πŸ’ͺ How to use youtube-dl

Have you ever wanted to download a video from YouTube? Perhaps you only need to extract the audio from the video, but didn’t need the video? Youtube-dl is a command-line utility that allows you to download video (or audio) from a variety of supported video websites

Installation

The quickest way to to install FFmpeg is through Homebrew in Terminal.

brew install youtube-dl

Next, you will need to install FFmpeg to help with the video encoding process.

brew install ffmpeg

Youtube-dl has a vast number of configuration options, which are beyond the scope of this blog post. However, below are the options I found the most useful

Download a video from YouTube

Using the string below will pull the best-uploaded video and audio file from YouTube and merge both files together.

youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' "<Video-URL>"

Extracting audio

Extracting just the audio is fairly straightforward, just enter the text string below. The –embed-thumbnail command is optional and works with the mp3 file format. You can replace mp3 with other audio formats such as flac.

youtube-dl -f bestaudio --extract-audio --embed-thumbnail --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "<Video-URL>" 

Options

-h, --help                           Print this help text and exit
--version                            Print program version and exit
-U, --update                         Update this program to latest version.
                                     Make sure that you have sufficient
                                     permissions (run with sudo if needed)
-i, --ignore-errors                  Continue on download errors, for
                                     example to skip unavailable videos in 
                                     a playlist
--abort-on-error                     Abort downloading of further videos 
                                     (in the playlist or the command line) 
                                     if an error occurs
--dump-user-agent                    Display the current browser
                                     identification
--list-extractors                    List all supported extractors
--extractor-descriptions             Output descriptions of all supported
                                     extractors
--force-generic-extractor            Force extraction to use the generic
                                     extractor
--default-search PREFIX              Use this prefix for unqualified URLs.
                                     For example "gvsearch2:" downloads two
                                     videos from google videos for youtube-
                                     dl "large apple". Use the value "auto"
                                     to let youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning"
                                     to emit a warning when guessing).
                                     "error" just throws an error. The
                                     default value "fixup_error" repairs
                                     broken URLs, but emits an error if      
                                     this is not possible instead of 
                                     searching.
--ignore-config                      Do not read configuration files. When
                                     given in the global configuration file
                                     /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the
                                     user configuration in
                                     ~/.config/youtube-dl/config
                                     (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on
                                     Windows)
--config-location PATH               Location of the configuration file;
                                     either the path to the config or its
                                     containing directory.
--flat-playlist                      Do not extract the videos of a
                                     playlist, only list them.
--mark-watched                       Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
--no-mark-watched                    Do not mark videos watched (YouTube
                                     only)
--no-color                           Do not emit color codes in output

Network Options:

--proxy URL                          Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS
                                     proxy. To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a
                                     proper scheme. For example
                                     socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an
                                     empty string (--proxy "") for direct
                                     connection
--socket-timeout SECONDS             Time to wait before giving up, in
                                     seconds
--source-address IP                  Client-side IP address to bind to
-4, --force-ipv4                     Make all connections via IPv4
-6, --force-ipv6                     Make all connections via IPv6

Geo Restriction:

--geo-verification-proxy URL         Use this proxy to verify the IP address
                                     for some geo-restricted sites. The
                                     default proxy specified by --proxy (or
                                     none, if the option is not present) is
                                     used for the actual downloading.
--geo-bypass                         Bypass geographic restriction via
                                     faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--no-geo-bypass                      Do not bypass geographic restriction
                                     via faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
--geo-bypass-country CODE            Force bypass geographic restriction
                                     with explicitly provided two-letter ISO
                                     3166-2 country code
--geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK       Force bypass geographic restriction
                                     with explicitly provided IP block in
                                     CIDR notation

Video Selection:

