How to Use youtube-dl to Download a Playlist from YouTube

YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms in the world, with billions of hours of content available for streaming and watching. However, sometimes you may want to download a video or a playlist from YouTube for offline viewing, backup, or editing purposes. How can you do that easily and efficiently?

In this article, we will show you how to use youtube-dl, a powerful command-line tool that can download videos from YouTube and other sites, to download a playlist from YouTube. We will also explain how to install youtube-dl and ffmpeg, a software that can convert video formats, on Windows, Mac, and Linux. By the end of this article, you will be able to download any playlist from YouTube with just a few commands.

What is youtube-dl and why use it?

youtube-dl is a command-line tool that can download videos from YouTube and other sites

youtube-dl is a free and open-source program that can download videos from YouTube.com and hundreds of other video sites. It is written in Python and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and other Unix-like systems. It requires the Python interpreter (version 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+) to run.

youtube-dl works by taking a video URL as an input and downloading the video file to your computer. You can also use it to download audio files, subtitles, playlists, channels, live streams, and more. You can specify the quality, format, filename, location, and other parameters of the downloaded file.

youtube-dl has many features and options that make it versatile and powerful

youtube-dl is not just a simple downloader. It has many features and options that make it versatile and powerful. Some of them are:

• It supports downloading videos from hundreds of sites besides YouTube, such as Vimeo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
• It can download multiple videos at once using a batch file or a playlist URL.
• It can resume interrupted downloads and skip already downloaded files.
• It can extract audio from video files and convert them to MP3 or other formats using ffmpeg.
• It can download subtitles, annotations, thumbnails, metadata, descriptions, comments, etc. along with the video files.
• It can embed subtitles or metadata into the video files using ffmpeg.
• It can automatically update itself to the latest version.
• It has many advanced options for filtering, sorting, formatting, post-processing, logging, authentication, proxying,
  

  How to install youtube-dl and ffmpeg on Windows, Mac, and Linux

  Download the youtube-dl executable file and the ffmpeg binary file from their official sites

  To use youtube-dl, you need to download the youtube-dl executable file from its official site: https://youtube-dl.org/. You can choose the version that matches your operating system: Windows, Mac, or Linux. The file is a single executable that does not require installation. You just need to save it to your computer and run it from the command line.

  To use ffmpeg, you need to download the ffmpeg binary file from its official site: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html. You can choose the version that matches your operating system: Windows, Mac, or Linux. The file is a compressed archive that contains the ffmpeg executable and some libraries. You need to extract it to your computer and run it from the command line.

  Add the youtube-dl and ffmpeg files to your system path or move them to a convenient location

  To make it easier to use youtube-dl and ffmpeg, you need to add them to your system path or move them to a convenient location. The system path is a list of folders that your computer searches when you run a command. By adding youtube-dl and ffmpeg to your system path, you can run them from any folder without typing the full path.

  To add youtube-dl and ffmpeg to your system path on Windows, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Open the Control Panel and click on System and Security.
  2. Click on System and then on Advanced system settings.
  3. Click on Environment Variables and then on Path under System variables.
  4. Click on Edit and then on New.
  5. Type the full path of the folder where you saved youtube-dl and ffmpeg, such as C:\Users\YourName\Downloads\youtube-dl or C:\Users\YourName\Downloads\ffmpeg.
  6. Click on OK and then on OK again.
  7. Close the Control Panel and restart your computer.

  To add youtube-dl and ffmpeg to your system path on Mac or Linux, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Open a terminal window and type the following command: echo $PATH. This will show you the current value of your system path.
  2. Type the following command: export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/youtube-dl:/path/to/ffmpeg. Replace /path/to/youtube-dl and /path/to/ffmpeg with the full paths of the folders where you saved youtube-dl and ffmpeg, such as /Users/YourName/Downloads/youtube-dl or /Users/YourName/Downloads/ffmpeg.
  3. Type the following command: echo $PATH again. This will show you the updated value of your system path.
  4. Close the terminal window.

