Cepther / Changelog
What changed
Development highlights through v1.356.0, newest first. Related changes are grouped together. A public release is not available yet.
How updates reach you
The planned app updater will notify you of releases and let you choose when to install them. Engine updates are available in Settings → Maintenance.
v1.356.0 through v1.351.0
Latest developmentA full window first launch screen
The introduction now uses the whole window, and every step fits without scrolling.
Added (0)
Improvements (3)
- A large title and short text on the left, one card on the right, and step dots with Back and Continue underneath.
- The optional support page uses the same full window layout instead of a sheet over the card.
- The seven steps and the tool setup are unchanged.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.355.0 through v1.350.0
The Orbit floating dock
The floating dock now shows what it is doing with motion instead of extra text, and Settings shows a live preview of it.
Added (5)
- The dock folds to a small bead when you are not using it and opens again when the pointer returns.
- A light runs around the dock when a link is found, keeps circling while the link is checked, fills when the check succeeds and turns red when it fails.
- The buttons draw their own feedback: a falling arrow for Download, a tick when it finishes and a filling bookmark for Save.
- The dock can snap to a screen edge and tuck away, leaving a small strip to pull it back out.
- Settings → Dock opens with a live dock on a stage, a Show dock button and one box of settings.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (1)
- The Cepther name on the dock no longer loses its last letter.
Patches (0)
v1.354.0 and v1.352.0
Calmer settings dialogs
The Whisper model dialog and Advanced Management are redrawn as single sheets.
Added (0)
Improvements (3)
- Each dialog has a large title with one line under it, a close button, and its choices in one rounded card.
- Advanced Management shows the resulting folder path in a box under its four switches.
- The Whisper dialog lists the models plainly, shows a status only where it helps, and its engine button now reads Install engine.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.349.0 through v1.336.0
Settings grouped into boxes
Related settings now share one box, and the category list is grouped.
Added (0)
Improvements (3)
- The category list on the left is grouped into rounded boxes: Media, Network and tools, Personalise, and Cepther.
- Rows of one section share a single box with thin dividers, and their icons no longer sit on a coloured tile.
- Theme presets are square preview cards in a grid that shows more per row in a wider window.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.347.0 through v1.340.0
Checked against real links
Real links from many sites were run through the app, and the problems found were fixed.
Added (3)
- The Subtitles card says when the chosen container cannot hold subtitles and that they will be saved next to the file instead, and says plainly that audio only downloads do not use them.
- Stream cards say what sets them apart: language, DRC audio, channel count and Premium. HDR and HLS streams carry a tag.
- Unavailable choices in the picker share one dimmed look.
Improvements (4)
- Audio and MP3 downloads now work for sources that serve a single combined file, and the picker lists their streams.
- Blocked links, links that need a login and links refused by a proxy now explain themselves in plain language and point to the next step.
- Removed or ended videos show clearer wording.
- Portrait videos fall back through the quality choices more sensibly.
Fixes (2)
- Cover art is no longer attempted for AVI, WAV and WebM audio, where it ended in an error. AVI no longer accepts Opus audio.
- Audio track labels, Chinese language variants and the DRC audio choice are corrected.
Patches (0)
v1.339.0 and v1.335.0
Plugins
A new Plugins page in Settings installs optional components that are not part of the app itself.
Added (3)
- Install, update, revert and remove an optional component from Settings → Plugins.
- Components are downloaded on request and checked against a fixed SHA-256 before anything is unpacked.
- The first component, Torrent, has not been published yet. The page says so, and nothing is requested.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.338.0
A quieter chapters list
The picker's Chapters popup is a grouped list.
Added (0)
Improvements (1)
- Chapters are rows in one rounded group with Select all and Clear as plain text buttons.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.335.0 through v1.333.0
Creator Watch, rebuilt
The Creator Watch page now shows each creator as a card, and keeps a history of what it found.
Added (3)
- A Watch history that lists the uploads Cepther spotted, with Open and Download for each one.
- Open one creator's own history from their New pill or the right click menu.
- Search, group chips and a platform dropdown narrow the history.
Improvements (2)
- Each creator is a card with its platform and a Watching line that shows when it was last checked.
- Account settings are grouped, and the add and edit dialogs use the same look as the Home tools.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.332.0
Pinned tools
FFmpeg, ffprobe and aria2c are fixed to specific releases, and only three tools check for updates.
Added (0)
Improvements (2)
- FFmpeg, ffprobe and aria2c use fixed releases that are checked against a hash before they are unpacked.
