gamdl

Gamdl (Glomatico’s Apple Music Downloader)

A command-line app for downloading Apple Music songs, music videos and post videos.

Join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/aBjMEZ9tnq

✨ Features

• 🎵 High-Quality Songs - Download songs in AAC 256kbps and other codecs
• 🎬 High-Quality Music Videos - Download music videos in resolutions up to 4K
• 📝 Synced Lyrics - Download synced lyrics in LRC, SRT, or TTML formats
• 🏷️ Rich Metadata - Automatic tagging with comprehensive metadata
• 🎤 Artist Support - Download all albums or music videos from an artist
• ⚙️ Highly Customizable - Extensive configuration options for advanced users

📋 Prerequisites

Required

• Python 3.10 or higher
• Active Apple Music subscription
• Apple Music Cookies - export your browser cookies in Netscape format while logged in at Apple Music:
  • Firefox: Export Cookies
  • Chromium: Get cookies.txt LOCALLY

Optional Dependencies

Wrapper

Run the Wrapper v2 server for wrapper-backed account, playback, and decryption requests. Enable it with --use-wrapper or use_wrapper = true. Configure wrapper HTTP account/playback calls with --wrapper-url or wrapper_url, and configure WV2D batch TCP decrypt with --wrapper-decrypt-host / --wrapper-decrypt-port.

gamdl builds a private Rust extension from gamdl/downloader/ammuxer as gamdl._ammuxer. That native media engine handles wrapper TCP decrypt/reassembly plus MP4/M4A writing and muxing; Python remains responsible for the CLI, downloads, metadata tagging, and high-level orchestration.

The wrapper is recommended when using the alac song codec. ALAC can be attempted without wrapper, but it probably won’t work due to API limitations.

Note:

• When using the Wrapper, you’ll be asked to insert your credentials to login if you haven’t already.
• Newer wrapper-v2 builds use HTTP JSON for account/playback and WV2D batch TCP port 10020 for decrypt.
• For music videos, wrapper playback can provide additional metadata when available from Apple, including sort title (sonm), sort artist (soar), sort album (soal), composer (©wrt), composer ID (cmID), composer sort (soco), comments (©cmt), gapless (pgap), and XID (xid ).
• Song codecs other than alac do not require the wrapper.
• Cookies can be skipped when using the wrapper.

N_m3u8DL-RE

Use N_m3u8DL-RE as a faster download alternative to the default yt-dlp download mode. Enable it with --download-mode nm3u8dlre or download_mode = nm3u8dlre.

If the executable is not available in your system PATH, set its location with --nm3u8dlre-path or nm3u8dlre_path.

N_m3u8DL-RE also needs FFmpeg. If the FFmpeg executable is not available in your system PATH, set its location with --ffmpeg-path or ffmpeg_path.

📦 Installation

1. Install Gamdl via pip:

   pip install gamdl
   

2. Set up the cookies file:

   • Place the cookies file in the working directory as cookies.txt, or
   • Specify the path using --cookies-path or in the config file

3. Optional: Set up dependencies (only if you need the functionality) See the Optional Dependencies section to determine which optional tools you need.

🚀 Usage

gamdl [OPTIONS] URLS...

Supported URL Types

• Songs (Catalog/Library)
• Albums (Catalog/Library)
• Playlists (Catalog/Library)
• Music Videos (Catalog/Library)
• Artists
• Post Videos
• Apple Music Classical

Examples

Download a song:

gamdl "https://music.apple.com/us/album/never-gonna-give-you-up-2022-remaster/1624945511?i=1624945512"

Download an album:

gamdl "https://music.apple.com/us/album/whenever-you-need-somebody-2022-remaster/1624945511"

Download from an artist:

gamdl "https://music.apple.com/us/artist/rick-astley/669771"

Interactive Prompt Controls:

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Move selection
Space	Toggle selection
Ctrl + A	Select all
Enter	Confirm selection

⚙️ Configuration

Configure Gamdl using command-line arguments or a config file.

