How to install youtube-dl (the easy way)

How to install youtube-dl (the easy way)

youtube-dl is an amazing and useful command line utility to download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and more. This articles is about how to install youtube-dl on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.  youtube-dl is written in Python

so it’s also referred to as youtube-dl.py  or youtube-dl.exe  when compiled on Windows.

youtube-dl depends on ffmpeg or avconv for video transcoding and audio/video merging. We will install ffmpeg in this tutorial since it can be installed via choco on Windows.

DigitalOcean offers one-click deployment of popular applications such as WordPress, Django, MongoDB, Docker, and even preconfigured Kubernetes Clusters. Deploy your next app in seconds. Get $100 in cloud credits from DigitalOcean

Ad Notice I will receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you.

Steps to Install youtube-dl on Windows

  1. Install chocolatey/choco
  2. From a privileged command prompt run
C:\> choco install -y youtube-dl ffmpeg
  1. Verify that youtube-dl is installed and check the version.
C:\> youtube-dl --version
Install youtube-dl Windows
Click to Zoom

 


Steps to Install youtube-dl on Ubuntu Linux

install youtube-dl ubuntu-linux
youtube-dl can be installed on most Linux distributions using the built-in package manager (apt, yum, etc).

# apt based distros Ubuntu, Debian, etc
sudo apt install youtube-dl
# yum based distros Redhat, Centos, Fedora
sudo yum install youtube-dl

Steps to Install youtube-dl on Mac OSX

# OS X users can install youtube-dl with Homebrew:
brew install youtube-dl
# Or with MacPorts:
sudo port install youtube-dl

Steps to Install youtube-dl using python/pip

This method assumes you already have python and pip installed

# python 2.7
sudo pip install youtube-dl
# python 3.x
sudo pip3 install youtube-dl

Download a YouTube video using youtube-dl

youtube-dl usage example windows

Lets give it a try by downloading a youtube video from the command line.

youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOlTN2xdwg
# output
[youtube] RpOlTN2xdwg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] RpOlTN2xdwg: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] RpOlTN2xdwg: Extracting video information
[download] Destination: Wind turbine spinning in HD 1080p - short clip-RpOlTN2xdwg.f137.mp4
[download] 100% of 8.04MiB in 00:01
[download] Destination: Wind turbine spinning in HD 1080p - short clip-RpOlTN2xdwg.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 503.80KiB in 00:00
[ffmpeg] Merging formats into "Wind turbine spinning in HD 1080p - short clip-RpOlTN2xdwg.mp4"
Deleting original file Wind turbine spinning in HD 1080p - short clip-RpOlTN2xdwg.f137.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file Wind turbine spinning in HD 1080p - short clip-RpOlTN2xdwg.f140.m4a (pass -k to keep)

Here are the video file’s properties and the downloaded video

file properties dialog

download videos with youtube-dl


What sites can youtube-dl download videos from?

Although the name implies that youtube-dl only works for downloading videos from youtube, I was shocked to discover  it supports over 1,000 other websites. Some popular ones include….


References


pictory

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Ads Blocker Image Powered by Code Help Pro

🙏🙏A Humble Request to Disable AdBlock 🙏🙏

You can close this message & continue reading but...
❤️❤️❤️ Please consider visiting one of my sponsors first ❤️❤️❤️

DigitalOcean 🚀

Sign up and get a $200, 60-day credit to try DO.
Spend $25 after your credit expires and I will also get $25 in credit!
DigitalOcean Referral Badge

Pictory 🤖

Create amazing videos using Pictorys AI powered software.
Its FREE to create your first 3 video projects
pictory


Hi Reader, I noticed that you are using an ad blocker while visiting my website. While I completely understand that excessive ads can hinder your browsing experience, ad revenue helps pay for the cost associated with operating this website.

jcutrer.com is a labor of love, created with the primary aim to provide you with quality content, free of cost. It’s a space where I share information, ideas, and insights that I hope have a meaningful impact. However, maintaining and updating this platform incurs substantial costs.

Sincerely,
Jonathan