yt-dlp-rajiko

what is it

yt-dlp-rajiko is an extractor plugin for yt-dlp, an online media downloader. It lets you download any timefree programme, or record any live station, from radiko.jp, the central platform for Japanese commercial radio.

Its biggest advantage over yt-dlp's built-in extractor is that it bypasses radiko's geoblock, meaning it works anywhere in the world (even outside Japan). It also uses different streams that can be downloaded faster than real-time.

The geo-bypass works by impersonating the radiko mobile app, allowing it to completely bypass radiko's geo-blocks. This technique was originally developed by jackyzy823 in the rajiko browser extension (from which this plugin takes its name). Everything else is reverse-engineered from the desktop website.

how do i install it

Download the Python wheel or pip install --extra-index-url https://427738.xyz/yt-dlp-rajiko/pip/ yt-dlp-rajiko

Requires yt-dlp 2023.06.22 or above.

Use the pip command if you installed yt-dlp with pip. If you installed yt-dlp with pipx, use pipx inject --index-url https://427738.xyz/yt-dlp-rajiko/pip/ yt-dlp yt-dlp-rajiko to install the plugin in yt-dlp's environment.

Otherwise, download the wheel, and place it in one of these locations:

~/.config/yt-dlp/plugins/ (on Linux and Mac
%appdata%\yt-dlp\plugins\ (on Windows)
a yt-dlp-plugins folder next to your yt-dlp.exe
anywhere else listed in the yt-dlp documentation.

You'll have to create those folders if they don't already exist.

Here are the SHA256 checksums for the latest release:

d3fdefb4c5c1d5d64c58b3f805bf64ae95f3dd9f496742d214e16e33e677c600  yt_dlp_rajiko-1.1-py3-none-any.whl
29463780d0dcc3be4448eea87f72884c1878e1ea01ccfb823293a42ca6a694b9  yt_dlp_rajiko-1.1.tar.gz

If you're using pip/pipx, these should be verified automatically when you install.

Previous releases

70b95f25a62b465f1fb26f0e6faef45236d55a0c12665ef4f754cd39832118cf yt_dlp_rajiko-1.0-py3-none-any.whl
993e16a3423a43dbeaee59c6eb37086f4e801dcfe03042aa5c5c01b0085fdc4d yt-dlp-rajiko-1.0.tar.gz

The source code is available via this site, github, or a tarball.

If you'd like to be notified of new releases, you can subscribe to this RSS feed:
https://427738.xyz/yt-dlp-rajiko/CHANGELOG.xml
If you'd like to see the changelogs of past releases, you can read that feed in your browser as well.

If you'd prefer to be notified by email, you can use an RSS to email service. I've tested Feedrabbit and found it to work, but other options are available. Alternatively, shoot me a message with your email address and I'll work something out.

how do i use it

simply:

# timefree download
yt-dlp 'https://radiko.jp/#!/ts/INT/20240308230000'
# live recording
yt-dlp 'https://radiko.jp/#!/live/CCL'
# live shorthand
yt-dlp 'https://radiko.jp/#FMT'

You can somewhat automate downloading programmes by using the search page.

# all programmes related to Toshiki Kadomatsu
yt-dlp 'https://radiko.jp/#!/search/live?key=角松敏生&filter=past&region_id=all'
# specific programme from Osaka
yt-dlp 'https://radiko.jp/#!/search/live?key=world%20jazz%20warehouse&filter=past&area_id=JP27'

Just copying from the browser URL bar should work with no changes.

If you can reliably get it in the search, you can somewhat-automate downloading it. If there's a programme that airs on multiple stations, the best way to filter down to the station you want is to use the search's 地域 (region) filter.

Apparently on Windows it won't work unless you use "double quotes", but on Linux it won't work unless you use 'single quotes'. So those examples probably won't work directly on Windows (but they should be fine if you change them to use double quotes).

recommended settings

yt-dlp's default settings aren't ideal for yt-dlp-rajiko. These are the settings I use to make it better.

TL;DR: -N 30 --embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail -o "%(title)s %(timestamp+32400>%Y-%m-%d_%H%M)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s" (put that in an alias)
+ --download-archive "archive" --break-on-existing --break-per-input if using the search page

Metadata

radiko offers a lot of metadata about its shows, a fair amount of which yt-dlp-rajiko extracts. But yt-dlp's default settings don't expose anything except the title.

Add the argument --embed-metadata to your command. This will embed the show name, description, station name and airdate into the file, as tags that should be picked up by a decent media player. It also embeds the tracklist of songs played as timestamped chapters.

You can also add --embed-thumbnail to add the show image as cover art, which your media player can display.

I use an output template to add the airdate into the filename as well:
-o "%(title)s %(timestamp+32400>%Y-%m-%d_%H%M)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s" -> World Jazz Warehouse 2024-05-19_2300 [CCL-20240519230000].m4a
+32400 is the JST time offset (+9h), since yt-dlp's timestamps are all UTC.

Sample mediainfo output

Efficiency

You should use -N (multi-threaded download) to increase download speed.

If you're using search queries, you should:

filter for タイムフリー (timefree), so you don't get episodes that haven't aired yet.
use --download-archive, so episodes you've already downloaded don't get downloaded again

Use --break-on-existing and --break-per-input, and then you can stop once you've got the latest episode, skipping scraping older episodes entirely.

That way you can avoid scraping any more than necessary. (faster for you, less load on radiko, everyone wins)

This section used to recommend --playlist-reverse for search, as the search results were returned oldest-first. This is no longer the case- the API has started returning results newest-first (october 2024).

putting it all together

It would be a pain to type/paste all those arguments onto the command every time. You can make an alias in your yt-dlp config, so you can just type one short thing and get all of the settings.

Make a config file in one of the supported locations, and add --alias rdk 'PASTE THE ARGUMENTS HERE' to it. Then when you want to download from radiko, do yt-dlp 'url' --rdk and it'll all "just work™". Unfortunately site-specific config isn't possible (yet?), so you will have to remember to add that --rdk every time.

If you're going to be using the search pages regularly, you should put your command into a shell/batch/etc script. That way you can just run it after the programme(s) you're interested in have aired, with no extra faff.

how do i get help

Open an issue on github or send a message via the form.
Please try to include a verbose log if you're reporting a problem.

if it's so marvellous then why haven't you merged it back upstream

The main reason is that the extractor uses an API key obtained by reverse-engineering the radiko mobile app. As such, I've been advised that it would be risky to merge into yt-dlp proper.

misc notes/writings

You can find various notes/jottings on a dedicated page. These were formerly hosted on the github wiki.

acknowledgements

The mobile spoofing code is almost entirely copied from the rajiko browser extension by jackyzy823, released under the Unlicense. You can read his write-up (in Chinese) here.

The authentication code, and some parts of the metadata extraction, have been adapted from yt-dlp's radiko extractor, which was primarily authored by Lesmiscore (also released under the Unlicense).