  If you do not want to add youtube-dl and ffmpeg to your system path, you can move them to a convenient location, such as your desktop or your home folder. This way, you can run them by typing their names followed by a space and the video URL.

  Test if youtube-dl and ffmpeg are working by running some commands in the terminal or command prompt

  To test if youtube-dl and ffmpeg are working properly, you can run some commands in the terminal or command prompt window. To open a terminal window on Mac or Linux, you can press Ctrl+Alt+T or search for Terminal in the applications menu. To open a command prompt window on Windows, you can press Windows+R or search for Command Prompt in the Start menu.

  To test if youtube-dl is working, you can run the following command: youtube-dl –version. This will show you the current version of youtube-dl that you have installed. If you see an error message, it means that youtube-dl is not installed correctly or not added to your system path.

  To test if ffmpeg is working, you can run the following command: ffmpeg -version. This will show you the current version of ffmpeg that you have installed. If you see an error message, it means that ffmpeg is not installed correctly or not added to your system path.

  How to download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl

  Find the playlist URL on YouTube and copy it to your clipboard

  To download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl, you need to find the playlist URL and copy it to your clipboard. The playlist URL is the web address that appears in your browser when you open a playlist on YouTube. It usually starts with https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list= followed by a long string of letters and numbers.

  To find the playlist URL, you can do one of the following:

  • Go to the YouTube homepage and click on the Library tab on the left sidebar. Then, click on the playlist that you want to download and copy the URL from the browser.
  • Go to the YouTube channel that created the playlist and click on the Playlists tab. Then, click on the playlist that you want to download and copy the URL from the browser.
  • Search for the playlist on YouTube using keywords or filters. Then, click on the playlist that you want to download and copy the URL from the browser.
  • Paste the playlist URL that someone else shared with you or that you found online.

  Once you have copied the playlist URL, you can proceed to the next step.

  Open a terminal or command prompt window and navigate to the folder where you want to save the videos

  To download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl, you need to open a terminal or command prompt window and navigate to the folder where you want to save the videos. The folder can be any location on your computer, such as your desktop, your downloads folder, or a custom folder that you created.

  To open a terminal window on Mac or Linux, you can press Ctrl+Alt+T or search for Terminal in the applications menu. To open a command prompt window on Windows, you can press Windows+R or search for Command Prompt in the Start menu.

  To navigate to the folder where you want to save the videos, you need to use some commands that change your current directory. The current directory is the folder that you are currently working in. You can see it by typing pwd (print working directory) on Mac or Linux, or cd (change directory) on Windows.

  To change your current directory, you need to type cd followed by a space and then the path of the folder that you want to go to. The path is a sequence of folders that leads to your destination folder. You can use / (slash) on Mac or Linux, or \ (backslash) on Windows, to separate each folder in the path.

  For example, if you want to go to your desktop folder, you can type:

  cd /Users/YourName/Desktop # Mac or Linux cd C:\Users\YourName\Desktop # Windows 

  If you want to go back to your previous folder, you can type:

  cd .. # Mac, Linux, or Windows 

  If you want to go to your home folder, you can type:

  cd ~ # Mac or Linux cd %USERPROFILE% # Windows 

  If you are not sure about the path of your destination folder, you can use some commands that list the files and folders in your current directory. You can use ls (list) on Mac or Linux, or dir (directory) on Windows. You can also use tab (autocomplete) to fill in part of the path for you.

  Once you have navigated to the folder where you want to save the videos, you can proceed to the next step.

  Run the youtube-dl command with the playlist URL and some options to customize the download

  To download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl, you need to run the youtube-dl command with the playlist URL and some options to customize the download. The youtube-dl command has the following syntax:

  youtube-dl [OPTIONS] [URL] 

  The [OPTIONS] are optional parameters that you can use to modify the behavior of youtube-dl. There are many options available, but we will only cover some of the most common ones in this article. You can see the full list of options by typing youtube-dl –help or visiting the official documentation: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#options.

