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Download videos, audio, playlists, and channels from YouTube and 1000+ websites using yt-dlp. Supports quality selection, format conversion, subtitle download, playlist filtering, metadata extraction, thumbnail download, and batch operations. Use when downloading YouTube videos in any quality (4K, 8K, HDR), extracting audio as MP3/M4A/FLAC, downloading entire playlists/channels, getting subtitles in multiple languages, converting to specific formats, downloading live streams, archiving content, or batch processing multiple URLs. Optimized for reliability with automatic retries, rate limiting, and error handling.
npx skill4agent add jackspace/claudeskillz youtube-downloader# Install yt-dlp (if not already installed)
pip install -U yt-dlp
# Install ffmpeg (required for format conversion)
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt install ffmpeg
# macOS:
brew install ffmpeg
# Verify installation
yt-dlp --version
ffmpeg -versionyt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"yt-dlp -f "bestaudio" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"# 1080p video with best audio
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]" "URL"
# 4K video
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=2160]+bestaudio/best" "URL"
# 720p video
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]" "URL"yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID"# Videos 1-10
yt-dlp --playlist-start 1 --playlist-end 10 "PLAYLIST_URL"
# Videos from #5 onwards
yt-dlp --playlist-start 5 "PLAYLIST_URL"yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos"# Download all available subtitles
yt-dlp --write-subs --write-auto-subs --sub-langs "en,es,fr" "URL"
# Download and embed subtitles
yt-dlp --write-subs --embed-subs --sub-langs "en.*" "URL"
# Download only subtitles (no video)
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-subs --write-auto-subs "URL"# Custom filename template
yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"
# By date uploaded
yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"
# With video ID
yt-dlp -o "%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s" "URL"# Download and embed thumbnail
yt-dlp --write-thumbnail --embed-thumbnail "URL"
# Download thumbnail only
yt-dlp --write-thumbnail --skip-download "URL"# Write metadata to JSON file
yt-dlp --write-info-json "URL"
# Write metadata to description file
yt-dlp --write-description "URL"# Best overall quality (may be WebM)
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" "URL"
# Best MP4 format (most compatible)
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]" "URL"
# 4K (2160p) maximum
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=2160]+bestaudio" "URL"
# 1080p maximum
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio" "URL"
# 720p maximum
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio" "URL"
# 60fps preferred
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[fps>30]+bestaudio/best" "URL"# Best audio quality (extract as M4A)
yt-dlp -f "bestaudio" "URL"
# Extract as MP3 (best quality)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "URL"
# Extract as FLAC (lossless)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format flac "URL"
# Extract as Opus (efficient)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format opus "URL"
# Extract as WAV (uncompressed)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format wav "URL"yt-dlp -F "URL"yt-dlp -f FORMAT_ID "URL"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO3yt-dlp -a urls.txtyt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt "PLAYLIST_URL"archive.txt# Videos from 2024
yt-dlp --dateafter 20240101 "CHANNEL_URL"
# Videos before 2023
yt-dlp --datebefore 20230101 "CHANNEL_URL"
# Videos between dates
yt-dlp --dateafter 20230101 --datebefore 20231231 "CHANNEL_URL"# Videos with 1M+ views
yt-dlp --match-filter "view_count > 1000000" "CHANNEL_URL"
# Videos with less than 10K views
yt-dlp --match-filter "view_count < 10000" "CHANNEL_URL"# Videos longer than 10 minutes
yt-dlp --match-filter "duration > 600" "PLAYLIST_URL"
# Videos shorter than 5 minutes
yt-dlp --match-filter "duration < 300" "PLAYLIST_URL"# Wait for stream to start and download
yt-dlp --wait-for-video 60 "LIVE_STREAM_URL"
# Download stream as it's happening (may be incomplete if interrupted)
yt-dlp "LIVE_STREAM_URL"# Limit download speed (e.g., 1MB/s)
yt-dlp --limit-rate 1M "URL"
# Set number of retries
yt-dlp --retries 10 "URL"
# Wait between downloads (in seconds)
yt-dlp --sleep-interval 5 "PLAYLIST_URL"
# Use specific proxy
yt-dlp --proxy "http://proxy.server:port" "URL"
# Use cookies from browser (bypass age restrictions)
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "URL"# Use proxy
yt-dlp --proxy "socks5://proxy.server:1080" "URL"
# Use specific geo-bypass country
yt-dlp --geo-bypass-country US "URL"# Merge video and audio to MP4
yt-dlp --merge-output-format mp4 "URL"
# Re-encode to H.264
yt-dlp --recode-video mp4 "URL"
# Add metadata
yt-dlp --add-metadata "URL"
# Embed thumbnail
yt-dlp --embed-thumbnail "URL"# Extract audio and convert to MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "URL"
# Add metadata to audio file
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --add-metadata "URL"yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 \
-o "%(artist)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
--add-metadata \
--embed-thumbnail \
"MUSIC_VIDEO_URL"yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
--write-subs --embed-subs \
--write-info-json \
"COURSE_PLAYLIST_URL"yt-dlp --download-archive downloaded.txt \
-o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
-f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best" \
"https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos"yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 \
-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s. %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
--add-metadata \
"PODCAST_PLAYLIST_URL"yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio" \
-o "Conference/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
--write-subs --embed-subs --sub-langs en \
"CONFERENCE_PLAYLIST_URL"# Create urls.txt with mixed URLs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
yt-dlp -a urls.txt \
-f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" \
-o "%(extractor)s/%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s"~/.config/yt-dlp/config# Default format
-f bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best
# Output template
-o ~/Downloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s
# Embed metadata
--add-metadata
--embed-thumbnail
# Write subtitles
--write-subs
--sub-langs en
# Continue on errors
--ignore-errors
# Rate limit
--limit-rate 5M# Try with cookies from browser
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "URL"
# Update yt-dlp
pip install -U yt-dlp# Use browser cookies
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox "URL"
# Or login with credentials
yt-dlp --username YOUR_USERNAME --password YOUR_PASSWORD "URL"# List all formats first
yt-dlp -F "URL"
# Then select specific format
yt-dlp -f FORMAT_ID "URL"# Use multiple connections
yt-dlp --concurrent-fragments 4 "URL"
# Or use external downloader
yt-dlp --external-downloader aria2c "URL"yt-dlp --external-downloader aria2c \
--external-downloader-args "-x 16 -s 16 -k 1M" \
"URL"--limit-rate--concurrent-fragments 4# Update via pip
pip install -U yt-dlp
# Check version
yt-dlp --version