Nodejs Youtube : Spawn unknown error

Question

My code in nodejs is like this :-

var fs = require('fs');
var youtubedl = require('youtube-dl');
var video = youtubedl('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90AiXO1pAiA',
  // Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.

  // Additional options can be given for calling `child_process.execFile()`.
  );

// Will be called when the download starts.

video.on('info', function(info) {
  console.log('Download started');
  console.log('filename: ' + info.filename);
  console.log('size: ' + info.size);
});

video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('myvideo.mp4'));

I get this error:-

SPAWN unknown

You can also suggest an alternative way of making youtube downloader.

Answer 1

I have same problem on Windows, I fixed it as:

Step 1: Goto this link: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html

Step 2: Download Windows exe (sig - SHA256 7071c7a2.....................)

Step 3: Replace it at \node_modules\youtube-dl\bin

Step 4: Run your code:

const fs = require('fs');
const youTube = require('youtube-dl');
const video = youTube('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90AiXO1pAiA');

// called when the download starts.
video.on('info', function(info) {
    console.log('Download started');
    console.log('filename: ' + info.filename);
    console.log('size: ' + info.size);
});

video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('downloads/downloaded_video.mp4'));

Step 5: Expected console output:

/*  Sample Output   */
/*
    Download started
    filename: lol-90AiXO1pAiA.webm
    size: 1029843
    NOTE: File will be downloaded in downloads folder
*/

for complete files and running project:

Clone node-cheat youtube_download_videos, run node download_script.js followed by npm i youtube-dl.