Config file location:

• Linux: ~/.gamdl/config.ini
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.gamdl\config.ini

The file is created automatically on first run. Command-line arguments override config values.

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Default
General Options
--read-urls-as-txt, -r	Read URLs from text files	false
--config-path	Config file path	<home>/.gamdl/config.ini
--log-level	Logging level	INFO
--log-file	Log file path	-
--no-exceptions	Don’t print exceptions	false
--artist-auto-select	Automatically select artist content to download (artist URLs)	-
--database-path	Path to the SQLite database file for registering downloaded media	-
--no-config-file, -n	Don’t use a config file	false
Apple Music Options
--cookies-path, -c	Cookies file path	./cookies.txt
--wrapper-url	Wrapper HTTP control base URL	http://127.0.0.1
--wrapper-decrypt-host	Wrapper TCP decrypt host	127.0.0.1
--wrapper-decrypt-port	Wrapper TCP decrypt port	10020
--language, -l	Metadata language	en-US
Interface Options
--cover-format	Cover format	jpg
--cover-size	Cover size in pixels	1200
--drm-backend	DRM backend (widevine or playready)	widevine
--wvd-path	.wvd file path	-
--prd-path	.prd file path	-
--use-wrapper	Use wrapper for account, playback, and decryption requests	false
Song Options
--synced-lyrics-format	Synced lyrics format	lrc
--song-codec-priority	Comma-separated codec priority	aac-web
--use-album-date	Use album release date for songs	false
--no-synced-lyrics	Don’t download synced lyrics	false
--synced-lyrics-only	Download only synced lyrics	false
Music Video Options
--music-video-resolution	Max music video resolution	1080p
--music-video-codec-priority	Comma-separated codec priority	h264,h265
--music-video-remux-format	Music video remux format	m4v
Post Video Options
--uploaded-video-quality	Post video quality	best
Download & Path Options
--output-path, -o	Output directory path	./Apple Music
--temp-path	Temporary directory path	.
--nm3u8dlre-path	N_m3u8DL-RE executable path	N_m3u8DL-RE
--ffmpeg-path	FFmpeg executable path	ffmpeg
--download-mode	Download mode	ytdlp
Template Options
--album-folder-template	Album folder template	{album_artist}/{album}
--compilation-folder-template	Compilation folder template	Compilations/{album}
--no-album-folder-template	No album folder template	{artist}/Unknown Album
--playlist-folder-template	Playlist folder template	Playlists/{playlist_artist}
--single-disc-file-template	Single disc file template	{track:02d} {title}
--multi-disc-file-template	Multi disc file template	{disc}-{track:02d} {title}
--no-album-file-template	No album file template	{title}
--playlist-file-template	Playlist file template	{playlist_title}
--date-tag-template	Date tag template	%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ
--exclude-tags	Comma-separated tags to exclude	-
--truncate	Max filename length	-
File Output Options
--overwrite	Overwrite existing files	false
--save-cover, -s	Save cover as separate file	false
--save-playlist	Save M3U8 playlist file	false

Template Variables

Tags for templates and exclude-tags:

• album, album_artist, album_id
• artist, artist_id
• composer, composer_id
• date (supports strftime format: {date:%Y})
• disc, disc_total
• media_type
• playlist_artist, playlist_id, playlist_title, playlist_track
• title, title_id
• track, track_total

Tags for exclude-tags only:

• album_sort, artist_sort, composer_sort, title_sort
• comment, compilation, copyright, cover, gapless, genre, genre_id, lyrics, rating, storefront, xid
• all (special: skip all tagging)

Logging Level

• DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR

Download Mode

• ytdlp, nm3u8dlre

Cover Format

• jpg
• png
• raw - Raw format as provided by the artist (requires save_cover to be enabled as it doesn’t embed covers into files)

DRM Backend

• widevine
• playready

Metadata Language

Use ISO 639-1 language codes (e.g., en-US, es-ES, ja-JP, pt-BR). Don’t always work for music videos.

