cobalt is your go-to place for downloads from social and media platforms. zero ads, trackers, or other creepy bullshit. simply paste a share link and you're ready to rock!
please note that questions and issues may take a while to respond to, there's only one person managing everything.
privacy policy
^
cobalt's privacy policy is simple: no data about you is ever collected or stored. zero, zilch, nada, nothing. what you download is your business, not mine.
some non-backtraceable data does get temporarily stored when requested download requires live render. it's necessary for that feature to function.
in that case, salted sha256 hash of your ip address and information about requested stream are temporarily stored in server's RAM for 2 minutes. after 2 minutes all previously stored information is permanently removed. hash of your ip address is used for limiting stream access only to you. no one (even me) has access to this data, because official cobalt codebase doesn't provide a way to read it outside of processing functions in the first place.
you can check cobalt's github repo yourself and see that everything is as stated.
what's new?
current version & commit
5.4: instagram support, hop, docker, and more!
something many of you've been waiting for is finally here! try it out and let me know what you think :)
tl;dr: • added experimental instagram support! download any reels or videos you like, and make sure to report any issues you encounter. yes, you can convert either to audio. • fixed support for on.soundcloud links. • added share button to "how to save?" popup. • added docker support. • main instance is now powered by hop.io.
service improvements: • added experimental support for videos from instagram. currently only reels and post videos are downloadable, but i'm looking into ways to save high resolution photos too. if you experience any issues, please report them on either of support platforms. • fixed support for on.soundcloud share links. should work just as well as other versions! • fixed an issue that made some youtube videos impossible to download.
interface improvements: • new css-only checkmark! yes, i can't stop tinkering with it because slight flashing on svg load annoyed me. now it loads instantly (and also looks slightly better). • fixed copy animation. • minor localization improvements. • fixed the embed logo that i broke somewhere in between 5.3 and 5.4.
internal improvements: • now using nanoid for live render stream ids. • added support for docker. it's kind of clumsy because of how i get .git folder inside the container, but if you know how to do it better, feel free to make a pr. • cobalt now checks only for existence of environment variables, not exactly the .env file. • changed the way user ip address is retrieved for instances using cloudflare. • added ability to disable cors, both to setup script and environment variables. • moved main instance to hop.io infra. there should no longer be random downtimes. huge shout out to the hop team for being so nice and helping me out :D
i can't believe how diverse and widespread cobalt has become. it's used in all fields: music production, education, content creation, and even game development. thank you. this is absolutely nuts. if you don't mind sharing, please tell me about your use case. i'd really love to hear how you use cobalt and how i could make it even more useful for you.
cobalt does not (and will never) serve ads or sell your data, therefore it's completely free to use. but turns out developing and keeping up a web service used by over 150,000 people is not that easy.
if you ever found cobalt useful and want to help continue its development and support, or simply want to thank the developer, consider chipping in! every cent helps and is VERY appreciated :D
currently, i have big (scaling) plans, and i need your help. cobalt's usage is growing daily, so i need to make up for it. donations are more appreciated than ever.
i am yet to earn anything from cobalt, everything goes back to users, so you're essentially helping everyone.
if selected quality isn't available, closest one is used instead.
tiktok & douyin
youtube codec
h264: generally better player support, but quality tops out at 1080p. av1: low player support, but supports 8k & HDR. vp9: usually highest bitrate, preserves most detail. supports 4k & HDR.
pick h264 if you want best editor/player/social media compatibility.
vimeo downloads type
progressive: direct file link to vimeo's cdn. max quality is 1080p. dash: video and audio are merged by cobalt into one file. max quality is 4k.
pick "progressive" if you want best editor/player/social media compatibility. if progressive download isn't available, dash is used instead.
format
when "best" format is selected, you get audio the way it is on service's side. it's not re-encoded. everything else will be re-encoded.
removes audio from video downloads when possible.
youtube audio track
defines which audio track will be used. if dubbed track isn't available, original video language is used instead.
original: original video language is used. auto: default browser (and cobalt) language is used.
tiktok & douyin
downloads original sound used in the video without any additional changes by the post's author.