- Update checks cover only yt-dlp, gallery-dl and Deno. Settings → Maintenance shows those three.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.331.0 through v1.324.0
Announcements
Cepther can show short announcements from the project, and you can turn them off.
Added (3)
- A popup for unread announcements. It stays until you press Close.
- A News page in Settings that keeps every announcement, with a switch to turn the feed off.
- The feed is fetched in the background and is on by default.
Improvements (1)
- The popup is drawn as a plain sheet with readable text and link buttons.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.323.0 through v1.318.0
A new look for popups and the notification panel
Dialogs across the app share one soft, rounded design.
Added (0)
Improvements (5)
- The notification panel has soft rounded cards, pill tabs for the categories and a details sheet for each entry.
- The Trim, Multi audio, Subtitles, AI subtitles, Language and Chapters popups use the same sheet design.
- The Thumbnails, Media info, Comments and Subtitles tools use shorter text and grouped content.
- The picker's filters are one Filters card that opens a dialog.
- Settings → About is rebuilt, with a tip button that reacts to the pointer.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.317.0 through v1.312.0
Smoother menus
Dropdown menus, the picker and the notification panel are smoother.
Added (0)
Improvements (4)
- Long dropdown menus scroll, and the picker grows in a large window.
- The picker's Settings tab uses one dropdown style, and the cookie card no longer jumps.
- Notification cards are compact, with an info button and the switches at the end of each row.
- Default Dark is slightly lighter, #0E0E0E.
Fixes (3)
- Maximizing and restoring the window repeatedly no longer jams it.
- Dropdown menus no longer show stray artifacts while fading in.
- A flashing window when the notification panel opened is fixed.
Patches (0)
v1.311.0
A sound for each notification
Each kind of notification can now have its own sound, and a failed download can make one too.
Added (3)
- Pick a separate sound for finished downloads, finished playlists or batches, new creator uploads, the Floating Dock and failed downloads.
- Every sound starts on the Windows default. A failed download starts silent.
- Imported, trimmed and faded sounds are shared, so one sound can serve several notifications.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (1)
- A finished playlist or batch no longer plays a custom sound on top of the Windows one.
Patches (0)
v1.310.0
A new format picker
Every format is now listed and paired with matching audio, with filters to narrow a long list.
Added (5)
- Every format the source offers is listed, grouped by resolution from highest to lowest.
- Each video format is paired with audio from the same family, so H.264 and AV1 finish as MP4 with AAC and VP9 finishes as WEBM with Opus, without converting.
- Filters for format, resolution, frame rate, codec, bitrate and language. MP4 only on the Video tab, and MP3 only on the Audio tab with 320, 256, 192 and 128 kbps choices.
- A details view for any format, listing everything the source reports about its video and audio.
- A summary of the selected format, with its codecs, frame rate, estimated size and bitrate.
Improvements (2)
- The Suggested entry is gone; Best Output now shows what it will choose.
- Size estimates and the container check now use the exact video and audio a format will download.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.309.0 through v1.305.0
Notification panel
A bell in the title bar now keeps a feed of what happened, so a missed notification is not lost.
Added (4)
- A notification feed with Downloads, Creators, Player, Dock, Engines and Errors categories, unread counts, Mark all read and Clear all.
- Finished playlists, batches and single downloads, failures with their explanation, and quality fallbacks are recorded. Repeats fold into one line with a counter.
- New uploads, Creator Watch problems, dock saves, player errors, screenshots and engine updates are recorded, many with an action such as Show in folder or Download.
- Settings → Notifications can turn recording off, choose the categories and clear the feed.
Improvements (1)
- Nothing is recorded in Incognito, and the feed keeps at most 500 items from the last 30 days.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.304.0 through v1.297.0
A first launch tour
New installs start with a short introduction, and the About page now links to the community and support.
Added (3)
- A six step introduction on first launch: Welcome, Downloading, More Features, Community, Support Cepther and Setup Tools. Replay it from the About page.
- Community and help links on the About page and in the introduction: Discord, Tutorials, Feature Requests, Bug Report and Feedback.
- A Support with a tip link.
Improvements (3)
- The Thumbnails, Media info, Comments and Subtitles tools moved out of the + menu into their own Extras row.
- Default Dark has a darker background and a lighter purple accent.
- The global Export Chapters Separately setting was removed. Choose chapters for each download in the picker instead.
Fixes (2)
- While setup is showing, a dropped media file no longer opens the player, and Creator Watch waits until the tools are installed.
