NEW: Check my new project shoogle for an alternative way of uploading videos to Youtube.

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 2.6/2.7/3.x.
• Packages: google-api-python-client, progressbar2 (optional).

Check if your operating system provides those packages (check also those deb/rpm/mac files), otherwise install them with pip:

$ sudo pip install --upgrade google-api-python-client progressbar2

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 bin/youtube-upload ...

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.

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. Steps:

• Go to the Google console.
• Create project.
• Side menu: APIs & auth -> APIs
• Top menu: Enabled API(s): Enable all Youtube APIs.
• Side menu: APIs & auth -> Credentials.
• Create a Client ID: Add credentials -> OAuth 2.0 Client ID -> Other -> Name: youtube-upload -> Create -> OK
• Download JSON: Under the section "OAuth 2.0 client IDs". Save the file to your local system.
• Use this JSON as your credentials file: --client-secrets=CLIENT_SECRETS

Examples

• Upload a video:

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

• Upload a video with extra metadata, with your own client secrets and credentials file, and to a playlist (if not found, it will be created):

$ youtube-upload \
  --title="A.S. Mutter" 
  --description="A.S. Mutter plays Beethoven" \
  --category=Music \
  --tags="mutter, beethoven" \
  --recording-date="2011-03-10T15:32:17.0Z" \
  --default-language="en" \
  --default-audio-language="en" \
  --client-secrets=my_client_secrets.json \
  --credentials-file=my_credentials.json \
  --playlist "My favorite music" \
  anne_sophie_mutter.flv
tx2Zb-145Yz

Other extra medata available :

--privacy (public | unlisted | private)  
--publish-at (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sZ)  
--location (latitude=VAL,longitude=VAL[,altitude=VAL])  
--thumbnail (string)  

• Upload a video using a browser GUI to authenticate:

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

• Split a video with ffmpeg

If your video is too big or too long for Youtube limits, 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_proxy
$ youtube-upload ....

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.

Feedback

• Donations.
• If you find a bug, open an issue.
• If you want a new feature to be added, you'll have to send a pull request (or find a programmer to do it for you), currently I am not adding new features.