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yt-dlp

Installation

  • WinGet: winget install -e --id yt-dlp.yt-dlp
  • Scoop: scoop install yt-dlp
  • Chocolatey: choco install yt-dlp
  • Binary install (recommended):
    sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
    sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp  # Make executable
    
    You can also use your distro's manager to install the package. Some common ones are listed below:
  • Arch-based distros: sudo pacman -Syu yt-dlp
  • Ubuntu-based distros (copied from OBS download page):
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tomtomtom/yt-dlp    # Add ppa repo to apt
    sudo apt update                                 # Update package list
    sudo apt install yt-dlp                         # Install yt-dlp      
    

Homebrew: brew install yt-dlp

Usage

Video

Just use yt-dlp <url> and it'll download whatever it considers to be best quality and audio

Video (from point A to B)

Feel free to suggest a better way I'm just dumping this here, mind replacing <url> in there.

yt-dlp --external-downloader aria2c --external-downloader-args "-x 16 -s 16" --download-archive archive.txt <url> --no-overwrites --no-post-overwrites --no-continue --output "%(title)s.%(ext)s" --postprocessor-args "-ss 00:00:45 -to 00:03:55"

Audio

Get your desired Youtube video or playlist you want to rip audio from, and then execute

yt-dlp -f 251 -x [playlist or video]

Where instead of the brackets, you insert your link. Here is a breakdown of the options:

  • -f 251 selects the 251 option, which is the Opus codec for YouTube
  • -x specifies to only extract the audio from the link, not the video

iTunes users

If you are planning on importing audio to your Iphone through Itunes, "Opus" is not supported. You must convert the file into mp3 or AAC for it to be imported correctly.