Video Downloader Guide

Download videos with customizable quality and format options using yt-dlp.

When to Use

• Downloading videos from YouTube and other sites
• Saving videos for offline viewing
• Extracting audio as MP3
• Choosing specific quality settings
• Converting between video formats

Quick Start

# Basic download (best quality)
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# Specify quality
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio" "URL"

# Audio only as MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "URL"

Quality Options

Quality	Command Flag
Best	-f best (default)
1080p	-f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio"
720p	-f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio"
480p	-f "bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio"
360p	-f "bestvideo[height<=360]+bestaudio"
Worst	-f worst

Format Options

Format	Command
MP4	--merge-output-format mp4
WebM	--merge-output-format webm
MKV	--merge-output-format mkv

Audio Extraction

# Extract as MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "URL"

# Extract as M4A (better quality)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format m4a "URL"

# Best audio quality
yt-dlp -x --audio-quality 0 "URL"

Custom Output

# Custom output directory
yt-dlp -o "/path/to/dir/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

# Custom filename template
yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

Playlist Handling

# Download entire playlist
yt-dlp "PLAYLIST_URL"

# Skip playlists (single video only)
yt-dlp --no-playlist "URL"

# Download specific items from playlist
yt-dlp --playlist-items 1-5 "PLAYLIST_URL"

Installation

# macOS
brew install yt-dlp

# pip
pip install yt-dlp

# Update
yt-dlp -U

Common Examples

# 1080p MP4 to specific folder
yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio" \
       --merge-output-format mp4 \
       -o "~/Videos/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

# Audio only as high-quality MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "URL"

# Download with subtitles
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-lang en "URL"

# List available formats
yt-dlp -F "URL"

Important Notes

• Video filename generated from video title
• Higher quality = larger file size
• Some sites may have restrictions
• Keep yt-dlp updated for best compatibility