meme-maker

A small collection of personal yt-dlp + ffmpeg tools for quickly making clips, music stings, and captioned memes from YouTube.

Originally created while making memes for a personal project that spiraled into a general-purpose clip and meme toolkit.

Now reasonably robust, portable, and easy to install on new machines, especially Arch-based Linux systems.

What's in here

Script	Purpose	Notes
convert.sh	Download or convert media formats	Local media or remote source → GIF/MP3/MP4/WebM
mememaker.sh	Interactive meme and text workflow	Menu + local/remote caption renderer
audio_video.sh	Add audio to video/media	Local/remote video + local audio → MP4/WebM
build.sh	HTML → video/GIF/PNG/WebM using puppeteer	Advanced: capture browser animations
lib.sh	Shared utilities	Used by the main scripts

Quick start (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/SudoDEMON/meme-maker.git
cd meme-maker
./install.sh

OS-specific installer entrypoints are available too:

./install-linux.sh
./install-macos.sh
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install-windows.ps1

The installer will:

• Install yt-dlp, ffmpeg, fonts, and Node.js (where possible)
• Symlink the tools into ~/.local/bin
• Optionally set up npm deps for build.sh

After that you can just run mememaker, meme-convert, audio-video, etc. from anywhere. convert.sh is linked as meme-convert to avoid shadowing ImageMagick's common convert command.

Local web UI

npm run web

Open http://127.0.0.1:3000.

The web UI runs the same local scripts as the CLI and streams yt-dlp / ffmpeg logs in the browser. By default it binds to 127.0.0.1 for local-only use. The main web tabs are:

• Download or Convert: local media or yt-dlp-supported URL → GIF/MP3/MP4/WebM
• Text to Media: local media or yt-dlp-supported URL → captioned GIF/MP4/WebM
• Audio to Video: local media or yt-dlp-supported URL + local audio → MP4/WebM
• Build HTML Animation
• Experimental

You can paste a YouTube ID, YouTube URL, or another media URL supported by the installed yt-dlp. YouTube URLs are normalized to the 11-character ID. Source fields can also Browse for local files. When a source is entered, the server probes it with ffprobe for local files or yt-dlp --dump-single-json for remote URLs to show support/duration, fill the End field with the detected duration, and prefill the output name from the media ID/name. Start and End fields are validated as seconds, MM:SS, or HH:MM:SS, and Start must be before End when End is set. Finished jobs show both an Open link and a Download link. The Download link uses a browser attachment response so it should trigger the normal save/download flow with the generated filename.

Output fields are sanitized and default to the project output directories:

• Video/WebM: videos/<name>.mp4 or videos/<name>.webm
• GIF: gifs/<name>.gif
• Audio: Audio/<name>.mp3

For example, typing test-clips in an MP4 output field produces videos/test-clips.mp4; selecting GIF, MP3, or WebM sends it to the matching default folder/extension. Relative subdirectories are allowed, but absolute paths and .. segments are rejected.

Local file pickers upload the selected file into .web-uploads/ and then use that uploaded local path for GIF/video/audio/font/HTML inputs. This keeps the browser security model intact while still giving a normal file chooser.

The Experimental tab includes a visual media text editor. Input can be a local GIF/WebM/MP4, a YouTube URL/ID, or another URL supported by the installed yt-dlp. Output is an output name plus a GIF/MP4/WebM dropdown. It loads a preview frame, shows resolution/length/FPS/frame count, lets you scrub with the slider or editable time/frame fields, drag two text fields into place, drag the preview crop edges/corners, set optional output FPS, and trim output with Output Start/End. Output Start/End accept time values such as 0:01.5 or frame values such as 18f, and Start must be before End. Text 1 and Text 2 can be left blank to render trim/crop/format changes without captions. It renders the result as GIF, MP4, or WebM and passes the crop rectangle, resulting x/y coordinates, font face, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and size settings to the local caption renderer. If you browse or enter a repo-local font path, the preview text loads that font file in the browser before rendering.

MM_WEB_PORT=3001 npm run web

This local runner can read/write local paths and run media tools. If this is later hosted from another site, keep the frontend but replace the local runner with an authenticated server-side job queue or another remote-safe backend.

Manual / no-install route

# Make sure you have yt-dlp + ffmpeg + a decent font
./mememaker.sh --help
./convert.sh --help

Requirements

• yt-dlp
• ffmpeg
• A decent bold sans-serif font (DejaVu Sans Bold, Noto Sans Bold, etc.)
• Node.js + npm + a Puppeteer browser (only needed for build.sh / capture.js)

On Arch-based Linux:

sudo pacman -S yt-dlp ffmpeg ttf-dejavu noto-fonts nodejs npm

On macOS (with Homebrew):

brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg node

Usage examples

# Launch the interactive menu
./mememaker.sh

# Download or convert a local/remote source to a chosen format
./convert.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 mp4 videos/clip.mp4
./convert.sh https://youtu.be/O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 "" gif gifs/clip.gif
./convert.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 "" mp3 Audio/clip.mp3
./convert.sh videos/input.mp4 0:05 "" gif gifs/input-cut.gif

# Make a GIF with no caption text
./mememaker.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 gif "" "" boom_headshot_no_text.gif

# Omit end time to use the full video from start onward
./mememaker.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 gif "TOP" "BOTTOM" full_video.gif
./convert.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 "" mp4 videos/full_video.mp4

