There has been a lot of discussion about accessibility in recent years, but when it comes to something as basic as downloading a YouTube video, blind and visually impaired users still face many challenges. Most tools are inaccessible, outdated, or depend on ad-heavy websites that are very difficult to use with screen readers.
I developed AN Video Downloader to address this gap.
AN Video Downloader is a Windows-based, portable, and screen reader friendly video and audio downloader, designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users. It works well with NVDA, JAWS, and Windows Narrator, and the interface is simple, clean, and fully keyboard accessible.
The software allows you to download videos and audios from YouTube and other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, without dealing with ads or inaccessible web pages. Since it is portable, no installation is required, and you can run it from a pen drive on any Windows computer.
I have written a detailed article explaining the accessibility features and how the software works.
Tool & full details:
https://aryaniraula.com.np/accessible-youtube-downloader-blind-users/
Feedback from the blind community is always welcome, as accessibility improvements matter most when shaped by real users.
Comments
Is this free or paid?
Is this free or do you have to pay for this app?
It's free.
I don't need it personally, I use yt-dlp but it's good for those that do, but if ou're using yt-dlp as the backend downloader then the ability to download playlists would be very useful.
Great!
While it only supports downloading content from Youtube, there's another program called Accessible Youtube Downloader, and it supports a variety of playback functions/controls as well, though this one (AN Video Downloader) fills a different gap by letting users download content from more platforms. Those wishing to do that without having to install any software can still visit savefrom.net and other similar websites to download content from various platforms.
@Brad
I am familiar with YT-DLP, very handy tool. I just can't be bothered to memorise it's commands and syntax again and again.
Although I was using a basic UI created on my own using WX-GUI, it was super basic, and I doubt if it would ever work on any other machine other than my own since I didn't know how to specify file paths and download paths without hard-coding them in the code. Very soon, I broke something, and didn't have backup of original code, so gave up on it, and started using Pontes media downloader.
May I know if you know any simple accessible GUI for YT-DLP?
I don't sorry.
But I believe there's an NVDA youtube download addon, I think if you search for it on google you'll find it.
@brad
Regarding that nvda addon, it's only limited to youtube, and it also doesn't support sponsor block, which in this day and age is a must lol.
With that said, I did write to the developer and suggest that feature, seeing as it's also using yt-dlp.
It's easy and convenient which is why I use it, but if you really want to do powerful stuff, then unfortunately using the commandline is the way to go.
If someone gives you a TikTok link for example, this addon won't work, so you have to use yt-dlp.
You would think because it's using yt-dlp as the back end it would work, but I guess it doesn't quite work that way.