Download videos (and popup comments) from bilibili.com

Just found a nice website that analyzes the video path and so we could download the videos that are on bilibili.com! As of today when I post this, the webpage ibilibili.com is still alive.

06/05/2017: Something to note. Member-only videos (non public videos) cannot be downloaded right now. Keyword test: 다운로드, 下载, 下載, ダウンロード, descargar, скачать, ดาวน์โหลด

The Ultimate Solution

Hi all, I have been looking for a reliable solution for so long. I've been searching since 2015, and it never really gives a reliable solution. After struggling for a while, here I give you the ultimate solution to run on your PC. Using it as a web service is possible, but it'll be too costly to maintain. Given my financial condition I cannot afford that.

Anyway, the essential steps are simple. As some people are confused about the procedure, let me make this clearer. Don't give up on trying! (08/12/2017)

  • Install Python 3 and reboot your computer
    • Download from https://www.python.org/downloads/
    • For MacOS/Linux users, just reboot
    • For Windows users, remember to check "Add python.exe to Path" before you install, something like shown below
  • If you use Linux or Mac OS, open up a terminal
    • Run the following command: 
      sudo pip3 install you-get
    • If pip3 does not exist, try replacing that with just pip
  • If you use Windows, open up the command window as Administrator
    • Run the following command: 
      python.exe -m pip install you-get
    • Example from Hiki
    • If it says command not found, see if you install with "Add python.exe to Path"
    • If already added to path, then try or email me at yz at 9pm dot me for trouble shooting 
      python -m pip install you-get
  • Download the video by: 
    you-get [Bilibili link]

For more installation guidelines, please visit here.

For example:

# to look for video information
you-get -di http://www.bilibili.com/video/av854324/
# if the link contains multiple videos, use ?p=xx for individual video
you-get -di http://www.bilibili.com/video/av854324/?p=65

The output looks like

site:                Bilibili
title:               古风恒久远，良曲永流传【古风合集】
streams:             # Available quality and codecs
    [ DEFAULT ] _________________________________
    - format:        flv
      container:     flv
      size:          18.9 MiB (19853917 bytes)
    # download-with: you-get --format=flv [URL]
    - format:        hdmp4
      container:     mp4
      size:          18.7 MiB (19559025 bytes)
    # download-with: you-get --format=hdmp4 [URL]
    - format:        mp4
      container:     mp4
      size:          15.1 MiB (15827299 bytes)
    # download-with: you-get --format=mp4 [URL]

So if you want to download mp4, then run

you-get --format=mp4 http://www.bilibili.com/video/av854324/index_65.html

And a real example from Hiki:

Q & A & Trouble Shooting

Q1: Where did I download my file?

The downloaded video will be located at whichever folder you run you-get. Below is a brief example how to browse folders in terminal.

For Windows: (anything after # means comments)

C:\WINDOWS\System32\> dir  # list files in current folder
C:\WINDOWS\System32\> D:   # change to D disk
D:\> cd xxx_folder_name   # change to xxx_folder_name
D:\xxx_folder_name\> cd .. # change back to upper folder
D:\> you-get http://xxxxx

For MacOS (or Linux):

~$ ls                  # list files in current folder
~$ cd xxx_folder_name  # change to xxx_folder_name
~$ cd ..               # change back to upper folder
~$ pwd                 # know current folder path
~$ you-get http://xxxxx

Q2: I'm getting UTF-8 locale issues.

you-get: [error] oops, the current environment does not seem to support Unicode.
you-get: please set it to a UTF-8-aware locale first,
you-get: so as to save the video (with some Unicode characters) correctly.
you-get: you can do it like this:
you-get: (Windows) % chcp 65001
you-get: (Linux) $ LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8

Kyo posted this. What you need to do is to run the following as soon as you open the terminal:

  • For MacOS or Linux 
    export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
  • For Windows 
    C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /K chcp 65001

Q3: Why there is error downloading through a link?

Recently Bilibili has taken down most of its videos due to pirating issues.

01/15/2018: If you have encountered 403 or 466 error, use the following as a temporary solution:

pip3 install --upgrade https://github.com/ygmpkk/you-get/archive/develop.zip

To convert back later when the merge is approved, go back to the original version via:

pip3 install --upgrade https://github.com/soimort/you-get/archive/master.zip

Note: if you find issues downloading the video, try to update you-get using the following command:

pip3 install --upgrade https://github.com/rosynirvana/you-get/archive/master.zip

Also, this method support many other services like Youku, YouTube, Daily Motion, etc. All supported sites are listed here.

