youtube-tools

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Original

English

🇨🇳

Translation

Chinese

YouTube Tools (yt-dlp)

Overview

概述

Free, local YouTube operations using yt-dlp. No API keys required, no per-video costs. Works offline after installation.

使用yt-dlp在本地免费操作YouTube内容。无需API密钥，无单视频成本。安装后可离线使用。

When to Use This vs Apify

何时选择本工具 vs Apify

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DECISION: YouTube Tools (yt-dlp) vs Apify                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│ Use youtube-tools (FREE) when:                                  │
│ ├── Downloading videos to local storage                         │
│ ├── Extracting transcripts/subtitles                            │
│ ├── Getting video metadata (title, duration, views, etc.)       │
│ ├── Bulk downloading playlists or channels                      │
│ ├── Converting to audio-only (MP3)                              │
│ └── You want zero API costs                                     │
│                                                                 │
│ Use apify-scrapers when:                                        │
│ ├── Scraping YouTube SEARCH results                             │
│ ├── Getting comments at scale                                   │
│ ├── Channel analytics and statistics                            │
│ ├── Trending video discovery                                    │
│ └── You need cloud-based processing                             │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 决策：YouTube Tools (yt-dlp) vs Apify                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│ 在以下场景使用youtube-tools（免费）：                            │
│ ├── 将视频下载到本地存储                                       │
│ ├── 提取字幕/文稿                                               │
│ ├── 获取视频元数据（标题、时长、播放量等）                     │
│ ├── 批量下载播放列表或频道内容                                 │
│ ├── 转换为仅音频格式（MP3）                                     │
│ └── 希望零API成本                                               │
│                                                                 │
│ 在以下场景使用apify-scrapers：                                  │
│ ├── 爬取YouTube搜索结果                                         │
│ ├── 大规模获取评论内容                                         │
│ ├── 频道分析与统计数据                                         │
│ ├── 发现热门视频                                               │
│ └── 需要基于云端的处理能力                                     │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Decision Tree

快速决策树

What do you need?
│
├── Download video(s)
│   ├── Single video → scripts/download_video.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/download_video.py --urls-file list.txt
│   ├── Playlist → scripts/download_video.py "playlist_url"
│   ├── Audio only → scripts/download_video.py URL --audio-only
│   └── Specific quality → scripts/download_video.py URL --quality 720p
│
├── Get transcript/subtitles
│   ├── Auto-generated captions → scripts/get_transcript.py URL
│   ├── Manual subtitles → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --manual-only
│   ├── Specific language → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --lang es
│   └── All available → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --all-langs
│
├── Get video metadata
│   ├── Single video → scripts/get_video_info.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file list.txt
│   └── Playlist info → scripts/get_video_info.py "playlist_url"
│
└── Advanced
    ├── Age-restricted → scripts/download_video.py URL --cookies-from-browser chrome
    ├── Private videos → Requires authentication (see references/yt-dlp-guide.md)
    └── Live streams → scripts/download_video.py URL --live-from-start

你需要什么功能？
│
├── 下载视频
│   ├── 单个视频 → scripts/download_video.py URL
│   ├── 多个视频 → scripts/download_video.py --urls-file list.txt
│   ├── 播放列表 → scripts/download_video.py "playlist_url"
│   ├── 仅音频 → scripts/download_video.py URL --audio-only
│   └── 指定画质 → scripts/download_video.py URL --quality 720p
│
├── 获取字幕/文稿
│   ├── 自动生成字幕 → scripts/get_transcript.py URL
│   ├── 手动添加字幕 → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --manual-only
│   ├── 指定语言 → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --lang es
│   └── 所有可用字幕 → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --all-langs
│
├── 获取视频元数据
│   ├── 单个视频 → scripts/get_video_info.py URL
│   ├── 多个视频 → scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file list.txt
│   └── 播放列表信息 → scripts/get_video_info.py "playlist_url"
│
└── 高级功能
    ├── 年龄限制视频 → scripts/download_video.py URL --cookies-from-browser chrome
    ├── 私有视频 → 需要身份验证（参考references/yt-dlp-guide.md）
    └── 直播流 → scripts/download_video.py URL --live-from-start

Environment Setup

环境搭建

bash

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bash

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Install yt-dlp (required)

安装yt-dlp（必需）

pip install yt-dlp

Optional: Install ffmpeg for format conversion

可选：安装ffmpeg用于格式转换

macOS

brew install ffmpeg

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Windows

winget install ffmpeg


**No API keys required!** This is completely free.

winget install ffmpeg


**无需API密钥！** 完全免费。

Common Usage

常见用法

Download Single Video

下载单个视频

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Download with Specific Quality

下载指定画质的视频

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --quality 1080p

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --quality 1080p

Download Audio Only (MP3)

仅下载音频（MP3格式）

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --audio-only

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --audio-only

Download Entire Playlist

下载整个播放列表

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" --output-dir ./videos

bash

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" --output-dir ./videos

Bulk Download from File

从文件批量下载

bash

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bash

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Create urls.txt with one URL per line

创建urls.txt，每行一个URL

python scripts/download_video.py --urls-file urls.txt --output-dir ./downloads

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python scripts/download_video.py --urls-file urls.txt --output-dir ./downloads

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Get Transcript

获取字幕文稿

bash

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

bash

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Transcript in Specific Language

