video-download

Download video and audio from URLs using yt-dlp directly. No wrapper scripts needed.

Prerequisites

• yt-dlp: brew install yt-dlp or pip install yt-dlp

• ffmpeg: brew install ffmpeg or apt install ffmpeg (required for merging video+audio streams)

Update yt-dlp periodically to keep up with site changes: yt-dlp -U or pip install -U yt-dlp.

Commands

Download best quality

yt-dlp "URL" -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Download specific resolution

# 720p

yt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]" --merge-output-format mp4

# 1080p

yt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]" --merge-output-format mp4

Audio only

yt-dlp "URL" -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0

Download subtitles

# Download video with English subtitles

yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --merge-output-format mp4

# Download video with multiple subtitle languages

yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs "en,es,fr" --merge-output-format mp4

# Download only subtitles (no video)

yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --skip-download

Get metadata (no download)

yt-dlp "URL" --dump-json --no-download

List available formats

yt-dlp "URL" -F

Specify output directory

yt-dlp "URL" -o "./downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Quality Presets

Quality

Format flag

Best

-f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" (default)

1080p

-f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]"

720p

-f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]"

480p

-f "bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio/best[height<=480]"

Worst

-f "worstvideo+worstaudio/worst"

Output Template Variables

Common variables for -o templates:

Variable

Description

%(title)s

Video title

%(ext)s

File extension

%(id)s

Video ID

%(uploader)s

Channel/uploader name

%(upload_date)s

Upload date (YYYYMMDD)

%(duration)s

Duration in seconds

%(resolution)s

Video resolution

Tips

• Always use --merge-output-format mp4 to avoid ending up with .webm or .mkv files.

• Use --no-download with --dump-json for metadata-only queries -- no files written to disk.

• If a download fails with HTTP errors, update yt-dlp first (yt-dlp -U).

• Use -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio" to save bandwidth when full resolution is not needed.

• yt-dlp automatically handles rate limiting and retries.

• The --dump-json output includes title, duration, uploader, view_count, description, formats, subtitles, and much more.

Troubleshooting

• "yt-dlp: command not found": Install it (pip install yt-dlp) and ensure your PATH includes pip's bin directory.

• "ffmpeg: command not found": Install ffmpeg. Without it, downloads fail when video and audio are separate streams (common on YouTube for HD).

• Downloads fail or return errors: Run yt-dlp -U to update. Sites change frequently and yt-dlp ships fixes regularly.