Chat Downloader

Chat Downloader is a simple tool used to retrieve chat messages from livestreams, videos, clips and past broadcasts. No authentication needed!

Installation

This tool is distributed on PyPI and can be installed with pip:

$ pip install chat-downloader

To update to the latest version, add the --upgrade flag to the above command.

Alternatively, the tool can be installed with git:

$ git clone https://github.com/xenova/chat-downloader.git
$ cd chat-downloader
$ python setup.py install

Usage

Command line

usage: chat_downloader [-h] [--version] [--start_time START_TIME]
                       [--end_time END_TIME]
                       [--message_types MESSAGE_TYPES | --message_groups MESSAGE_GROUPS]
                       [--max_attempts MAX_ATTEMPTS]
                       [--retry_timeout RETRY_TIMEOUT]
                       [--interruptible_retry [INTERRUPTIBLE_RETRY]]
                       [--max_messages MAX_MESSAGES]
                       [--inactivity_timeout INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT]
                       [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--format FORMAT]
                       [--format_file FORMAT_FILE] [--chat_type {live,top}]
                       [--ignore IGNORE]
                       [--message_receive_timeout MESSAGE_RECEIVE_TIMEOUT]
                       [--buffer_size BUFFER_SIZE] [--output OUTPUT]
                       [--overwrite [OVERWRITE]] [--sort_keys [SORT_KEYS]]
                       [--indent INDENT] [--pause_on_debug | --exit_on_debug]
                       [--logging {none,debug,info,warning,error,critical} | --testing | --verbose | --quiet]
                       [--cookies COOKIES] [--proxy PROXY]
                       url

For example, to save messages from a livestream to a JSON file, you can use:

$ chat_downloader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A --output chat.json

For a description of these options, as well as advanced command line use-cases and examples, consult the Command Line Usage page.

Python

from chat_downloader import ChatDownloader

url = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A'
chat = ChatDownloader().get_chat(url)       # create a generator
for message in chat:                        # iterate over messages
    chat.print_formatted(message)           # print the formatted message

For advanced python use-cases and examples, consult the Python Documentation.

Chat Items

Chat items/messages are parsed into JSON objects (a.k.a. dictionaries) and should follow a format similar to this:

{
    ...
    "message_id": "xxxxxxxxxx",
    "message": "actual message goes here",
    "message_type": "text_message",
    "timestamp": 1613761152565924,
    "time_in_seconds": 1234.56,
    "time_text": "20:34",
    "author": {
        "id": "UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "name": "username_of_sender",
        "images": [
            ...
        ],
        "badges": [
            ...
        ]
    },
    ...
}

For an extensive, documented list of included fields, consult the Chat Item Fields page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Coming soon

Issues

Found a bug or have a suggestion? File an issue here. To assist the developers in fixing the issue, please follow the issue template as closely as possible.

Contributing

If you would like to help improve the tool, you'll find more information on contributing in our Contributing Guide.

Supported sites:

• YouTube.com - Livestreams, past broadcasts and premieres.
• Twitch.tv - Livestreams, past broadcasts and clips.
• Reddit.com - Livestreams, past broadcasts
• Facebook.com (currently in development) - Livestreams and past broadcasts.