Song Codecs

Web:

• aac-web - AAC 256kbps 44.1kHz
• aac-he-web - AAC-HE 64kbps 44.1kHz

Non-web (alac can be attempted without wrapper, but it probably won’t work due to API limitations):

• aac - AAC 256kbps up to 48kHz
• aac-he - AAC-HE 64kbps up to 48kHz
• aac-binaural - AAC 256kbps binaural
• aac-downmix - AAC 256kbps downmix
• aac-he-binaural - AAC-HE 64kbps binaural
• aac-he-downmix - AAC-HE 64kbps downmix
• atmos - Dolby Atmos 768kbps
• ac3 - AC3 640kbps
• alac - ALAC up to 24-bit/192kHz
• ask - Interactive codec selection

Synced Lyrics Format

• lrc
• srt - SubRip subtitle format (more accurate timing)
• ttml - Native Apple Music format (not compatible with most media players)

Music Video Codecs

• h264
• h265
• ask - Interactive codec selection

Music Video Resolutions

• H.264: 240p, 360p, 480p, 540p, 720p, 1080p
• H.265 only: 1440p, 2160p

Music Video Remux Formats

• m4v, mp4

Post Video Quality

• best - Up to 1080p with AAC 256kbps
• ask - Interactive quality selection

Artist Auto-Select Options

• main-albums
• compilation-albums
• live-albums
• singles-eps
• all-albums
• top-songs
• music-videos

🐍 Embedding

Use Gamdl as a library in your Python projects:

import asyncio

from gamdl.api import AppleMusicApi
from gamdl.downloader import (
    AppleMusicBaseDownloader,
    AppleMusicDownloader,
    AppleMusicMusicVideoDownloader,
    AppleMusicSongDownloader,
    AppleMusicUploadedVideoDownloader,
)
from gamdl.interface import (
    AppleMusicBaseInterface,
    AppleMusicInterface,
    AppleMusicMusicVideoInterface,
    AppleMusicSongInterface,
    AppleMusicUploadedVideoInterface,
)


async def main():
    # Create AppleMusicApi instance from cookies
    apple_music_api = await AppleMusicApi.create_from_netscape_cookies(
        cookies_path="cookies.txt",
    )

    # Check subscription
    if not apple_music_api.active_subscription:
        print("No active Apple Music subscription")
        return

    # Create base interface
    base_interface = await AppleMusicBaseInterface.create(
        apple_music_api=apple_music_api,
    )

    # Create specialized interfaces
    song_interface = AppleMusicSongInterface(
        base=base_interface,
    )
    music_video_interface = AppleMusicMusicVideoInterface(
        base=base_interface,
    )
    uploaded_video_interface = AppleMusicUploadedVideoInterface(
        base=base_interface,
    )

    # Create main interface
    interface = AppleMusicInterface(
        song=song_interface,
        music_video=music_video_interface,
        uploaded_video=uploaded_video_interface,
    )

    # Create base downloader
    base_downloader = AppleMusicBaseDownloader(
        interface=interface,
    )

    # Create specialized downloaders
    song_downloader = AppleMusicSongDownloader(base=base_downloader)
    music_video_downloader = AppleMusicMusicVideoDownloader(
        base=base_downloader,
    )
    uploaded_video_downloader = AppleMusicUploadedVideoDownloader(base=base_downloader)

    # Create main downloader
    downloader = AppleMusicDownloader(
        song=song_downloader,
        music_video=music_video_downloader,
        uploaded_video=uploaded_video_downloader,
    )

    # Download from URL
    url = "https://music.apple.com/us/album/never-gonna-give-you-up-2022-remaster/1624945511?i=1624945512"

    download_queue = []
    async for media in downloader.get_download_item_from_url(url):
        download_queue.append(media)

    for download_item in download_queue:
        try:
            await downloader.download(download_item)
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error downloading: {e}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

🤝 Contributing

Currently, I’m not interested in reviewing pull requests that change or add features. Only critical bug fixes will be considered. However, feel free to open issues for bugs or feature requests.