# Same thing, using the explicit no-text flag
./mememaker.sh --no-text O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 webm boom_headshot_no_text

# Make a captioned GIF
./mememaker.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 gif "BOOM" "HEADSHOT" boom_headshot_text.gif

# Move captions down/up and style each line
./mememaker.sh --top-y 40 --bottom-y 110 --top-font-size 44 --bottom-font-size 58 --bottom-bold O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 mp4 "BOOM" "HEADSHOT" boom_headshot_text.mp4

# Add text to an existing GIF
./mememaker.sh --caption-local input.gif gifs/input_captioned.gif "TOP" ""

# Add text to a trimmed section of local media
./mememaker.sh --caption-local --start 0:05 --end 0:10 input.mp4 videos/input_captioned.mp4 "TOP" ""

# Crop local media before captioning
./mememaker.sh --caption-local --crop 80 20 480 360 --width 480 input.mp4 videos/input_cropped.mp4 "TOP" ""

# Make a captioned GIF with a custom font
./mememaker.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 gif "BOOM" "HEADSHOT" boom_headshot_glitch.gif /path/to/font.ttf

# Grab the audio clip
./convert.sh vXZu0wT1kUg 1:36 1:56 mp3 Audio/SPVCEODYSSEY_20sec.mp3

# Grab the video clip
./convert.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 mp4 videos/boom_headshot_vid.mp4

# yt-dlp-supported URLs work too
./convert.sh "<yt-dlp-supported-url>" 0:00 "" mp4 videos/supported-media.mp4

# Grab a WebM clip
./convert.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 webm videos/boom_headshot_vid.webm

# Combine a local MP4 with MP3 audio into a new MP4
./audio_video.sh /path/to/file/meme-maker/boom_headshot_vid.mp4 0:00 "" /path/to/file/meme-maker/SPVCEODYSSEY_20sec.mp3 videos/boom_headshot_with_audio.mp4

# Add local audio to a remote or local video source
./audio_video.sh O0Dgtar0zB4 0:00 0:20 Audio/sting.mp3 videos/clip-with-audio.mp4

# Capture HTML to WebM
./build.sh index.html out.webm 10 music.mp3

• mememaker will create gifs/ or videos/ as needed and name the file after the media source (or your custom stem) + the right extension.
• convert.sh is the general download/convert entrypoint. It requires an explicit output and accepts gif, mp3, mp4, or webm.
• audio_video.sh is the general add-audio entrypoint for local/remote media plus a local audio file.
• Caption text can be blank: use "" "" or --no-text. In the interactive menu, leave text prompts blank for no text.
• End time can be blank/omitted to use everything from the start time through the end of the video. Internally this uses yt-dlp's inf section end when a section is still needed.
• --top-y, --bottom-y, --font-size, --width, and --fps control caption placement and output sizing.
• --top-x, --bottom-x, --bottom-from-top, --crop, --font-family, --bold, --italic, --underline, and --strikethrough are available for the experimental visual editor and advanced caption placement.
• --top-font-family, --top-font-size, --top-bold, --top-italic, --bottom-font-family, --bottom-font-size, --bottom-bold, and --bottom-italic control the two caption lines independently.
• In --caption-local mode, --start and --end trim the local source before captioning. Seconds can include decimals, such as 0.5.

All scripts support -h / --help.

Environment variables

• FONT=/path/to/font.ttf — force a specific font in mememaker
• MM_DEBUG=1 — extra debug output
• MM_TOP_Y=15 / MM_BOTTOM_Y=75 — default caption offsets for mememaker
• MM_FONT_SIZE=50 / MM_WIDTH=720 — default caption size and output width for mememaker
• MM_BUILD_FPS=60 — frame rate for build.sh captures and encodes
• MM_OUTPUT_FPS=30 — optional forced output frame rate for mememaker
• MM_WEBM_CRF=34 — WebM quality/speed target; lower is higher quality and slower
• MM_WEBM_CPU_USED=5 — WebM VP9 speed setting; higher is faster with lower compression quality
• MM_WEBM_TILE_COLUMNS=2 — WebM VP9 tiling for parallel encoding
• PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH=/path/to/chrome — use a system Chrome/Chromium for build.sh

Moving to a new machine

1. Clone the repo (or copy the scripts + lib.sh)
2. Run ./install.sh
3. Done

Or just copy the files and run the individual scripts directly.

Project structure (the important bits)

.
├── lib.sh              # Shared helpers (don't run directly)
├── convert.sh          # Local/remote media → GIF/MP3/MP4/WebM
├── mememaker.sh        # Interactive menu + full caption renderer
├── audio_video.sh      # Local/remote media + local audio → MP4/WebM
├── build.sh            # HTML → video using puppeteer
├── capture.js
├── web.js              # Local web UI server
├── web/                # Static browser UI
├── install.sh          # The magic migration/installer
├── install-linux.sh
├── install-macos.sh
├── install-windows.ps1
├── package.json
└── README.md

Everything else (media files, frames/, node_modules/) is either output or generated.

Philosophy

These are personal tools that grew over time. They are intentionally simple and a bit chaotic. The goal is "I want a meme/clip in 10 seconds" not "perfectly engineered media pipeline."

Pull requests that make them more reliable without making them complicated are welcome.

License

ISC (same as the original package.json)

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Made with too much yt-dlp and stubbornness.