A fast, tidy download manager for Windows. Many connections per file, pause and resume that survives a crash, videos from YouTube and hundreds of other sites, live-stream recording, and a browser extension that takes downloads over with your sign-in. Everything is in the box: no .NET, no extra tools to install.
- What it does
- Install
- A first look
- Downloading files
- Videos, streams and live recordings
- The browser extension
- Queue, schedule and "when finished"
- Settings, page by page
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Updates
- Troubleshooting
- Privacy and limits
- Building from source
- Credits
| Fast | A file is fetched over several connections at once. ShadeNet starts with one and adds more only while they really speed things up, so you get the speed without hammering the server. Up to 32 connections per file; a per-site limit protects sites that ban for it. |
| Safe to interrupt | Pause, resume, close the program, lose power: unfinished downloads continue where they stopped. Every download is kept in a small local database. |
| Videos | Paste the address of a YouTube (or Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Vimeo, Reddit …) video page, choose a quality, and ShadeNet downloads it. HLS and DASH streams are fetched in parallel and joined without re-encoding. Subtitles can be saved or put inside the file. |
| Live recordings | A live stream is recorded until you press Stop and save (or until a length limit you set). |
| Browser extension | For Chrome, Edge, Brave and other Chromium browsers. It hands your downloads to ShadeNet with the cookies and headers the site needs, and puts a Download video button on videos, named after the video. |
| Tidy | Downloads are sorted into category folders (Video, Music, Documents, Programs …). A queue with a schedule, a speed limit, search, sorting, and a details view with a live speed graph and a map of the file. |
| Yours to style | Light, dark or Windows' own; ready-made themes, gradient themes, and a choice of app icons. |
| Self-updating | It looks for a newer version about once a day and asks before installing it. |
- Open the latest release and download
ShadeNetDownloader-Setup-<version>.exe(about 300 MB: the whole program, yt-dlp and ffmpeg are inside). - Run it. No administrator rights are needed; ShadeNet installs for your user only.
- Choose the options, press Install:
- A shortcut on the desktop (a Start menu entry is always made);
- Start ShadeNet with Windows (it starts hidden in the notification area);
- Set up the browser connection (Chrome, Edge, Brave); see The browser extension.
Windows SmartScreen may say the app is from an unknown publisher: the installer is not code-signed yet. Choose More info → Run anyway. The release page lists SHA-256 checksums (
SHA256SUMS.txt) if you want to verify the download.
Where things are. The program is installed in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ShadeNet Downloader; your settings and the list of
downloads are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadeNet (Settings → About → Data folder → Open). Your downloaded files go to your
Downloads folder by default.
Install from a script (for IT or your own setup):
ShadeNetDownloader-Setup-<version>.exe /S /D="C:\Tools\ShadeNet"
Add --no-desktop-shortcut, --no-start-menu-shortcut, --no-browser-integration, --startup (start with Windows) or
--launch as needed.
Uninstall from Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Your downloads and settings stay (so a reinstall finds them); the
uninstaller asks whether to delete them as well. Silent: Uninstall.exe --uninstall --silent (add --remove-data to also
delete the data folder).
Upgrading by running a newer setup over an installed ShadeNet works too (it asks a running ShadeNet to quit first), but normally the program updates itself: see Updates.
- Left: Add download, the lists (All downloads, Downloading, Queued, Paused, Completed, Failed) with live counts, and your categories. Settings is at the bottom. The menu button at the top folds the bar to icons.
- Centre: the downloads. Each card shows the name, a progress bar, size, speed, time left and the number of connections. Buttons on a card: pause/resume, details, open the folder, remove. Right-click a card for everything else.
- Top: search (type to filter the list), the current total speed, and a theme toggle.
- Bottom bar: how many are active/queued/completed, free disk space, When finished (what to do when everything is done), and the speed limit.
Closing the window keeps ShadeNet running in the notification area (so downloads and the browser connection carry on). Use Exit in the tray menu to quit for real. Both behaviours can be changed in Settings → General.
Press Add download (or Ctrl+N), or just press Ctrl+V anywhere in the window with a link on the clipboard.
- Paste the address. ShadeNet looks at it at once: the file name, the size, whether the server supports pause and resume. You can paste several links (one per line) to add them as a batch.
- Name and folder. The name can be changed; Save to follows the file's category (here Video), or choose another folder with Browse….
- Connections. The slider sets the most connections ShadeNet may use for this file (default 8). The engine starts with one and adds more only while they actually speed things up.
