TubeArchivist: Self-Hosted YouTube Archive and Media Server

YouTube videos disappear constantly — channels get banned, creators delete content, or simply stop paying attention. If you've relied on a video tutorial, documentary, or series, you know the frustration of a dead link.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

TubeArchivist is a self-hosted YouTube media server. It downloads videos from channels and playlists you choose, stores them locally, and gives you a clean web interface to browse and watch your archive — no ads, no algorithm, no disappearing content.

What TubeArchivist Does

TubeArchivist is not a download manager. It's a full media server built around YouTube content:

• Channel subscriptions: Add channels and automatically archive new uploads on a schedule
• Playlist support: Download and track entire playlists as organized collections
• Full-text search: Searches video titles, descriptions, and auto-generated transcripts
• Metadata preservation: Stores thumbnails, descriptions, upload dates, and channel info
• Sponsorblock integration: Automatically marks or skips sponsored segments
• Progress tracking: Resume videos where you left off, track watch history

The backend uses yt-dlp for downloading and Elasticsearch for search indexing. The frontend is a React SPA with a clean, YouTube-inspired layout.

Hardware Requirements

TubeArchivist is resource-intensive because of Elasticsearch:

A 720p video averages ~500MB–1GB. A 1080p video is 1–3GB. If you're archiving hundreds of videos, plan storage accordingly. A TrueNAS array or mergerfs+SnapRAID setup pairs well with TubeArchivist.

Installation with Docker Compose

TubeArchivist requires three containers: the app itself, Redis (for task queuing), and Elasticsearch (for search).

Create docker-compose.yml:

services:
  tubearchivist:
    image: bbilly1/tubearchivist:latest
    container_name: tubearchivist
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - ES_URL=http://archivist-es:9200
      - REDIS_HOST=archivist-redis
      - HOST_UID=1000
      - HOST_GID=1000
      - TA_USERNAME=admin
      - TA_PASSWORD=yourpassword
      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=elasticpassword
      - TZ=America/Los_Angeles
    volumes:
      - /data/tubearchivist/media:/youtube
      - /data/tubearchivist/cache:/cache
    depends_on:
      - archivist-es
      - archivist-redis
    restart: unless-stopped

  archivist-redis:
    image: redis/redis-stack-server:latest
    container_name: archivist-redis
    volumes:
      - /data/tubearchivist/redis:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

  archivist-es:
    image: elasticsearch:8.13.0
    container_name: archivist-es
    environment:
      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=elasticpassword
      - ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m
      - xpack.security.enabled=true
      - discovery.type=single-node
      - path.repo=/usr/share/elasticsearch/data/snapshot
    volumes:
      - /data/tubearchivist/es:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
    restart: unless-stopped

Create the directories and start:

mkdir -p /data/tubearchivist/{media,cache,redis,es}
docker compose up -d

The first startup takes a few minutes as Elasticsearch initializes. Access the UI at http://your-server:8000.

Adding Channels and Playlists

Once logged in:

1. Add a channel: Click the + button and paste a YouTube channel URL. TubeArchivist will fetch channel metadata and optionally start downloading videos.

2. Set download settings: In Settings → Download, configure:

   • Video format: bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio for 1080p max
   • Download schedule: Cron expression for automatic updates (e.g., 0 3 * * * for 3am daily)
   • Auto-delete: Remove videos older than N days if storage is limited

3. Queue a download: Go to a channel and click Download to queue all videos, or select specific ones.

4. Monitor progress: The Downloads tab shows active and queued tasks with progress indicators.

Download Quality Configuration

TubeArchivist passes format strings directly to yt-dlp. Common configurations:

# Best quality up to 1080p (recommended for storage efficiency)
bestvideo[height<=1080][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[height<=1080]

# 720p only (significantly smaller files)
bestvideo[height<=720][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[height<=720]

# Best available quality (4K if available, large files)
bestvideo+bestaudio/best

For most homelabs, 1080p is the sweet spot — watchable on any screen, reasonable storage consumption.

Setting Up Automatic Updates

To keep your archive current without manual intervention:

1. Go to Settings → Scheduling
2. Set a Download schedule (when to check for and download new videos)
3. Set an optional Rescan schedule (re-index existing files)

TubeArchivist will check each subscribed channel on schedule and queue new uploads automatically.

SponsorBlock Integration

TubeArchivist can integrate with SponsorBlock to skip or mark sponsored segments:

1. In Settings → Application, enable SponsorBlock
2. Set which categories to skip: sponsor, selfpromo, interaction, intro, outro
3. SponsorBlock data is fetched during download and stored with the video

In the player, marked segments are highlighted on the seek bar, and skipping is automatic if you've configured it.

Search and Transcripts

One of TubeArchivist's best features is full-text search across video content. It uses YouTube's auto-generated captions (when available) and stores them in Elasticsearch.

You can search for:

• Video titles and descriptions (always available)
• Spoken words in the video (requires captions)
• Channel names

This turns your archive into a searchable knowledge base — useful for technical tutorials where you remember what was said but not which video.

Exposing TubeArchivist Externally

For access outside your home network, put TubeArchivist behind a reverse proxy:

Caddy:

tubearchivist.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8000
}

Traefik:

labels:
  - "traefik.enable=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.tubearchivist.rule=Host(`tubearchivist.yourdomain.com`)"
  - "traefik.http.routers.tubearchivist.entrypoints=websecure"
  - "traefik.http.services.tubearchivist.loadbalancer.server.port=8000"

Consider adding authentication (Authelia, Authentik, or Caddy basic auth) before exposing it publicly — TubeArchivist's built-in auth is minimal.

Storage Considerations

Videos accumulate quickly. A few strategies for managing storage:

• Auto-delete old videos: Set a maximum age or count per channel in download settings
• Per-channel quality settings: Archive important channels at 1080p, others at 720p
• External storage: Mount a NAS share or additional drives at /data/tubearchivist/media
• Compression: TubeArchivist downloads what YouTube has — you can transcode after download with a separate job, but this trades CPU for storage

Alternatives

TubeArchivist is the right choice when you want an ongoing, organized archive with a media server interface — not just ad-hoc downloading.

Summary

TubeArchivist fills a real need: a permanent, searchable local copy of YouTube content you care about. The setup is more involved than simpler self-hosted apps (Elasticsearch isn't lightweight), but the result is a proper media server for video content that won't disappear.

Start with a few channels you rely on for technical reference, confirm the setup works, then expand from there.