# spotDL v4 **spotDL** finds songs from Spotify playlists on YouTube and downloads them - along with album art, lyrics and metadata. [](https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader/blob/master/LICENSE) [](https://pypi.org/project/spotdl/) [](https://pypi.org/project/spotdl/)  [](https://discord.gg/xCa23pwJWY) > spotDL: The fastest, easiest and most accurate command-line music downloader. ## Installation Refer to our [Installation Guide](installation.md) for more details. ### Python (Recommended Method) - _spotDL_ can be installed by running `pip install spotdl`. - To update spotDL run `pip install --upgrade spotdl` > On some systems you might have to change `pip` to `pip3`. ### Other options - Prebuilt executable - Download the latest version from the [Releases Tab](https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader/releases). - On Termux - `curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader/master/scripts/termux.sh | sh` - Arch - There is an [Arch User Repository (AUR) package](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spotdl/) for spotDL. - Docker - Build image: ```bash docker build -t spotdl . ``` - Launch container with spotDL parameters (see section below). You need to create mapped volume to access song files ```bash docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/music spotdl download [trackUrl] ``` If you bind-mount `$(pwd):/music`, that host directory must be writable by the container `UID`/`GID`. - Use Docker Compose if you want Docker to manage permissions for you: ```bash # Set your user ID and group ID (recommended) # This ensures downloaded files are owned by your user instead of root # If you don't set this, files will be owned by user 1000 export PUID=$(id -u) export PGID=$(id -g) # Build and download docker compose build docker compose run --rm spotdl download [trackUrl] ``` Docker Compose mounts `spotdl_music:/music` and stores downloads in that volume. Export files: ```bash docker compose up --no-start spotdl mkdir -p downloads docker compose cp spotdl:/music/. ./downloads/ ``` - Build from source ```bash git clone https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader && cd spotify-downloader pip install uv uv sync uv run scripts/build.py ``` An executable is created in `spotify-downloader/dist/`. ### Installing FFmpeg FFmpeg is required for spotDL. If using FFmpeg only for spotDL, you can simply install FFmpeg to your spotDL installation directory: `spotdl --download-ffmpeg` We recommend the above option, but if you want to install FFmpeg system-wide, follow these instructions - [Windows Tutorial](https://windowsloop.com/install-ffmpeg-windows-10/) - OSX - `brew install ffmpeg` - Linux - `sudo apt install ffmpeg` or use your distro's package manager ## Usage Using SpotDL without options: ```sh spotdl [urls] ``` You can run _spotDL_ as a package if running it as a script doesn't work: ```sh python -m spotdl [urls] ``` General usage: ```sh spotdl [operation] [options] QUERY ``` There are different **operations** spotDL can perform. The _default_ is `download`, which simply downloads the songs from YouTube and embeds metadata. The **query** for spotDL is usually a list of Spotify URLs, but for some operations like **sync**, only a single link or file is required. For a list of all **options** use ```spotdl -h``` ### Refer to [Usage](usage.md) for more info. ## Music Sourcing and Audio Quality spotDL uses YouTube as a source for music downloads. This method is used to avoid any issues related to downloading music from Spotify. > **Note** > Users are responsible for their actions and potential legal consequences. We do not support unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material and take no responsibility for user actions. ### Audio Quality spotDL downloads music from YouTube and is designed to always download the highest possible bitrate; which is 128 kbps for regular users and 256 kbps for YouTube Music premium users. Check the [Audio Formats](usage.md#audio-formats-and-quality) page for more info. ## Contributing Interested in contributing? Check out our [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) to find resources around contributing along with a guide on how to set up a development environment. ### Join our amazing community as a code contributor ## License This project is Licensed under the [MIT](https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader/blob/master/LICENSE) License.