- The copied link prompt no longer stays off for the rest of the session after tool setup.
Patches (0)
v1.296.0
Cookie import
Cookies can now be imported from more formats, from a file or pasted.
Added (2)
- Import cookies.txt files, JSON cookie exports and raw Cookie headers, from a file or pasted from the clipboard.
- The import shows how many cookies it found, and in which format, before anything is saved.
Improvements (1)
- An import is checked before it replaces a working cookie file, and cookie values never appear in messages or logs.
Fixes (1)
- A JSON file chosen as a cookie file is no longer copied in as a profile that could never work.
Patches (0)
v1.295.0 and v1.294.0
Download Archive and History export
Cepther can tell you when you already have something, and History can be saved and restored.
Added (3)
- Download Archive: an optional prompt before downloading something you already have, saying when, how and where it was saved. A playlist or batch asks once. Off by default.
- Creator Watch automatic downloads skip uploads that were already downloaded in full.
- Export History as JSON or CSV, copy it as JSON, and import a JSON export. Imports merge with existing entries instead of duplicating them.
Improvements (1)
- Exports leave out anything that looks like a cookie, password or token, and imports drop paths to programs or scripts.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.293.0 through v1.288.0
Extras tools
Four tools save parts of a link without downloading the media.
Added (4)
- Thumbnails: every real size the site offers, checked before it is listed, saved as JPG, PNG or WebP.
- Media info: the link's details as TXT, JSON or Markdown, with cookies and login headers removed.
- Comments: 100 to 800 comments or all of them, Top or Recent on YouTube, with replies nested, as TXT or JSON.
- Subtitles: subtitle files without the video, as SRT, VTT or ASS, with translated captions on request.
Improvements (1)
- The picker's Settings tab shows the everyday options first, with the rest below a divider.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.287.0 and v1.286.0
Subtitle format and translations
Choose the subtitle format, and add translated captions only when you ask for them.
Added (2)
- A default subtitle format in Settings (Original, SRT, VTT or ASS) and an override for each download in the picker.
- Load translations in the Subtitles window lists the translated captions YouTube offers. Chosen languages are saved as separate files after the video.
Improvements (1)
- A refused or rate limited translation never costs the video. A note names the languages that were not saved, and the button waits two minutes before it can be tried again.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.285.0 through v1.283.0
SponsorBlock for each category
Each SponsorBlock category can now be Off, Mark or Remove, and SponsorBlock works with chapter downloads.
Added (3)
- One category manager in Settings and in the picker, where a download can follow Global, turn SponsorBlock Off or use Custom choices.
- Mark and Remove can be used together in one download.
- Chapter downloads apply SponsorBlock themselves and check every cut. A chapter that is removed completely is skipped with the reason shown, and subtitles follow the cuts.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (1)
- With a trim that did not start at 0:00, SponsorBlock Remove could cut the wrong part of the clip. Remove now applies to a trim only when it starts at 0:00.
Patches (0)
v1.282.0 through v1.275.0
Choose which chapters to download
Pick individual chapters instead of splitting the whole video.
Added (5)
- A chapter manager in the picker lists the source's chapters with their numbers, titles and times. Choose Chapters only or Chapters + original.
- Chapters only downloads just the chosen parts. Files keep the original chapter number and title, in a folder named after the video.
- Chosen subtitles are cut to each chapter.
- A chapter download is one item in the queue and in History. History lists its files, plays them in order and sends only those files to the Recycle Bin.
- Cancelling keeps finished chapters so the download can be resumed, and Retry skips them.
Improvements (1)
- The picker's Settings cards now match the cards on the Settings pages.
Fixes (1)
- The Chapters card and the chapter setting showed an empty icon.
Patches (0)
v1.274.0 through v1.267.0
Faster downloads and playlist reordering
Downloads start sooner, and the player's playlist can be reordered.
Added (1)
- Drag items in the player's playlist by their handle to change the order.
Improvements (4)
- A download reuses the details the picker already fetched instead of checking the link a second time.
- Sleep Between Items now spaces out download starts in the queue instead of pausing inside each download. A single download is never delayed.
- Batch titles load sooner, and titles that were already remembered cost no wait.
- The confirmation shown when quitting with downloads running now matches the app's look.
Fixes (3)
- youtu.be links now use the cookie profiles and proxy settings saved for youtube.com.
- Hovering an item in the player's playlist shows its full file name again.
- Remembered link details are kept apart for different cookie and proxy setups.
