{"id":817,"date":"2025-04-14T11:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/?p=817"},"modified":"2025-08-15T21:52:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:52:30","slug":"%f0%9f%8e%a5-how-to-use-yt-dlp-to-download-videos-from-youtube-and-more-ai-generated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/14\/%f0%9f%8e%a5-how-to-use-yt-dlp-to-download-videos-from-youtube-and-more-ai-generated\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfa5 How to Use yt-dlp to Download Videos from YouTube (and More) &#8211; AI Generated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;ve ever wanted to download YouTube videos in high quality \u2014 including 4K, full playlists, or audio only \u2014 then <code>yt-dlp<\/code> is the tool for you. It\u2019s a modern fork of <code>youtube-dl<\/code> with better features, faster updates, and broader site support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2705 What is <code>yt-dlp<\/code>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><code>yt-dlp<\/code> is a command-line program that lets you download <strong>videos<\/strong>, <strong>audio<\/strong>, or <strong>entire playlists<\/strong> from sites like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>YouTube<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vimeo<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TikTok<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Twitter (X)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Facebook<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>and over 1000 more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udee0\ufe0f How to Install <code>yt-dlp<\/code><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On macOS (Homebrew):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">brew install yt-dlp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On Windows:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Download the latest <code>yt-dlp.exe<\/code> from: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/yt-dlp\/yt-dlp\/releases\">yt-dlp releases<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Place it in a folder, e.g., <code>C:\\yt-dlp\\<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add that folder to your system&#8217;s PATH<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On Linux:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">sudo curl -L https:\/\/github.com\/yt-dlp\/yt-dlp\/releases\/latest\/download\/yt-dlp -o \/usr\/local\/bin\/yt-dlp\nsudo chmod a+rx \/usr\/local\/bin\/yt-dlp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfac Basic Usage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download a single video:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download a playlist:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLxyz123456789<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Extract audio only (MP3):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https:\/\/youtu.be\/abc123<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download in 4K (if available):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp -f \"bestvideo[height=2160]+bestaudio\/best\" https:\/\/youtu.be\/abc123<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd52 Download Part of a Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download a clip between two timestamps:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp --download-sections \"*00:01:00-00:03:00\" https:\/\/youtu.be\/abc123<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\udde0 Smart Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Resume interrupted downloads<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Skip already-downloaded files<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Download thumbnails and subtitles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save metadata (JSON) for each video<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports login and cookies for protected videos<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udce6 Organize Output<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Save using the video title:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp -o \"%(title)s.%(ext)s\" https:\/\/youtu.be\/abc123<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Save in folders by channel name:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp -o \"%(uploader)s\/%(title)s.%(ext)s\" https:\/\/youtu.be\/abc123<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\uddf0 Tips &amp; Tricks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download English subtitles:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">--write-subs --sub-lang en<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Use a proxy server:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">--proxy http:\/\/127.0.0.1:8080<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Set default options in a config file:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Linux\/macOS: <code>~\/.config\/yt-dlp\/config<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Windows: <code>%APPDATA%\\yt-dlp\\config.txt<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcda Helpful Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/yt-dlp\/yt-dlp\">GitHub repo<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Full help:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code class=\"\">yt-dlp --help<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2705 Final Notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><code>yt-dlp<\/code> is powerful, fast, and flexible. Whether you&#8217;re archiving your favorite videos, grabbing audio for offline listening, or downloading only what you need \u2014 this tool can do it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve ever wanted to download YouTube videos in high quality \u2014 including 4K, full playlists, or audio only \u2014 then yt-dlp is the tool for you. It\u2019s a modern fork of youtube-dl with better features, faster updates, and broader site support. \u2705 What is yt-dlp? yt-dlp is a command-line program that lets you download [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-it-tips","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterloobae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}