Let me know if you get any questions.

About Downloading Member-Only Videos at Bilibili

Some videos are member-only and currently there are no good ways to bypass that and download them. To view the videos, you have to become a member, answering 20-ish questions correctly. They are all in Chinese so you need to know a bit about the language. You cannot copy the words directly since they are embedded in the image. To answer the questions, if you can type in Chinese/Japanese, you can go to https://www.zhengjie.com/ to find answers as suggested by findaaaiba. Or you could purchase bilibili account through taobao.

Re-Organized again 🙂 (10/30/2016 05/29/2017 07/15/2017)

Re-organized contents. Since BH-5 is dead for now, I moved it to later parts of the article. Also thank "kimo" for providing an alternative method, but it seems vdYoutube.com failed on me.

As the ultimate solution is presented, I will no longer implement my own solution. This solution is on GitHub and is well maintained by many people. If ever the service is down, it can be quickly fixed, either by the developers, or by me. Thank you all for being with me for 2 years. 🙂

I can't believe I'm still updating this post, after 3 years :O (08/30/2018)

220 comments

  1. hi, i just started to try this solution but failed. i manage to install python but couldn't install pip from both the python and cmd. cmd only says it succeed to install but there was nothing in my python folder. i'm a total computer noob here so if you don't mind, can you tell me from the very 1st? i tried every coding you state but it kept saying not found

    Reply

    1. sorry, i actually download the pip, just didn't know where it was. turns out it was in "lib\site-packages". does this mean its already installed? can i download the video now? in which directory i have to be to run the "you-get [bilibili]" link?

      Reply

      1. you were using MacOS or Windows? Either way you should have already installed pip. If you use MacOS, do 'pip install you-get' first, and then use 'cd' to browse into a folder and run 'you-get' there.

        Reply

  2. Hello,
    I do not code and I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly. I've installed python3 and ffmpeg to my mac and I'm trying to download you-get. I'm not sure which option to use.

    I have tried the home-brew method for mac only, and i get errors in terminal saying that sudo: brew: no command found.

    Option 1, I typed in pip3 install you-get and it returns bash: command not found. The other options mention something about putting something in paths and permanent paths and i'm not sure what it means or what I'm supposed to type.

    Sorry for the long post. but I really want to download a couple of videos and am having trouble. Would appreciate any help.
    Thanks.

    Reply

      1. Still error like this
        you-get: [error] oops, the current environment does not seem to support Unicode.
        you-get: please set it to a UTF-8-aware locale first,
        you-get: so as to save the video (with some Unicode characters) correctly.
        you-get: you can do it like this:
        you-get: (Windows) % chcp 65001
        you-get: (Linux) $ LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
        btw i use windows

        Reply

  4. is it possible to download bilibili videos from a mac system instead of windows? I don't have windows 🙁

    Reply

  5. OMG! Thanks so much for the ultimate method!
    Total noob here about Python and still doesn't get the tutorial so I hope it's okay to ask for some help 🙁
    so... after installing Python 3, rebooting and opening as administrator, i run the you-get code but i get the invalid syntax error 🙁

    Reply

    1. Totally! You are using windows right? After installing Python 3, try to use the Python GUI and see if it works. I don't have a windows but feel free to contact me if you want, e.g., send me some screenshots to help me help you 🙂
      my email is yz at 9pm dot me (to be safer on the internet)

      Reply

      1. i'm using every method possible, even download from vdyoutube. But they're all give me low quality vid. It's only for recent video uploaded, not for the old one. For example this one ===> video/av11803840

        Reply

        1. just realize that i can download the flv parts for high quality vid and joined the flv using flv joiner. Thank you so much for bilibilijj method!! 😀 i really appreciate it (*^^*)

          Reply

          1. ha you can use the bilibili-helper the chrome extension to get the high quality video and then combine them. But yea this method isn't really scalable. I do have a solution now but I need to think of lowering the cost or that.

  8. Hi again! Thank you so much for Method #0! Haven't tried it out yet but I hope it works fine for me.

    Reply

        3. I now understand why 403 happens. It's because Bilibili enabled some check to validate if the URL comes from other sites or bilibili. If you can bypass that, you can still download videos. I can now download with system tools but not a web version.