--playlist-start NUMBER              Playlist video to start at (default is
                                     1)
--playlist-end NUMBER                Playlist video to end at (default is
                                     last)
--playlist-items ITEM_SPEC           Playlist video items to download.
                                     Specify indices of the videos in the
                                     playlist separated by commas like: "--
                                     playlist-items 1,2,5,8" if you want to
                                     download videos indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in
                                     the playlist. You can specify range: "
                                     --playlist-items 1-3,7,10-13", it will
                                     download the videos at index 1, 2, 3,
                                     7, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
--match-title REGEX                  Download only matching titles (regex or
                                     caseless sub-string)
--reject-title REGEX                 Skip download for matching titles
                                     (regex or caseless sub-string)
--max-downloads NUMBER               Abort after downloading NUMBER files
--min-filesize SIZE                  Do not download any videos smaller than
                                     SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
--max-filesize SIZE                  Do not download any videos larger than
                                     SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
--date DATE                          Download only videos uploaded in this
                                     date
--datebefore DATE                    Download only videos uploaded on or
                                     before this date (i.e. inclusive)
--dateafter DATE                     Download only videos uploaded on or
                                     after this date (i.e. inclusive)
--min-views COUNT                    Do not download any videos with less
                                     than COUNT views
--max-views COUNT                    Do not download any videos with more
                                     than COUNT views
--match-filter FILTER                Generic video filter. Specify any key
                                     (see the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list
                                     of available keys) to match if the key
                                     is present, !key to check if the key is
                                     not present, key > NUMBER (like
                                     "comment_count > 12", also works with
                                     >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare against a
                                     number, key = 'LITERAL' (like "uploader
                                     = 'Mike Smith'", also works with !=) to
                                     match against a string literal and & to
                                     require multiple matches. Values which
                                     are not known are excluded unless you
                                     put a question mark (?) after the
                                     operator. For example, to only match
                                     videos that have been liked more than
                                     100 times and disliked less than 50
                                     times (or the dislike functionality is
                                     not available at the given service),
                                     but who also have a description, use
                                     --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
                                     dislike_count <? 50 & description" .
--no-playlist                        Download only the video, if the URL
                                     refers to a video and a playlist.
--yes-playlist                       Download the playlist, if the URL
                                     refers to a video and a playlist.
--age-limit YEARS                    Download only videos suitable for the
                                     given age
--download-archive FILE              Download only videos not listed in the
                                     archive file. Record the IDs of all
                                     downloaded videos in it.
--include-ads                        Download advertisements as well
                                     (experimental)

Download Options:

-r, --limit-rate RATE                Maximum download rate in bytes per
                                     second (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
-R, --retries RETRIES                Number of retries (default is 10), or
                                     "infinite".
--fragment-retries RETRIES           Number of retries for a fragment
                                     (default is 10), or "infinite" (DASH,
                                     hlsnative and ISM)
--skip-unavailable-fragments         Skip unavailable fragments (DASH,
                                     hlsnative and ISM)
--abort-on-unavailable-fragment      Abort downloading when some fragment is
                                     not available
--keep-fragments                     Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
                                     downloading is finished; fragments are
                                     erased by default
--buffer-size SIZE                   Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or
                                     16K) (default is 1024)
--no-resize-buffer                   Do not automatically adjust the buffer
                                     size. By default, the buffer size is
                                     automatically resized from an initial
                                     value of SIZE.
--http-chunk-size SIZE               Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
                                     downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M)
                                     (default is disabled). May be useful
                                     for bypassing bandwidth throttling
                                     imposed by a webserver (experimental)
--playlist-reverse                   Download playlist videos in reverse
                                     order
--playlist-random                    Download playlist videos in random
                                     order
--xattr-set-filesize                 Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
                                     expected file size
--hls-prefer-native                  Use the native HLS downloader instead
                                     of ffmpeg
--hls-prefer-ffmpeg                  Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
                                     downloader
--hls-use-mpegts                     Use the mpegts container for HLS
                                     videos, allowing to play the video
                                     while downloading (some players may not
                                     be able to play it)
--external-downloader COMMAND        Use the specified external downloader.
                                     Currently supports aria2c,avconv,axel,c
                                     url,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
--external-downloader-args ARGS      Give these arguments to the external
                                     downloader

Filesystem Options:

