. Also, check the token expiration policies.

Examples

• Upload a video:

  $ youtube-upload --title="A.S. Mutter" anne_sophie_mutter.flv
  pxzZ-fYjeYs
  

• Upload a video with more metadata and your own client secrets and credentials file:

  $ youtube-upload --title="A.S. Mutter" 
               --description="A.S. Mutter plays Beethoven" \
               --category=Music \
               --tags="mutter, beethoven" \
               --client-secrets=my_client_secrets.json \
               --credentials-file=my_credentials.json \
               anne_sophie_mutter.flv
  tx2Zb-145Yz
  

• Upload a video using a browser window to authenticate (if required):

  $ youtube-upload --title="A.S. Mutter" --auth-browser anne_sophie_mutter.flv
  

• Split a video with ffmpeg

Youtube currently limits videos to <2Gb and <15' for almost all users. You can use the example script to split it before uploading:

$ bash examples/split_video_for_youtube.sh video.avi
video.part1.avi
video.part2.avi
video.part3.avi

• Use a HTTP proxy

Set environment variables http_proxy and https_proxy:

$ export http_proxy=http://user:password@host:port
$ export https_proxy=http://user:password@host:port
$ youtube-upload ....

Caveats

• The package includes a default client_secrets.json file. If you plan to make a heavy use of the script, please create and use your own OAuth 2.0 file, it's a free service.

Notes for developers

• Main logic of the upload: main.py (function upload_video).
• Check the Youtube Data API.
• Some Youtube API examples provided by Google.

More

• License: GNU/GPLv3.
• Bugs: Open a issue.
• New features: I'll try to fix bugs, but if you want some functionality added you will have to send a pull request.
• Want to donate?