Patches (0)
v1.266.0 through v1.198.0
Remembered fetches and fixes
A link fetched recently opens instantly, along with a round of fixes from testing.
Added (1)
- A link's formats, title and thumbnail are kept for six hours, even after a restart, so opening it again is instant. Live, upcoming and failed links are never kept.
Improvements (2)
- Download cards say what they are doing after 100%, such as trimming or saving the thumbnail.
- History shows why a download failed.
Fixes (5)
- Waiting for a scheduled video or premiere now works.
- AI subtitles no longer come out in English for videos in other languages.
- Cover art on a WEBM download no longer fails the whole download.
- A stopped Record from start recording no longer leaves a file that is mostly audio.
- The player's playlist panel and picture in picture controls respond properly again.
Patches (1)
- The interface moved to the PySide6 toolkit, with no change in behaviour.
v1.197.0
Menu readability
Fixed dropdown menus losing their labels on hover and restored opaque panels across cookie, preset and Whisper model menus.
Added (0)
Improvements (0)
Fixes (2)
- Fixed labels disappearing when dropdown options are hovered.
- Restored opaque menu panels and consistent Delete menus for cookies, presets and Whisper models.
Patches (0)
v1.196.0
AI subtitle fixes
Included the missing Whisper runtime libraries, corrected multi-track audio selection and improved the Whisper model dialog.
Added (0)
Improvements (1)
- Improved the Whisper model dialog. Transcription with a real model remains unverified in the supplied development record.
Fixes (1)
- Included the missing Whisper runtime libraries and corrected the original audio selection in files with several tracks.
Patches (0)
v1.195.0 and v1.194.0
Dock, commands and saved links
Reworked Dock and Commands settings, and fixed a Saved Links crash along with clipped dropdown labels in narrow windows.
Added (0)
Improvements (1)
- Reworked Dock and Commands settings.
Fixes (1)
- Fixed a Saved Links crash, clipped dropdown labels and overflow in narrow windows.
Patches (0)
v1.193.0 through v1.185.0
Optional local AI subtitles
Added an optional Whisper engine for local AI subtitles, with language and model choice, English translation and SRT export.
Added (3)
- Added Whisper engine and model management, optional setup and caption settings for each download.
- Choose the spoken language, English translation, an installed model and SRT export. Supported videos can receive an embedded AI track.
- Processing runs after downloads on the local computer. Live recordings are excluded; this feature is still being tested.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.184.0
Wait for scheduled videos
Added an optional wait for manually submitted scheduled videos and premieres, excluding scheduled live streams.
Added (2)
- Added an optional wait for manually submitted scheduled videos and premieres.
- Scheduled live streams are excluded. Creator Watch continues to use its own checks.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.183.0 and v1.182.0
Separate chapter files
Added the option to export individual chapters as separate files alongside the full video.
Added (2)
- Keep the full video and export individual chapters as additional files.
- Track multiple output files for one download. Chapter exports exclude audio only, trimmed and live downloads, and cannot use SponsorBlock Mark.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.181.0 and v1.180.0
Cookies from your browser
Added installed browser and profile sources for cookies, alongside existing cookie files.
Added (2)
- Added installed browser/profile sources alongside cookie files.
- Check browser cookie access before saving a source and pass the correct cookie options to each download engine.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.179.0 and v1.178.0
Gallery limits and SponsorBlock modes
Applied download speed limits to gallery downloads and added Off, Mark Chapters and Remove Segments modes for SponsorBlock.
Added (2)
- Applied download speed limits and item delays to gallery downloads.
- Added Off, Mark Chapters and Remove Segments modes for SponsorBlock.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.177.0 and v1.176.0
Clearer failures and duplicate checks
Explained common access, format and network failures in plain language, and improved duplicate detection across different URL forms.
Added (0)
Improvements (2)
- Explain common access, format and network failures in plain language.
- Improved source format availability handling, rejected accidentally joined URLs and recognised duplicate media across different URL forms.
Fixes (0)
Patches (0)
v1.175.0 through v1.170.0
Player integration
Added a built-in player with History playback, playlists, chapters, subtitle timing and audio output selection.
Added (2)
- Open downloaded media from History, drag files into the player and manage a visible playlist.
- Added jump to time, chapters, subtitle timing, A–B repeat and audio output selection.
Improvements (0)
Fixes (1)
- Fixed missing audio, menus behind the video and freezing when hiding the player to the tray.
Patches (0)
Found something broken?
Share the steps and error message in the bug report forum.