- Advanced holds a sign-in cookie and a referring page, for links that only answer a signed-in browser. (The browser extension fills these in for you.)
- Choose Download now to start, or Add to queue to let it wait its turn.
- Pause / resume with the button on the card, Space, or a double-click. Pause all / Resume all are at the top of the list.
- Select several cards (Ctrl/Shift-click, or Select all) and act on them together.
- Right-click a card: Open, Open with…, Details, Pause/Resume, Add to queue, Move to top/up/down/bottom, Refresh address, Open the page it came from, Show in folder, Copy link, Remove from list, Remove and delete file.
- Remove (the Delete key) takes a download off the list and keeps the file; an Undo appears for a few seconds.
- Refresh address gets a new link for a download whose link expired (it asks the page the download came from).
- Sort by name, type, size or date, ascending or descending; filter with the lists and categories on the left, or search.
Open a card's Details (the i button, Alt+Enter, or right-click → Details) to see what the engine is doing.
- Overview: current speed, time left, a graph of the last two minutes, and the file map: every square is a slice of the file, and a coloured ring shows where a connection is writing right now.
- Connections: one row per connection with its own speed and the range of the file it is fetching.
- Properties: the file's details, plus a speed limit for this download only and its own number of connections.
Speed limit for everything: the Limit button in the bottom bar. Choose a preset or type a speed; a download can also have its own limit in its details.
A finished download is sorted by its file type into Video, Music, Documents, Programs, Compressed, Images or General, each with its own folder under your download folder. The file types and folders are yours to edit, and you can add categories (Settings → Categories). Turn the sorting off in Settings → Downloads to keep everything in one folder.
You don't need to do anything special: paste the address of the video's page (or use the extension's button) and the Add dialog asks yt-dlp what is there.
- Quality: pick one from the list. Pictures and sound that are kept apart are downloaded in parallel and joined without re-encoding (so no quality is lost).
- Where it works: YouTube and the many sites yt-dlp reads (Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Vimeo, Reddit …), plain HLS
(
.m3u8) and DASH (.mpd) streams, and ordinary video files. ShadeNet does the downloading itself (many connections, pause and resume); yt-dlp only works out where the video is. - Subtitles are offered when the video has them: as separate files or inside the MP4/MKV.
- Protected (DRM) videos are refused, with the reason. ShadeNet does not circumvent copy protection.
When the address is a live stream the dialog says so: "Recording starts now and goes on until the broadcast ends or you press Stop and save on its card."
The card shows Recording, how long has been recorded and the size. The square stop button on the card (or right-click → Stop and save) ends the recording and saves what was recorded as a normal video file. A recording starts a couple of minutes behind the live edge, and stopping is quick even for streams with hours of history.
To limit a recording automatically, set Stop live recordings after (minutes) in Settings → Downloads (0 = no limit). Stop and save finishes a recording and keeps the file. (Pause is different: on a recording made from a stream's pieces it keeps the recording open so it can be continued later; a recording made by ffmpeg is saved when paused.)
yt-dlp and ffmpeg come with ShadeNet (in tools\ next to the program) and are used automatically. Settings → Downloads →
Helper programs shows which copy is used and its version, lets you point to your own copy, and has a Check button. About
once a day ShadeNet also looks for newer versions and asks before installing any.
The extension lets ShadeNet take over your browser's downloads and add a Download video button to videos. It works in Chrome, Edge, Brave and other Chromium-based browsers. (Firefox is not supported yet.)
If you left Set up the browser connection ticked in the installer, its last page walks you through this. Otherwise:
- In ShadeNet open Settings → Browser and press Set up (this registers ShadeNet with your browsers; no administrator rights needed).
- In your browser open
chrome://extensions(oredge://extensions) and turn on Developer mode. - Press Load unpacked and choose the folder
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ShadeNet Downloader\browser\chromium(Settings → Browser shows the exact path and has buttons that open the page and the folder).
Browsers don't let a program add an extension for you, so that last click is yours. The extension can talk only to ShadeNet (its ID is fixed and ShadeNet accepts nothing else), and it updates with the program: after an update it reloads itself.
- Downloads are taken over. When the browser starts a download, the extension pauses it, asks ShadeNet, and if ShadeNet takes it, the browser's own copy is cancelled. If ShadeNet can't be reached the browser's download just continues: a failure never loses a download. Sign-in cookies, the referring page and the browser's identity travel with it, so links that only answer a signed-in browser work.
- Right-click → Download with ShadeNet on a link, video or audio.