  The [URL] is the video or playlist URL that you want to download. You can paste it from your clipboard or type it manually. You can also use a batch file that contains multiple URLs, one per line, and use the -a or –batch-file option to specify the file name.

  Example of a basic command: youtube-dl –yes-playlist

  A basic command that can download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl is:

  youtube-dl --yes-playlist  

  This command will download all the videos in the playlist using the default settings. The default settings are:

  • The videos will be downloaded in the best available quality and format.
  • The videos will be saved in the current directory with their original titles as file names.
  • The videos will be downloaded one by one in the order they appear in the playlist.
  • The videos will not be converted or post-processed in any way.

  The –yes-playlist option is used to confirm that you want to download the entire playlist and not just the first video. If you omit this option, youtube-dl will ask you for confirmation before downloading the playlist.

  Example of an advanced command: youtube-dl -i -f mp4 –download-archive archive.txt –yes-playlist

  An advanced command that can download a playlist from YouTube using youtube-dl is:

  youtube-dl -i -f mp4 --download-archive archive.txt --yes-playlist  

  This command will download all the videos in the playlist using some custom settings. The custom settings are:

  • The videos will be downloaded in MP4 format, regardless of their original format.
  • The videos will be saved in the current directory with their original titles as file names.
  • The videos will be downloaded one by one in the order they appear in the playlist.
  • The videos will not be converted or post-processed in any way.
  • The videos that have been successfully downloaded will be recorded in a file named archive.txt. This file can be used to skip already downloaded files in future downloads.
  • The videos that cannot be downloaded due to errors will be skipped and reported at the end of the download.

  The -i or –ignore-errors option is used to skip videos that cannot be downloaded due to errors and continue with the rest of the playlist. If you omit this option, youtube-dl will stop downloading as soon as it encounters an error.

  The -f or –format option is used to specify the format of the downloaded files. You can use a single format code, such as mp4, or a combination of format codes, such as bestvideo+bestaudio, to choose the desired quality and format. You can see the available format codes for a video by typing youtube-dl -F . If you omit this option, youtube-dl will choose the best available format by default.

  The –download-archive option is used to record the IDs of the downloaded videos in a file. This file can be used to skip already downloaded files in future downloads by using the same option with the same file name. This can save time and bandwidth if you want to update your playlist regularly. If you omit this option, youtube-dl will not keep track of the downloaded files and may download them again if you run the same command later.

  Explanation of some common options: -i, -f, –download-archive, –yes-playlist, etc.

  In the previous section, we explained some of the common options that you can use with youtube-dl to customize your download. In this section, we will explain some more options that you may find useful. Here is a table that summarizes some of the common options and their meanings:

  Option	Meaning
  -o or –output	Specify the file name or template of the downloaded files. You can use variables such as %(title)s, %(id)s, %(playlist)s, etc. to include information from the video or playlist in the file name. For example, -o “%(playlist)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s” will save the videos in a folder named after the playlist with their original titles and extensions.
  –playlist-start and –playlist-end	Specify the start and end indices of the playlist to download. For example, –playlist-start 5 –playlist-end 10 will download the videos from the 5th to the 10th position in the playlist.
  –playlist-reverse	Download the playlist in reverse order, from the last video to the first.
  –playlist-random	Download the playlist in random order.
  -x or –extract-audio	Extract audio from video files and convert them to MP3 or other formats using ffmpeg.
  –audio-format	Specify the audio format of the extracted audio files. For example, –audio-format m4a will convert the audio files to M4A format.
  –audio-quality	Specify the audio quality of the extracted audio files. For example, –audio-quality 0 will use the best available quality.
  –embed-subs	Embed subtitles into the video files using ffmpeg.
  –embed-thumbnail	Embed thumbnail into the audio files as cover art using ffmpeg.
  –add-metadata	Add metadata to the video or audio files using ffmpeg.

