Youtube DL - CLI tool to download videos

Commands

Important: Always put video link in quotes!

Manual

1. Get list of all formats

   youtube-dl -F 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY'

   You’ll get a list like this

   format code  extension  resolution note
   249          webm       audio only tiny   54k , webm_dash container, opus @ 54k (48000Hz), 1.57MiB
   250          webm       audio only tiny   71k , webm_dash container, opus @ 71k (48000Hz), 2.08MiB
   140          m4a        audio only tiny  129k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@129k (44100Hz), 3.74MiB
   251          webm       audio only tiny  141k , webm_dash container, opus @141k (48000Hz), 4.10MiB
   160          mp4        144x144    144p    9k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400b@   9k, 25fps, video only, 279.17KiB
   394          mp4        144x144    144p   17k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.00M.08@  17k, 25fps, video only, 529.11KiB
   278          webm       144x144    144p   21k , webm_dash container, vp9@  21k, 25fps, video only, 638.02KiB
   133          mp4        240x240    240p   16k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d400c@  16k, 25fps, video only, 481.49KiB
   242          webm       240x240    240p   44k , webm_dash container, vp9@  44k, 25fps, video only, 1.27MiB
   395          mp4        240x240    240p   45k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.00M.08@  45k, 25fps, video only, 1.32MiB
   134          mp4        360x360    360p   23k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d4015@  23k, 25fps, video only, 702.77KiB
   396          mp4        360x360    360p   72k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.00M.08@  72k, 25fps, video only, 2.10MiB
   243          webm       360x360    360p   90k , webm_dash container, vp9@  90k, 25fps, video only, 2.61MiB
   135          mp4        480x480    480p   44k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401e@  44k, 25fps, video only, 1.29MiB
   397          mp4        480x480    480p  125k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.01M.08@ 125k, 25fps, video only, 3.61MiB
   244          webm       480x480    480p  157k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 157k, 25fps, video only, 4.54MiB
   136          mp4        720x720    720p   87k , mp4_dash container, avc1.4d401f@  87k, 25fps, video only, 2.53MiB
   398          mp4        720x720    720p  254k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.04M.08@ 254k, 25fps, video only, 7.34MiB
   247          webm       720x720    720p  313k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 313k, 25fps, video only, 9.05MiB
   137          mp4        1080x1080  1080p  299k , mp4_dash container, avc1.640020@ 299k, 25fps, video only, 8.65MiB
   399          mp4        1080x1080  1080p  436k , mp4_dash container, av01.0.08M.08@ 436k, 25fps, video only, 12.60MiB
   248          webm       1080x1080  1080p  534k , webm_dash container, vp9@ 534k, 25fps, video only, 15.42MiB
   18           mp4        360x360    360p  159k , avc1.42001E, 25fps, mp4a.40.2 (44100Hz), 4.60MiB (best)

2. Pick a format number

   • 1080p resolution video: 137 as mp4

     youtube-dl -f 137 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY' --merge-output-format mp4

   • Audio only: 140 as mp3 (with --merge-output-format mp3 somehow doesn’t work…)

Simple - pick best option

Best audio + video compromise (usually won’t be best full HD video format):

youtube-dl -f best 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY'

If best video is important to you

Download video only and audio only separately or take audio from the best option if you know how to split video and audio with an editing tool.

Try best audio + video (didn’t work for me yet..)

youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio' --merge-output-format mp4 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY'

Error fixes

In case you get ERROR: unable to download video data: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden try the following:

1. Update youtube-dl, e.g. with brew upgrade youtube-dl.

2. Clear cache

   youtube-dl --rm-cache-dir

   Solution found here.

Did you forget to put your video link in quotes??