newpipeextractor_dart

Flutter bindings for NewPipeExtractor, exposing YouTube video, playlist, channel, search, comment and trending extraction to Dart. Android only.

Currently bridges NewPipeExtractor v0.26.4.

Setup

Add the plugin as a dependency, then make two changes to your Android app.

1. JitPack repository

NewPipeExtractor is published on JitPack. The plugin registers that repository for you, so nothing is needed unless your app locks repositories down with RepositoriesMode.FAIL_ON_PROJECT_REPOS — in that case add it yourself in android/settings.gradle.kts:

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
        maven { url = uri("https://jitpack.io") }
    }
}

2. Core library desugaring

NewPipeExtractor uses java.time, java.util.stream and List.of — natively API 26, 24 and 30 respectively. Your app must enable core library desugaring in android/app/build.gradle.kts:

android {
    compileOptions {
        isCoreLibraryDesugaringEnabled = true
        sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_17
        targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_17
    }
}

dependencies {
    coreLibraryDesugaring("com.android.tools:desugar_jdk_libs:2.1.5")
}

The plugin requires minSdk 24 and is built against compileSdk 36 with AGP 8.11.1.

Usage

import 'package:newpipeextractor_dart/newpipeextractor_dart.dart';

// Kiosk feeds — see the note below about Trending
final live = await TrendingExtractor.getTrendingVideos();
final music = await TrendingExtractor.getTrendingVideos(
  kiosk: YoutubeKiosk.trendingMusic,
);

// Search (see YoutubeSearchFilter for filter constants)
final search = await SearchExtractor.searchYoutube('lofi', []);
await search.getNextPage();

// A single video, with every stream
final video = await VideoExtractor.getStream('https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ');
final bestAudio = video.audioWithHighestQuality;
final bestVideo = video.videoOnlyWithHighestQuality;

// Info only, no stream extraction
final info = (await VideoExtractor.getInfo(url)).videoInfo;

// Channels, playlists, comments
final channel = await ChannelExtractor.channelInfo(channelUrl);
final uploads = await ChannelExtractor.getChannelUploads(channelUrl);
final more = await ChannelExtractor.getChannelNextUploads();
final playlist = await PlaylistExtractor.getPlaylistDetails(playlistUrl);
final comments = await CommentsExtractor.getComments(videoUrl);

Paging state (getNextPage, getNextMusicPage, getChannelNextUploads) lives on the native side, so each of those continues the most recent corresponding query.

The Trending page is gone

YouTube removed the general Trending page on 2025-07-21. There is no replacement for "trending videos"; what remains are category kiosks and the live feed, selectable via YoutubeKiosk:

YoutubeKiosk	id	works
live (default)	live	yes
trendingMusic	trending_music	yes
trendingGaming	trending_gaming	yes
trendingMoviesAndShows	trending_movies_and_shows	yes
trendingPodcasts	trending_podcasts_episodes	yes
trending (deprecated)	Trending	no — throws extraction_error

TrendingExtractor.getAvailableKiosks() reports what the bundled extractor knows about. Note the previous version called NewPipeExtractor's getDefaultKioskExtractor(), which since v0.25 means live — so getTrendingVideos() had already been returning live streams, just without saying so.

Error handling

Extraction failures throw a PlatformException:

code	meaning
extraction_error	the extractor failed; details holds the native stack trace
recaptcha	YouTube demanded a reCaptcha; details holds the URL to solve

Solving reCaptcha challenges

To let users solve challenges in-app, wire the plugin's navigator key and route into your MaterialApp:

MaterialApp(
  navigatorKey: NavigationService.instance.navigationKey,
  routes: {ReCaptchaPage.routeName: (_) => const ReCaptchaPage()},
  home: const HomePage(),
)

Every extractor call then transparently shows the solving page and retries once. Without this wiring the challenge simply surfaces as a PlatformException with code recaptcha.

Verifying the bridge

example/ is a runnable app with a button per extractor:

cd example && flutter run

Dart-side parsing is covered by unit tests:

flutter test

The native bridge is covered by JVM tests that hit the live YouTube service — the only way to catch NewPipeExtractor API drift that compiles but fails at runtime:

cd example/android && ./gradlew :newpipeextractor_dart:testDebugUnitTest

Add -Dnewpipe.live.tests=false to skip them offline. KioskProbeTest prints which kiosks still return items.

Keeping up with NewPipeExtractor

YouTube changes break extraction regularly; the fix is almost always to bump the version in android/build.gradle and re-run the example app. Do not pin jsoup / rhino / nanojson separately — they come in transitively at the versions the extractor was built against, and stale pins break extraction at runtime in ways that are hard to diagnose.