  You can combine multiple options to achieve different results. For example, if you want to download a playlist from YouTube as MP3 files with metadata and thumbnails, you can use this command:

  youtube-dl -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail --add-metadata --yes-playlist  

  Conclusion and FAQs

  In this article, we have shown you how to use youtube-dl to download a playlist from YouTube. We have explained how to install youtube-dl and ffmpeg on Windows, Mac, and Linux, how to find the playlist URL on YouTube, how to run the youtube-dl command with some options to customize the download, and how to use some common options to modify the behavior of youtube-dl. We hope that you have found this article helpful and informative.

  If you want to learn more about youtube-dl and its features and options, you can visit its official site: https://youtube-dl.org/, its official documentation: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#readme, or its official FAQ: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#faq.

  Here are some frequently asked questions about youtube-dl and downloading playlists from YouTube:

  How can I update youtube-dl to the latest version?

  You can update youtube-dl to the latest version by running this command:

  youtube-dl -U 

  This will download and install the latest version of youtube-dl from its official site. You may need administrator privileges to do this.

  How can I download only certain videos from a playlist?

  You can download only certain videos from a playlist by using the –playlist-items option. This option takes a comma-separated list of video indices or IDs that you want to download. For example, if you want to download only the first, third, and fifth videos from a playlist, you can use this command:

  youtube-dl --playlist-items 1,3,5  

  How can I download a playlist in a different format or quality?

  You can download a playlist in a different format or quality by using the -f or –format option. This option takes a format code or a combination of format codes that specify the desired quality and format of the downloaded files. You can see the available format codes for a video or a playlist by typing youtube-dl -F or youtube-dl -F . For example, if you want to download a playlist in 720p MP4 format, you can use this command:

  youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]' [playlist URL] 

  This command will download the best video quality that is equal to or lower than 720p and the best audio quality, and merge them into an MP4 file. If there is no video quality that is equal to or lower than 720p, it will download the best available quality.

  How can I download a playlist with subtitles or metadata?

  You can download a playlist with subtitles or metadata by using some options that enable downloading and embedding these extra files. Some of these options are:

  • --write-sub: Download subtitles for the video (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe).
  • --write-auto-sub: Download automatically generated subtitles for the video (YouTube only).
  • --all-subs: Download all the available subtitles for the video.
  • --sub-format: Specify the subtitle format. One of srt, ass, vtt, lrc, or json.
  • --sub-lang: Specify the language code of the subtitles to download. Multiple languages can be specified with commas.
  • --embed-subs: Embed subtitles into the video file (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe).
  • --write-thumbnail: Download thumbnail image for the video.
  • --write-description: Download video description and write it to a .description file.
  • --write-info-json: Download video information and write it to a .info.json file.
  • --write-annotations: Download video annotations and write them to a .annotations.xml file.
  • --add-metadata: Add metadata to the video file (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe).

  For example, if you want to download a playlist with subtitles in English and Spanish, and embed them into the video files, you can use this command:

  youtube-dl --write-sub --sub-lang en,es --embed-subs  

  How can I speed up the download process?

  You can speed up the download process by using some options that enable parallel downloading, caching, or skipping unnecessary files. Some of these options are:

  • -N or --concurrent-fragments: Specify the number of fragments to download simultaneously per each file. Higher numbers may improve download speed but may also increase CPU usage and network overhead.
  • -n or --netrc: Use .netrc authentication data. This can save time by avoiding logging in each time you download a video that requires authentication.
  • -c or --continue: Force resume of partially downloaded files. This can save time and bandwidth by skipping already downloaded parts of files.
  • --no-part: Do not use .part files. This can save disk space by writing directly to the output file instead of using temporary files.
  • --cache-dir: Specify the directory where youtube-dl will store downloaded files before merging them. This can improve performance by using a faster disk or avoiding disk fragmentation.

  For example, if you want to download a playlist with 10 concurrent fragments per file, using .netrc authentication data, resuming partially downloaded files, not using .part files, and storing downloaded files in C:\Temp folder, you can use this command:

  youtube-dl -N 10 -n -c --no-part --cache-dir C:\Temp  

  This is the end of the article. Thank you for reading and I hope you have learned something useful. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave them in the comments section below. Happy downloading!

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