-a, --batch-file FILE                File containing URLs to download ('-'
                                     for stdin), one URL per line. Lines
                                     starting with '#', ';' or ']' are
                                     considered as comments and ignored.
--id                                 Use only video ID in file name
-o, --output TEMPLATE                Output filename template, see the
                                     "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for all the info
--output-na-placeholder PLACEHOLDER  Placeholder value for unavailable meta
                                     fields in output filename template
                                     (default is "NA")
--autonumber-start NUMBER            Specify the start value for
                                     %(autonumber)s (default is 1)
--restrict-filenames                 Restrict filenames to only ASCII
                                     characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
                                     filenames
-w, --no-overwrites                  Do not overwrite files
-c, --continue                       Force resume of partially downloaded
                                     files. By default, youtube-dl will
                                     resume downloads if possible.
--no-continue                        Do not resume partially downloaded
                                     files (restart from beginning)
--no-part                            Do not use .part files - write directly
                                     into output file
--no-mtime                           Do not use the Last-modified header to
                                     set the file modification time
--write-description                  Write video description to a
                                     .description file
--write-info-json                    Write video metadata to a .info.json
                                     file
--write-annotations                  Write video annotations to a
                                     .annotations.xml file
--load-info-json FILE                JSON file containing the video
                                     information (created with the "--write-
                                     info-json" option)
--cookies FILE                       File to read cookies from and dump
                                     cookie jar in
--cache-dir DIR                      Location in the filesystem where
                                     youtube-dl can store some downloaded
                                     information permanently. By default
                                     $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
                                     ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment,
                                     only YouTube player files (for videos
                                     with obfuscated signatures) are cached,
                                     but that may change.
--no-cache-dir                       Disable filesystem caching
--rm-cache-dir                       Delete all filesystem cache files

Thumbnail images:

--write-thumbnail                    Write thumbnail image to disk
--write-all-thumbnails               Write all thumbnail image formats to
                                     disk
--list-thumbnails                    Simulate and list all available
                                     thumbnail formats

Verbosity / Simulation Options:

-q, --quiet                          Activate quiet mode
--no-warnings                        Ignore warnings
-s, --simulate                       Do not download the video and do not
                                     write anything to disk
--skip-download                      Do not download the video
-g, --get-url                        Simulate, quiet but print URL
-e, --get-title                      Simulate, quiet but print title
--get-id                             Simulate, quiet but print id
--get-thumbnail                      Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
--get-description                    Simulate, quiet but print video
                                     description
--get-duration                       Simulate, quiet but print video length
--get-filename                       Simulate, quiet but print output
                                     filename
--get-format                         Simulate, quiet but print output format
-j, --dump-json                      Simulate, quiet but print JSON
                                     information. See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
                                     for a description of available keys.
-J, --dump-single-json               Simulate, quiet but print JSON
                                     information for each command-line
                                     argument. If the URL refers to a
                                     playlist, dump the whole playlist
                                     information in a single line.
--print-json                         Be quiet and print the video
                                     information as JSON (video is still
                                     being downloaded).
--newline                            Output progress bar as new lines
--no-progress                        Do not print progress bar
--console-title                      Display progress in console titlebar
-v, --verbose                        Print various debugging information
--dump-pages                         Print downloaded pages encoded using
                                     base64 to debug problems (very verbose)
--write-pages                        Write downloaded intermediary pages to
                                     files in the current directory to debug
                                     problems
--print-traffic                      Display sent and read HTTP traffic
-C, --call-home                      Contact the youtube-dl server for
                                     debugging
--no-call-home                       Do NOT contact the youtube-dl server
                                     for debugging

Workarounds:

--encoding ENCODING                  Force the specified encoding
                                     (experimental)
--no-check-certificate               Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
--prefer-insecure                    Use an unencrypted connection to
                                     retrieve information about the video.
                                     (Currently supported only for YouTube)
--user-agent UA                      Specify a custom user agent
--referer URL                        Specify a custom referer, use if the
                                     video access is restricted to one
                                     domain
--add-header FIELD:VALUE             Specify a custom HTTP header and its
                                     value, separated by a colon ':'. You
                                     can use this option multiple times
--bidi-workaround                    Work around terminals that lack
                                     bidirectional text support. Requires
                                     bidiv or fribidi executable in PATH
--sleep-interval SECONDS             Number of seconds to sleep before each
                                     download when used alone or a lower
                                     bound of a range for randomized sleep
                                     before each download (minimum possible
                                     number of seconds to sleep) when used
                                     along with --max-sleep-interval.
--max-sleep-interval SECONDS         Upper bound of a range for randomized
                                     sleep before each download (maximum
                                     possible number of seconds to sleep).
                                     Must only be used along with --min-
                                     sleep-interval.