获取指定语言的字幕文稿

bash

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --lang es

bash

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --lang es

Get Video Metadata

获取视频元数据

bash

python scripts/get_video_info.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

bash

python scripts/get_video_info.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Metadata for Multiple Videos

获取多个视频的元数据

bash

python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file videos.txt --output metadata.json

bash

python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file videos.txt --output metadata.json

Output Location

输出位置

All outputs save to

.tmp/youtube/

by default:

Videos:
```
.tmp/youtube/videos/
```
Audio:
```
.tmp/youtube/audio/
```
Transcripts:
```
.tmp/youtube/transcripts/
```
Metadata:
```
.tmp/youtube/metadata/
```

所有输出默认保存到

.tmp/youtube/

：

视频：
```
.tmp/youtube/videos/
```
音频：
```
.tmp/youtube/audio/
```
字幕文稿：
```
.tmp/youtube/transcripts/
```
元数据：
```
.tmp/youtube/metadata/
```

Cost

成本

FREE - No API keys, no per-video costs, no subscriptions.

完全免费 - 无需API密钥，无单视频成本，无订阅费用。

Security Notes

安全说明

Safe by Design

设计安全

URL validation: Only accepts YouTube URLs (youtube.com, youtu.be)
Filename sanitization: Removes dangerous characters
Output restriction: Only writes to
```
.tmp/
```
directory
No shell injection: Uses subprocess with argument lists, not string concatenation
No stored credentials: Cookies only used when explicitly requested

URL验证：仅接受YouTube域名的链接（youtube.com, youtu.be）
文件名清理：移除危险字符
输出限制：仅写入
```
.tmp/
```
目录
无Shell注入风险：使用带参数列表的subprocess，而非字符串拼接
无凭证存储：仅在明确请求时使用Cookies

Copyright Warning

版权警告

Only download content you have rights to access
Respect YouTube's Terms of Service
Do not redistribute copyrighted content
Use for personal/educational purposes

仅下载你有权访问的内容
遵守YouTube服务条款
不要重新分发受版权保护的内容
仅限个人/教育用途

Rate Limiting

请求频率限制

yt-dlp has built-in rate limiting
For bulk downloads, use
```
--sleep-interval 5
```
to avoid throttling
YouTube may temporarily block IPs with excessive requests

yt-dlp内置频率限制
批量下载时，使用
```
--sleep-interval 5
```
避免被限流
过度请求可能导致YouTube临时封禁IP

Troubleshooting

故障排除

Issue: "Video unavailable"

问题："视频不可用"

Cause: Video is private, age-restricted, or region-locked Solution: Use

--cookies-from-browser chrome

for age-restricted content

原因： 视频为私有、年龄限制或区域锁定 解决方案： 对年龄限制内容使用

--cookies-from-browser chrome

参数

Issue: "Unable to extract video data"

问题："无法提取视频数据"

Cause: YouTube changed their page structure Solution: Update yt-dlp:

pip install -U yt-dlp

原因： YouTube页面结构变更 解决方案： 更新yt-dlp：

pip install -U yt-dlp

Issue: No subtitles found

问题：未找到字幕

Cause: Video has no captions (auto or manual) Solution: Use

--list-subs

to see available subtitles first

原因： 视频无自动或手动添加的字幕 解决方案： 先使用

--list-subs

参数查看可用字幕

Issue: Slow downloads

问题：下载速度慢

Cause: YouTube throttling or network issues Solution: Try

--concurrent-fragments 4

for faster downloads

原因： YouTube限流或网络问题 解决方案： 尝试使用

--concurrent-fragments 4

参数提升下载速度

Issue: Format conversion failed

问题：格式转换失败

Cause: ffmpeg not installed Solution: Install ffmpeg (see Environment Setup)

原因： 未安装ffmpeg 解决方案： 安装ffmpeg（参考环境搭建部分）

Integration Patterns

集成模式

Download + Transcribe + Summarize

下载 + 提取字幕 + 总结

bash

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bash

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1. Download video

1. 下载视频

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" --output-dir .tmp/video

2. Get transcript

2. 获取字幕文稿

python scripts/get_transcript.py "URL" --output .tmp/transcript.txt

3. Use content-generation to summarize

3. 使用内容生成工具进行总结

(transcript file is now ready for summarization)

（字幕文稿文件已准备好用于总结）

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Bulk Research Workflow

批量研究工作流

bash

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bash

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1. Get metadata for research videos

1. 获取研究视频的元数据

python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output .tmp/metadata.json

2. Download transcripts for text analysis

2. 下载字幕文稿用于文本分析

python scripts/get_transcript.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output-dir .tmp/transcripts

3. Use parallel-research to analyze content

3. 使用并行研究工具分析内容

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Course Content Download

课程内容下载

bash

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bash

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Download entire playlist as course modules

下载整个播放列表作为课程模块

python scripts/download_video.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course --quality 720p

Get all transcripts for notes

获取所有字幕文稿用于笔记

python scripts/get_transcript.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course/transcripts

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python scripts/get_transcript.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course/transcripts

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Resources

资源

references/yt-dlp-guide.md - Complete yt-dlp reference with all options
yt-dlp documentation: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#readme

references/yt-dlp-guide.md - 包含所有选项的完整yt-dlp参考文档
yt-dlp官方文档: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#readme