- A Download video button on videos. When a page plays something ShadeNet can download, a small button appears on the video with its name, length and quality. One click sends it; the file is saved under the video's name. It also works for videos inside embedded players and for sites that hide the video's address.
- Several videos on one page are listed by name in a menu on the button, and the toolbar badge counts them.
- The toolbar popup says whether ShadeNet is running (it looks without starting it) and has two switches: Send downloads to ShadeNet and Show a Download button on videos. Nothing to click to connect: it finds the app by itself.
- If ShadeNet isn't running when a download starts, the extension starts it (minimised).
In Settings → Browser you can switch the takeover off, choose Ask first (the Add dialog opens with the sign-in already filled in) or Start right away, list sites to leave to the browser, and decide whether your browser's sign-in may be used for video pages that need it (live streams and private videos). Changes reach the extension immediately.
- Queued is the list of downloads waiting their turn. ShadeNet runs 3 downloads at the same time by default (Settings → Queue); the rest wait and start as others finish. Reorder them with right-click → Move to top / up / down / bottom, and start or stop the whole queue.
- Schedule: Run the queue on a schedule limits the queue to a time window on chosen days, for example at night when bandwidth is free.
- When finished (bottom bar, or Settings → Queue): Do nothing, Close ShadeNet, Sleep, Hibernate or Shut down the computer when every download is done. It applies to this session only and is never saved; a 60-second countdown with a Cancel button comes first.
Open Settings (bottom left, or Ctrl+,).
General: tray icon, closing behaviour, start with Windows, notifications
- Show an icon in the notification area: left-click opens ShadeNet; right-click has pause, resume, the speed limit and Exit.
- Closing the window keeps ShadeNet running (downloads carry on in the background).
- Start with Windows: starts hidden in the notification area when you sign in.
- Notifications when a download finishes or fails, optionally only when ShadeNet isn't the window in front, with or without the Windows notification sound. Clicking a notification shows the file in its folder (ShadeNet never runs a file for you).
Downloads: folder, connections, resume on start, recording limit, helper programs
- Default download folder and Sort downloads into category folders.
- Connections per download: the starting point for new downloads (1 to 32). A site's own limit, or the Add dialog, can lower it.
- Resume unfinished downloads when ShadeNet starts: off means they wait, paused, until you resume them.
- Stop live recordings after (minutes).
- Helper programs: yt-dlp and ffmpeg (see above).
Categories: which file types go where
A download goes to the category whose list of file types names its extension. Leave a folder empty to use the default under the download folder; Browse… picks another; Reset goes back. You can add your own categories.
Queue: how many at once, schedule, when everything is finished
Network: proxy, time-outs, retries, browser identity, connections per site
- How to reach the internet: Windows (the proxy set in Windows), None (direct) or Manual (
host:port). - Connect time-out (3 to 120 s) and Retries (0 to 50) before a broken download fails.
- Browser identity (User-Agent) sent to sites unless the extension supplies the browser's own.
- Connections per site: some sites ban you for opening many connections; a limit here caps the total open to that site (and its sub-domains), however many downloads are running there.
Browser: the extension and how it takes over downloads
Appearance: themes, gradient themes, app icons, your own look
- Themes: Windows, Midnight, Ocean, Forest, Sunset, Rose, Paper, Graphite, Nord, Dracula. Pick one, then change anything below; your changes are kept as Custom.
- Gradient themes: a gradient over the whole window with an accent to go with it.
- App theme: System follows Windows and changes with it live; or Light / Dark. The sun/moon button at the top of the window cycles through them.
- Accent colour, layout and more below.
- Import a theme… and Share this look… let you exchange themes as files.
App icon: choose the icon ShadeNet shows in its window, on the taskbar, in Alt+Tab and in the notification area. Shortcuts keep the usual icon.
About: version, updates, data folder
- The installed version, a Check for updates button, and the switch Look for a newer ShadeNet automatically (about once a day; it always asks before installing).
- The data folder, with a button that opens it.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+N | Add download |
| Ctrl+V | With a link on the clipboard (and not typing in a text box): open the Add dialog with it |
| Ctrl+F | Search the list |
| Ctrl+, | Open Settings |
| Space | Pause / resume the selected downloads |
| Enter | Open the selected finished download (Alt+Enter opens its details) |
| Delete | Remove the selected downloads from the list (file kept; Undo is offered) |
| Esc | Close the details drawer; with it closed, clear the selection |
| Double-click a card | Open it when finished, otherwise pause / resume |
- ShadeNet itself: about once a day it looks at this repository's latest release. When there is a newer version it tells you (a notification with an Update button, and Settings → About). Nothing is installed without your OK. The update is a small package that is verified (size and SHA-256) before use; ShadeNet then closes, replaces its own files, and starts again. Your downloads, settings, shortcuts and helper programs are untouched, and a failed update puts the old version back. Running downloads are paused and saved, and continue afterwards.
