Tube Archivist

Stable

tubearchivist/tubearchivist8.5k4282d agoMedia Streaming - Video Streaming

Specs verified September 9, 2026 · against v0.5.12

Overview

Self-hosted YouTube media server for downloading, indexing, searching, and streaming your archive.

Tube Archivist is a self-hosted YouTube media server for downloading videos, channels, and playlists into a searchable archive that you can stream from your own server.

Why people choose Tube Archivist

It is aimed at readers who want more than a downloader: the web interface organizes subscriptions, queues downloads, indexes metadata, tracks watched state, and provides search and playback for the resulting collection.

What is included

The official docs cover channel and playlist subscriptions, download queues, video metadata, full-index search, filtering and sorting, watched state, grid/list/table views, bulk selection, redownloads, and a browser-oriented media interface.

What to know before you deploy

Tube Archivist is a multi-container Docker stack, not a lightweight single binary. The official Compose guide requires the main application, Redis, and Elasticsearch 8, with persistent storage for the archive and index. The docs call for around 2 GB available memory for a small test setup and around 4 GB for a mid-to-large installation, with ARM64 supported but described as essentially untested.

Best fit

Choose Tube Archivist when you want a maintained, searchable local archive of YouTube media and accept the storage, indexing, and platform responsibilities that come with downloading it. If you only need occasional downloads, a simpler command-line tool may be easier.

Quick deploy

Paste into docker-compose.yml and run docker compose up -d

docker-compose.yml

1services:
2  tubearchivist:
3    image: bbilly1/tubearchivist:latest
4    ports:
5      - "8000:8000"
6    volumes:
7      - ./cache:/cache
8      - ./youtube:/youtube
9    environment:
10      - TA_HOST=localhost
11      - REDIS_CON=redis://archivist-redis:6379
12      - ES_URL=http://archivist-es:9200
13  archivist-redis:
14    image: redis:7
15    volumes:
16      - ./redis:/data
17  archivist-es:
18    image: bbilly1/tubearchivist-es:latest
19    volumes:
20      - ./elasticsearch:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data

Configuration

Environment variables

Variable	What it does	Example
`TA_HOST`required	Public hostname used by Tube Archivist.	tube.example.com
`REDIS_CON`required	Redis connection string used for queue and cache communication.	redis://archivist-redis:6379
`ES_URL`required	Elasticsearch URL used for the metadata index.	http://archivist-es:9200

Ports

8000/tcp — Default Tube Archivist web interface port documented by the official installation guide.

Volumes to back up

/cache — Persistent artwork and application data.
/youtube — Downloaded video files.
/usr/share/elasticsearch/data — Persistent Elasticsearch metadata index.

Interface previews

Feature support

Feature support in Tube Archivist
Feature	Support
Channel, playlist, and video subscriptionsOfficial docs describe subscribing to channels and adding videos or playlists to the download queue.	Supported
Download queue and scheduled scanningThe getting-started workflow covers scanning subscriptions and processing queued downloads.	Supported
Searchable metadata indexElasticsearch stores video metadata and enables search across the archive.	Supported
Web playback and streamingThe official docs describe opening thumbnails to play archived videos in the web interface.	Supported
Watched state and playback controlsThe UI tracks watched state and documents keyboard shortcuts including playback speed and subtitle controls.	Supported
Sorting and filtering viewsOfficial docs list sorting by publication, views, likes, duration, size, and resolution plus watched, type, and height filters.	Supported
Bulk selection and redownloadsThe multiselect workflow supports selecting videos and applying actions such as redownload.	Supported
Docker Compose deploymentThe official installation path uses Docker Compose with Tube Archivist, Redis, and Elasticsearch.	Supported

Community signals

Stars: 8.5k
Forks: 428
Open issues: 20
Last commit: 2d ago
Latest release: v0.5.12
Repo created: Sep 2021

Refreshed nightly from the GitHub API.

Questions

What is Tube Archivist used for?

Tube Archivist is used to download, organize, index, search, and stream a personal YouTube archive from a self-hosted web interface.

Is Tube Archivist a YouTube alternative?

It is better understood as a self-hosted archive and media-server layer for YouTube content, not a replacement for YouTube social features or its live service.

What services does Tube Archivist need?

The official Docker guide lists three containers: Tube Archivist itself, Redis for queue and cache data, and Elasticsearch 8 for the metadata index and queue tracking.

How much RAM does Tube Archivist need?

The official installation docs say around 2 GB of available memory is a small testing baseline and around 4 GB is more suitable for a mid-to-large installation.

Can Tube Archivist run on ARM64?

Yes, the docs describe multi-architecture Tube Archivist and Redis containers and recommend the official Elasticsearch image for ARM64, while warning that ARM64 builds are essentially untested.

Does Tube Archivist need a lot of storage?

It can. The video files are stored in the configured YouTube volume, while artwork, metadata, and the Elasticsearch index also need persistent storage. Plan capacity around the archive you intend to keep.

Does Tube Archivist support Docker Compose?

Yes. Docker Compose is the official deployment path, and the docs provide the Compose file, environment variables, ports, and volume guidance.

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