tidaload

A small Rust CLI for downloading TIDAL tracks, albums, and playlists.

Linux only for now.

Use it only for TIDAL content you are authorized to access with your account.

Requirements

• Linux
• Rust 1.85+ to build from source
• ffmpeg and ffprobe on PATH
• A TIDAL account with streaming access

ffmpeg and ffprobe are required because tidaload produces native .flac files from direct and DASH stream formats.

Install

Build from source:

cargo install --path .

Or build a local release binary:

cargo build --release --locked
./target/release/tidaload --help

Usage

Log in first:

tidaload login

Download a track, album, or playlist URL:

tidaload "https://tidal.com/track/526687566/u"
tidaload "https://tidal.com/album/496439179/u"
tidaload "https://tidal.com/playlist/36ea71a8-445e-41a4-82ab-6628c581535d"

Raw IDs are supported when --kind is supplied:

tidaload --kind track 526687566
tidaload --kind album 496439179
tidaload --kind playlist 36ea71a8-445e-41a4-82ab-6628c581535d

Downloads are saved under the current Linux user's Music folder by default. Use --download-dir for a single run:

tidaload --download-dir ~/Music/TIDAL "https://tidal.com/album/496439179/u"

The default config file is ~/.config/tidaload/config.toml. The file is created with owner-only permissions (0600) because it stores TIDAL tokens.

Example download directory config:

[downloads]
download_dir = "/home/alice/Music/TIDAL"
dash_segment_concurrency = 8

--dash-segment-concurrency overrides DASH segment concurrency for one run. Track download concurrency is fixed at two to reduce TIDAL rate-limit pressure.

Download Behavior

• Tracks are saved as native .flac files when possible.
• HI_RES_LOSSLESS is tried first; tidaload falls back to LOSSLESS when the high-resolution manifest is missing, MQA, or an unsupported DASH codec.
• Album folders are named Artist - Album (Year).
• Multi-disc albums are split into Disc N subdirectories.
• Cover art and audio metadata are embedded when available.
• Existing target album or playlist folders are removed before downloading that collection. Existing target track files are also replaced.
• If TIDAL returns HTTP 429, tidaload records a 10-minute cooldown in the config and exits.

Development

Run the local checks:

cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features --locked -- -D warnings
cargo test --locked

Release tags are handled by scripts/release.sh; GitHub Actions builds Linux amd64 and arm64 release assets for v* tags.