- yt-dlp and ffmpeg: checked about once a day too, with the same "ask first" rule.
- A copy of ShadeNet that was not installed with the setup program (for example one you built yourself) says that a new version exists but cannot update itself; it links to the release page instead.
Turn the automatic look off in Settings → About; Check for updates still works whenever you press it.
| Problem | What to try |
|---|---|
| A video page says "nothing downloadable" | The site may need you to be signed in: in the browser, sign in, then use the extension's button (with Use my browser's sign-in for video pages on). Protected (DRM) videos can't be downloaded. |
| A download fails with a web page instead of the file | The link needs your browser's session or has expired. Use the extension, or Advanced in the Add dialog, or right-click → Refresh address. Some sites allow each link only once. |
| The extension says ShadeNet is not running | That's not a fault: start ShadeNet (or press Start ShadeNet in the popup). |
| The extension says Not connected | Its second line gives the reason. Open Settings → Browser and press Set up again, which rewrites the registration. |
| "Specified native messaging host not found" | Press Set up in Settings → Browser, then restart the browser. |
| Downloads are slow | Check the speed limit in the bottom bar, the Connections per site list in Settings → Network, and your proxy setting. |
| I can't find the window | ShadeNet is probably in the notification area (closing the window keeps it running): click its icon. |
| The taskbar or desktop icon looks old after an update | Windows keeps the picture of an icon it has seen. From version 1.0.5 an update refreshes the shortcuts' pictures, and from 1.0.6 the taskbar button follows the icon you choose in Settings → Appearance. On older versions, update ShadeNet first. |
Log files: the browser connection writes %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadeNet\host.log; a crash writes crash.log in the data folder.
- ShadeNet runs entirely on your computer. It has no account and no telemetry. The only things it contacts are the sites you download from, GitHub (the daily look for updates), and the publishers of yt-dlp and ffmpeg (their own daily look).
- The extension sends a download's sign-in cookies, referring page and browser identity to ShadeNet on your computer, only for that download. Your browser sign-in for a video page goes to yt-dlp in a temporary file that is deleted right after.
- DRM-protected video is not supported and never will be.
- Please download only what you have the right to.
- The installer and program are not code-signed yet (SmartScreen will warn).
- Browser extension: Chromium browsers only; it is loaded unpacked (Chrome shows a developer mode extensions notice at start-up).
- Windows only (64-bit). It is built and tested on Windows 11.
You need the .NET 10 SDK (pinned in global.json) and Windows. Node.js 22 is only needed for the extension's tests.
git clone https://github.com/shade-sdev/ShadeNetDownloader.git
cd ShadeNetDownloader
dotnet build # the whole solution
dotnet run --project src/ShadeNetDownloader # start the app
pwsh tools/ci/test.ps1 # every test suite, as the release pipeline runs them
pwsh tools/get-tools.ps1 -Tool all # fetch yt-dlp and ffmpeg (verified) into tools/
pwsh tools/build-release.ps1 # the installer and the update package in dist/Set SHADENET_DATA_DIR to run against a throw-away data folder.
| Folder | What is in it |
|---|---|
src/ShadeNet.Core |
The download engine: probing, segmenting, resume, speed limiter, HLS/DASH, recording, updates |
src/ShadeNetDownloader |
The WPF app (WPF-UI, .NET 10) |
src/ShadeNet.Bridge, src/ShadeNet.NativeHost |
The pipe and native-messaging host between the browser and the app |
src/ShadeNet.Setup |
The installer, the uninstaller and the updater (one project) |
extension/chromium |
The Manifest V3 browser extension |
tests/ |
Engine, program, bridge, installer and extension tests |
tools/ |
Build, release and end-to-end scripts, the command-line test tool |
Releases. Every merge to master is a release: the workflow in .github/workflows/release.yml picks the next version
(v<MAJOR.MINOR>.N), runs all tests, builds the installer and the update package, checks them, and publishes them with
update.json and checksums. Add [skip ci] to a commit message to skip a release (for a documentation-only change, say).
Installed programs read releases/latest/download/update.json to learn about the newest version.