GrabBox

Paste a link. Pick a quality. Download.
Music, videos, whole playlists — from YouTube and 1800+ other sites — saved on your device.
Everything is bundled inside the app. Nothing else to install.

     

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Download

Every file lives on the Releases page. The links below always point at the newest version.

Your device	Download	Good to know
Windows 10 / 11	GrabBox-Windows-Setup.exe	Prefer an MSI? GrabBox-Windows.msi
Mac — Apple Silicon (M1 · M2 · M3 · M4)	GrabBox-macOS-AppleSilicon.dmg	Any Mac sold since late 2020
Mac — Intel	GrabBox-macOS-Intel.dmg	Not sure? Go Apple menu → About This Mac → Chip
Linux	GrabBox-Linux.AppImage	No install needed. Ubuntu / Debian / Mint can use the .deb instead
Android 7.0 or newer	GrabBox-Android.apk	Very old 32-bit phone? GrabBox-Android-32bit.apk

yt-dlp, ffmpeg and a JavaScript runtime are packed inside the app. Install it, open it, done. If YouTube changes something months from now, Settings → Update yt-dlp fixes it without reinstalling.

First launch — the one warning you will see

The app is free and open source but not (yet) code-signed, so your OS asks once:

• Windows — SmartScreen says "Windows protected your PC": click More info → Run anyway.
• macOS — "cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it": right-click the app → Open → Open (or System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway).
• Android — tap Settings on the "Install unknown apps" prompt, allow it for your browser, go back, tap Install.
• Linux — AppImage: make it executable first (chmod +x GrabBox-Linux.AppImage, or right-click → Properties → Allow executing).

How to use it

1. Open GrabBox and paste a link — a video, a song, a playlist, an album. On Android you can also use Share → GrabBox from YouTube or your browser.
2. GrabBox reads the link and shows what it is. Pick what you want: video (MP4), or audio as MP3 / M4A / Opus / FLAC, and the quality. Rename it if you like.
3. Hit Download. Progress shows in the queue; files land in Downloads → GrabBox (changeable in Settings) with the title as the file name, cover art and artist info embedded.

Playlists work the same way — paste the playlist link and every track is numbered in order.

Also in the box

Browser extension — download from the page you are on

A toolbar icon that lights up when a page has something worth grabbing, a right-click "Grab with GrabBox", and a hover button on videos / images / file links. It hands the link to the desktop app, so install that first.

In the desktop app open Settings → Add the browser extension; it shows the folder to load. Or manually: chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → the extension/ folder of this repo. Firefox: about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox → Load Temporary Add-on. Details in docs/APP.md.

Run it from source — Python, no installer

python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp        # plus ffmpeg from your package manager
python3 -m grabbox                      # opens the same UI in your browser

python3 -m grabbox --host 0.0.0.0 makes it reachable from every phone and tablet on your Wi-Fi. Double-click launchers for Windows / macOS / Linux are in scripts/. Full guide: docs/APP.md.

Terminal tools — ytgrab.py menu and raw yt-dlp commands

python3 scripts/ytgrab.py is a terminal menu that checks your setup, retries automatically when YouTube says 403, and names files cleanly. The original step-by-step yt-dlp guide that this repo started as — folder, cmd, the "magic command", playlists, metadata — is preserved in docs/MANUAL.md, and the copy-paste cheat sheet in docs/CHEATSHEET.md.

For developers — building it yourself

• Desktop app: desktop/README.md (Tauri v2, Rust).
• Android app: android/ (Kotlin + Jetpack Compose, gradle assembleDebug).
• Why it is built the way it is: docs/RESEARCH.md.
• Repo layout: docs/README.md.
• Cutting a release: Actions → release → Run workflow → type a version such as 0.2.1. CI builds every installer, stamps the version into them, and publishes a GitHub Release with the file names used on this page. Pushing a tag v0.2.1 does the same.

Something not working?

• HTTP Error 403: Forbidden on YouTube almost always means the engine is outdated: Settings → Update yt-dlp, then retry. GrabBox also retries other player clients on its own.
• Every other error, explained in plain English: docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md.
• Still stuck, or have an idea? Email feedit18@gmail.com, or use the 💬 button inside the app — it pre-fills everything needed to help.

Privacy & legality

100 % local. The only network traffic is between your device and the site you download from. Use it for your own uploads, Creative-Commons material, things you bought, or offline copies you are allowed to keep — downloading other people's copyrighted material breaks YouTube's terms and, depending on where you live, the law.