URL downloads
How downloads from YouTube, Twitch and other sites work.
Paste a link under Path or URL, and shardreel downloads it with yt-dlp before analysis.
Progress bar
While the job is in the Fetch stage, the job page shows a progress bar with:
- the stream being downloaded
- percent complete
- downloaded and total size
- speed and estimated time remaining
Most sites deliver video and audio as two separate streams. The bar fills for video, then restarts for audio, then yt-dlp merges them into one MP4. When no total size is known, the bar shows downloaded bytes instead of a percentage.
Format
yt-dlp is asked for the best video up to 1080p, preferring MP4 video with M4A audio, and merges to MP4.
Where files go
Downloads are kept in ~/.clipforge/cache/downloads. Free the space any time from Storage.
Playlists
Only the single video in the link is downloaded, never a whole playlist.
If a download fails, see Troubleshooting.