A modern, dark-themed desktop application designed to streamline video content creation workflows. PreCut provides a centralized interface for generating transcripts, downloading high-quality clips, and managing low-resolution proxies with real-time feedback and smart concurrency management.
PreCut v2.1.0 — Added OST Downloader for audio extraction (MP3/FLAC/AAC), per-page settings for Clips/Proxy/OST/Transcript, and improved UI responsiveness. Refactored into modular architecture.
- 📺 Transcript Generator: Automatically fetch and clean transcripts from online video sources. Strips WebVTT formatting, timestamps, and redundant tags. Export as Plain Text or Markdown.
- 📥 Clips Downloader: Download high-quality video clips with inline quality and codec selectors. Features a custom inline terminal log for real-time
yt-dlptransparency. - ⚡ Proxy Downloader: Create lightweight proxies with inline quality selector for faster editing timelines. Downloads the best available H.264 stream, then converts it to ProRes 422 (
.mov) via FFmpeg. Files are saved directly toC:/Proxies. - 🎵 OST Downloader: Extract audio soundtracks from videos. Choose between MP3, FLAC, and AAC formats with selectable bitrates (128k–320k). FLAC auto-disables bitrate. Files saved to your project's
OST/folder. - 🎵 Unified Audio Sample Rate (44.1 kHz): Clips and Proxies use a hybrid strategy that prefers native
44.1 kHztracks (asr=44100) and only falls back toffmpegaudio resampling if a source resolves to another rate. - 🎬 Codec Selector: Choose between H.264 (Compatible), AV1 (Efficient), and VP9 (Highest Quality). Defaults to H.264 for perfect compatibility with Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.
- 🍪 Toggleable Cookies & EJS Support: Handle bot-check-gated videos using either a standard cookie file or the new EJS (External JavaScript) solver. EJS uses local runtimes to solve challenges on-the-fly, significantly improving bypass reliability.
- 🧠 Smart Runtime Detection: Built-in system check automatically detects Node.js, Deno, Bun, or QuickJS. The app prevents enabling EJS if no runtime is found and filters the selector to only show installed options, ensuring a foolproof setup.
- 🧠 JS Runtime Integration: Choose between multiple runtimes in Settings to power the EJS challenge solver. Automatically pulls the latest solver scripts from GitHub to ensure long-term stability.
- 🧠 Native yt-dlp Python API Runtime: Transcript and download workflows now run through the
yt_dlppackage API, enabling cleaner progress hooks, structured error handling, and more reliable cancellation behavior. - ⚙️ Persistent Settings & Power User Controls: Configure global download quality and project paths. Full
yt-dlpoptions are now configured directly through the Python API. - 🏗️ Smart Concurrency: Built-in protection allows up to 2 concurrent downloads per page with duplicate URL detection to prevent resource waste.
- 🧹 Clean Workspace: Automated
__pycache__relocation and temporary file cleanup to keep your project source code pristine.
| Page | View |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Project Setup | Global Configuration |
 |
 |
| Transcript Generation | Concurrent Download |
 |
 |
| Clip Downloader (Active) | Clip Downloader (Completion) |
 |
 |
| Proxy Downloader (Active) | Proxy Downloader (Completion) |
- UI Framework: Modernized Python
Tkinter(Custom Dark Theme) - Image Processing:
Pillow - Backend Engine:
yt_dlp(Python Package) - Storage: Persistent JSON-based configuration
For users who want to run PreCut without installing Python or any libraries, a standalone Windows version is available.
- Download the latest
PreCutfolder from the Releases page. - Extract the ZIP file to a location of your choice.
- Run
PreCut.exedirectly from the folder.
Note
As an unsigned binary, Windows Defender may flag the executable on first run. You can safely click "More info" -> "Run anyway" to start the application.
- Python 3.10+
- yt_dlp Python Package: Automatically installed via
pip install -r requirements.txt. No standaloneyt-dlpexecutable in PATH is required anymore! - FFmpeg: Required for merging high-quality video/audio streams.
Important
FFmpeg must be installed and added to your system environment variables (PATH). Without it, high-quality downloads and format merging will fail.
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/ssspranto/PreCut.git cd PreCut -
Install dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
-
Run the application:
python src/main.py
PreCut/
├── assets/ # UI Icons and Brand Assets
├── src/
│ ├── main.py # Entry point and sidebar navigation
│ ├── ui_page.py # Page base class and shared utilities
│ ├── ui_theme.py # Colors and fonts
│ ├── components.py # DownloadCard and DownloadingPanel widgets
│ ├── config.py # AppConfig and format templates
│ ├── utils.py # Asset paths, dependencies, hover effects
│ ├── page_home.py # Project folder selection
│ ├── page_transcript.py # Transcript Generator
│ ├── page_clips.py # Clips Downloader
│ ├── page_proxy.py # Proxy Downloader
│ ├── page_ost.py # OST Audio Downloader
│ └── page_settings.py # Cookies and EJS settings
├── requirements.txt # External dependencies
└── README.md
PreCut stores its data outside the source folder to ensure a portable and clean development environment:
- Settings Path:
~/Documents/PreCut/data/settings.json - Cache Path:
~/Documents/PreCut/data/pycache/ - Cookie Flags in Settings:
use_cookies(default:false)cookie_file(default: empty)
Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request for any UI improvements or backend feature additions.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.
This application is provided for educational and personal research purposes only. It is designed to facilitate content creation workflows by allowing users to process and manage video assets they have the legal right to access.
PreCut does not encourage or facilitate the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. Users are solely responsible for ensuring their use of this tool complies with local laws and the terms of service of any content platforms involved. The developers of PreCut assume no liability for misuse of this software.