Video Format Options:

-f, --format FORMAT                  Video format code, see the "FORMAT
                                     SELECTION" for all the info
--all-formats                        Download all available video formats
--prefer-free-formats                Prefer free video formats unless a
                                     specific one is requested
-F, --list-formats                   List all available formats of requested
                                     videos
--youtube-skip-dash-manifest         Do not download the DASH manifests and
                                     related data on YouTube videos
--merge-output-format FORMAT         If a merge is required (e.g.
                                     bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
                                     container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
                                     webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is
                                     required

Subtitle Options:

--write-sub                          Write subtitle file
--write-auto-sub                     Write automatically generated subtitle
                                     file (YouTube only)
--all-subs                           Download all the available subtitles of
                                     the video
--list-subs                          List all available subtitles for the
                                     video
--sub-format FORMAT                  Subtitle format, accepts formats
                                     preference, for example: "srt" or
                                     "ass/srt/best"
--sub-lang LANGS                     Languages of the subtitles to download
                                     (optional) separated by commas, use
                                     --list-subs for available language tags

Authentication Options:

-u, --username USERNAME              Login with this account ID
-p, --password PASSWORD              Account password. If this option is
                                     left out, youtube-dl will ask
                                     interactively.
-2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR            Two-factor authentication code
-n, --netrc                          Use .netrc authentication data
--video-password PASSWORD            Video password (vimeo, youku)

Adobe Pass Options:

--ap-mso MSO                         Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
                                     provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso
                                     for a list of available MSOs
--ap-username USERNAME               Multiple-system operator account login
--ap-password PASSWORD               Multiple-system operator account
                                     password. If this option is left out,
                                     youtube-dl will ask interactively.
--ap-list-mso                        List all supported multiple-system
                                     operators

Post-processing Options:

-x, --extract-audio                  Convert video files to audio-only files
                                     (requires ffmpeg/avconv and
                                     ffprobe/avprobe)
--audio-format FORMAT                Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
                                     "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis",
                                     or "wav"; "best" by default; No effect
                                     without -x
--audio-quality QUALITY              Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality,
                                     insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
                                     (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate
                                     like 128K (default 5)
--recode-video FORMAT                Encode the video to another format if
                                     necessary (currently supported:
                                     mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
--postprocessor-args ARGS            Give these arguments to the
                                     postprocessor
-k, --keep-video                     Keep the video file on disk after the
                                     post-processing; the video is erased by
                                     default
--no-post-overwrites                 Do not overwrite post-processed files;
                                     the post-processed files are
                                     overwritten by default
--embed-subs                         Embed subtitles in the video (only for
                                     mp4, webm and mkv videos)
--embed-thumbnail                    Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover
                                     art
--add-metadata                       Write metadata to the video file
--metadata-from-title FORMAT         Parse additional metadata like song
                                     title / artist from the video title.
                                     The format syntax is the same as
                                     --output. Regular expression with named
                                     capture groups may also be used. The
                                     parsed parameters replace existing
                                     values. Example: --metadata-from-title
                                     "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
                                     title like "Coldplay - Paradise".
                                     Example (regex): --metadata-from-title
                                     "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
--xattrs                             Write metadata to the video file's
                                     xattrs (using dublin core and xdg
                                     standards)
--fixup POLICY                       Automatically correct known faults of
                                     the file. One of never (do nothing),
                                     warn (only emit a warning),
                                     detect_or_warn (the default; fix file
                                     if we can, warn otherwise)
--prefer-avconv                      Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running
                                     the postprocessors
--prefer-ffmpeg                      Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running
                                     the postprocessors (default)
--ffmpeg-location PATH               Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
                                     either the path to the binary or its
                                     containing directory.
--exec CMD                           Execute a command on the file after
                                     downloading and post-processing,
                                     similar to find's -exec syntax.
                                     Example: --exec 'adb push {}
                                     /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
--convert-subs FORMAT                Convert the subtitles to other format
                                     (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)

Author: Jas Dhaliwal

Hi, I’m Jas! I’m a digital marketer, technologist, and storyteller. I’m passionate about exploring the intersection of business, technology, and humanity. I hope you found this post informative. You can also follow me as @Jas on Twitter