Applies to: Multicast Radio. Not sure which panel you have? See Which radio or video panel do I have?

With the URL Download feature you download audio from YouTube, SoundCloud, Facebook, Vimeo, TikTok and other sites straight into your station's music, without it passing through your computer. The result is always an MP3 file.

Rights: only download content you have the right to broadcast. The station is responsible for what it broadcasts.

Before you start

• The feature must be enabled in your package. If the From URL tab shows a PRO badge, enable it from your service page in the Client Area (Configuration & Details card → URL Download → Enable).
• Daily limit: your package sets how many downloads you can make per day. The badge on the tab shows e.g. "2/5", meaning 2 of 5 used today. Failed and cancelled downloads don't count. The limit resets at midnight in your account's time zone.
• Maximum length: each track can be up to a number of minutes set by your package (usually 30 minutes). Longer videos, such as full concerts, can't be downloaded.
• You need free space in your package.

Downloading a single track

1. Go to Content → Upload → From URL tab.
2. Paste the link into Audio URL (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...) and click Check.
3. A card appears with the thumbnail, title and duration. Check that it's the right track.
4. Choose:
   • Audio Quality: 128, 192, 256 or 320 kbps. For radio, 192 kbps is enough; 320 kbps takes more space.
   • Folder: where it will be saved.
   • Add to Playlist: if you want it added to a playlist straight away. That way it plays without any further step.
5. Click Download. Download in progress appears. You can wait or carry on elsewhere; the download runs on the server.
6. When it finishes you'll see Download complete! and the buttons View your tracks or Add another.

The title and artist are taken from the video title ("Artist - Title"), without extras such as "Official Video". The video thumbnail becomes the cover.

Searching YouTube without leaving the panel

1. Open the YouTube Search tab.
2. Type a title or artist (at least 2 characters) and click Search.
3. On the result you want, click Select. The panel switches to the From URL tab and runs the Check for you.
4. Continue from step 4 of the previous section.

Searching doesn't count towards the daily limit; only downloads do.

Downloading many tracks from a YouTube playlist

1. Paste a YouTube playlist link (it contains list=).
2. Tick YouTube Playlist Mode and click Check.
3. A list of all the videos opens. You can see how many downloads are Available today. Videos over the maximum length are greyed out and can't be selected.
4. Select the tracks you want (or Select All), choose quality and folder, and click Download selected.

If you select more than you have left today, only the first ones are downloaded, up to your limit. This mode has no playlist option; add the tracks to a playlist afterwards with Entire folder.

Recent Downloads

At the bottom of the page you'll see your last 20 downloads and their status: Pending, Downloading, Processing, Completed or Failed. Downloads run one at a time, so the rest wait their turn. For each download:

• Cancel (for pending or downloading items). It doesn't count towards the limit.
• Retry (for failed items).
• Details: what exactly happened. Useful if you send us a ticket.

If something gets stuck, click Terminate process in the card header. It stops all your pending and running downloads.

When YouTube refuses the download

Sometimes YouTube limits automated downloads and you see a message like "Το YouTube έχει περιορίσει τις αυτόματες λήψεις…" (YouTube has limited automatic downloads). You then have two options:

Option 1: upload YouTube cookies

1. In your computer's browser, install the Get cookies.txt LOCALLY extension.
2. Log in to YouTube with a Google account.
3. In the extension, Export the cookies to a cookies.txt file. Don't close the browser after exporting.
4. In the panel, on the From URL tab, click Instructions in the cookies box, choose the file and click Upload.

The file must be .txt, up to 1 MB, and contain YouTube cookies. Otherwise you'll see a message saying the file doesn't seem to contain YouTube cookies.

Option 2: download the track elsewhere and upload it

The yellow y2mate.nu button at the top right opens an external download service. Download the MP3 to your computer and upload it from the File Upload tab (Uploading music).

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