          Reply

          1. Thanks for the info! Yes, so far I still get the Forbidden Error. I tried the new JJ method but after clicking the MP3/MP4 link I'm redirected to a complete blank Jijidown page :'(

          2. (replying again since i think i lost my previous reply)
            Thanks for the info! I still get the Forbidden Error using ibilibili method 🙁
            I tried the JJ method but when I click on the MP3/MP4, I'm redirected to a completely blank jijidown page :(((

          3. Hi Hiki, thanks for giving feedbacks. I now give the ultimate solution which can directly run on your PC, rather than through the browser.

          1. Isn't that so? What is the link? I currently have a solution but the cost can be too high to afford. Let me think of a way to accommodate or lower the cost.

      2. i'm using every method possible, even download from vdyoutube. But they're all give me low quality vid. It's only for recent video uploaded, not for the old one. For example this one ===> video/av11803840

        Reply

  9. I can't sign up on QQ because it says my number is invalid and
    flvcd and tubeoffline both give an error. Is there really no other method? This is my first time downloading from bilibili so I'm kinda bummed ><

    Reply

    1. Did you try to use e-mail account rather than QQ number? Other than that, I have not found a really good method to download the video.. I only found one solution that you can download one video in segments, I'll add that to the post.

      Reply

      1. yo usaba clipconverter pero ya todos los sitios que los usabas para descargar los bloquearon desde los servidores

        Reply

        1. Hi there! I don't know Spanish very well so I used Google Translate. But yes, it seems all these sites now have a hard time to get the contents. It's time to work on my own version so it could be move reliable (hopefully, at least I know how to debug if things went wrong :P). I was talking about this a while ago and now finally I start to have some time to work on it. Stay tuned.

          Reply

  10. So um... There's currently no way to download from bilibili ever since they added that qq thing? I tried logging in but when I go to ibilibili and find my video it says access is denied or something.

    Reply

        1. I checked it and I could download the video without problems (after login with QQ and then register the iBilibili account). I sent you the link via email and see if you can download through that link directly.

          Reply

  11. Is it me or is ibilibili requiring me to log in to their site or whatever that qq is? Cuz I last used it last month and it didnt had all this qq thingy

    Reply

    1. yea you are right.. they recently made the change because some other sites steal the analyzed contents from them.. that was a stupid but reasonable move..

      Reply

  12. Hi... just want to ask if ibilibili is not working for everyone or only me? Usually it working fine for me but since some days or weeks (?) ago it doesn't work anymore. There is no link to click like usual (like you mentioned above).
    And with BH-5 closed down again, I have no other way to download from bilibili. (method 3 doesn't work at all for me) T____T
    I read that you will make your own site to download from bilibili so I'm waiting for it... Thank you and fighting!! ^^

    Reply

    1. yea ibilibili recently made the move asking for reg because their site contents got stolen from others.. I'm also very sad BH-5 is down.. I also don't like that the method to get bilibili videos are getting more and more complicated. Yes, I will do my own project on this but my plan was to finish this by Sept.. I'll try to get some spare time in late May and hopefully finish it soon.

      Reply

  13. Any suggestions on how to get this video? /video/av10325734/

    bilibilih5 was working, but then the site died halfway through...

    Reply

    1. I can't get access to the video even if I logged in.. is it private? As far as I know all solutions now are for public links only..

      Reply

      1. too bad the questions written on image so it can't be copied. ( ;_;) thanks for your solution 😀

        Reply

        1. np, I can try to organize the solutions to those questions and create a new post for that. I'll do that in late May. Oh I get what you were saying.. oops sorry they were not in image before.. I'll see if there is any thing to do about that..

          Reply

          1. I passed the exam like finally! I can a little bit Japanese, so I figured some words in the question and copy paste in this site to get the answer ==> https://www.zhengjie.com/ that site is SO useful for me who can't chinese at all ;_;

            I know it's late since i was lurking your blog long before (silent reader here sorry ;A;), but really... thank you, thank you so much! Whenever BH5 down, i always going to this site to check if it's my internet connection or BH-5 is really down. 😀 You really are hero. Thank you again. (^^)

      1. Oh no TwT would it get revived again? please update us if ever ;; i find it easier to DL vids there than from ibilibili orz

        Reply

    1. Can you post a link so I can check why ibilibili doesn't work? There are plenty of ways. ibilibili should work.
      If not, you can go to BH-5, turn on the "Developer Tools" on Chrome, for example. Then in the developer tools choose the "network" tab, and load that video. You will see file like "somenumber.xml". And that is the popup comments.

      Reply

  18. OMG!! Thank you so muuchhh!! I thought I couldn't download this video I want to have so much from bilibili, but then I found this wonderrrful website~
    Ugh, can't thank you enough ♥♥♥

    Reply

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