YouTube Download

Download YouTube videos, playlists, audio, thumbnails, metadata, and subtitles with yt-dlp. Use when you need to fetch media from YouTube URLs, choose video/audio quality or formats, save files locally, pass cookies for private or age-restricted videos, resume downloads, or ensure yt-dlp is installed and updated before downloading.

Overview

Use yt-dlp for all YouTube downloads on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Before downloading, ensure yt-dlp exists and update it to the newest available version when possible.

Prefer the bundled helper. Resolve <skill-dir> to this skill folder and use the available Python command for the current platform:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Use python3 on most Linux/macOS systems. Use py -3 or python on Windows when that is the configured Python launcher.

The helper checks for yt-dlp, installs it with <python> -m pip install --user -U yt-dlp if missing, tries yt-dlp -U, falls back to pip upgrade when self-update is unavailable, then runs the download. If a pip-installed executable is not on PATH, the helper searches common per-user script directories and falls back to python -m yt_dlp.

Workflow

1. Confirm the user provided a YouTube URL or ask for one.
2. Pick an output directory. Default to youtube-downloads/ in the current working directory unless the user specifies another path.
3. Use the helper script for routine downloads so installation and updating are handled consistently.
4. Pass through any advanced yt-dlp options after --.
5. Report the output directory and the important downloaded filenames when finished.

Common Commands

Download best video and audio:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "URL"

Download a playlist:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --playlist

Extract MP3 audio:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "URL" --audio --audio-format mp3

Save subtitles and thumbnail:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "URL" --subtitles --thumbnail

Use browser cookies for private, member-only, age-restricted, or region-sensitive videos:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "URL" --cookies-from-browser chrome

Pass extra yt-dlp flags:

bash

python3 youtube-download/scripts/youtube_download.py "URL" -- --write-info-json --write-comments

Notes

• yt-dlp -U can automatically update official standalone builds. Some package-managed installs disable self-update; use pip upgrade as the fallback.
• The helper is platform-neutral: it looks for yt-dlp, yt-dlp.exe, or yt-dlp.cmd, then checks user install paths such as Python Scripts on Windows and user bin directories on Linux/macOS.
• Avoid downloading copyrighted material unless the user has rights or permission.
• For login-required content, prefer --cookies-from-browser or --cookies FILE instead of asking the user for credentials.
• If YouTube rate limits or blocks the download, retry with cookies, a lower concurrency setting, or the user's requested proxy/VPN setup.