youtube-dl

{{Infobox software

| title = youtube-dl

| name = youtube-dl

| screenshot = File:Youtube-dl downloading Big Buck Bunny.png

| caption = youtube-dl being used to download Big Buck Bunny from YouTube

| author = Ricardo García Gonzalez

| released = {{Start date and age|2006|08|08}}

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|reference|edit|P348}}

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}

| latest preview version = 2025.05.05{{cite web |title=Release youtube-dl 2025.05.05 · ytdl-org/ytdl-nightly |url=https://github.com/ytdl-org/ytdl-nightly/releases/tag/2025.05.05 |website=GitHub |access-date=1 June 2025 |language=en |date= 5 May 2025}}

| latest preview date = 5 May 2025

| programming language = Python

| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl}}

| operating system = Windows, macOS, Linux

| platform = {{Plainlist|

Windows version: IA-32
Others: Same as Python

}}

| genre = Stream recorder

| license = Unlicense

| website = {{URL|https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/}}

}}

youtube-dl is a free and open source software tool for downloading video and audio from YouTube{{Cite web|title=Debian -- Details of package youtube-dl in sid|url=https://packages.debian.org/sid/youtube-dl|access-date=2020-10-24|website=packages.debian.org|archive-date=2020-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027015452/https://packages.debian.org/sid/youtube-dl|url-status=live}} and over 1,000 other video hosting websites.{{Cite web|url=http://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html|title=Supported sites|publisher=youtube-dl's GitHub Pages site|access-date=30 December 2020}} It is released under the Unlicense software license.{{Cite web|title=Unlicense|url=https://unlicense.org/#unlicensed-free-software|access-date=2020-11-17|website=Unlicense.org}}

As of September 2021, youtube-dl is one of the most starred projects on GitHub, with over 100,000 stars.{{Cite web|last=Cimpanu|first=Catalin|title=RIAA blitz takes down 18 GitHub projects used for downloading YouTube videos|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/riaa-blitz-takes-down-18-github-projects-used-for-downloading-youtube-videos/|access-date=2020-10-24|website=ZDNet|language=en|archive-date=2020-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024000819/https://www.zdnet.com/article/riaa-blitz-takes-down-18-github-projects-used-for-downloading-youtube-videos/|url-status=live}} According to libraries.io, 308 other packages and 1.43k repositories depend on it.{{Cite news|title=youtube_dl on Pypi|url=https://libraries.io/pypi/youtube_dl|access-date=2020-10-24|website=Libraries.io|language=en|archive-date=2020-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023195052/https://libraries.io/pypi/youtube_dl|url-status=live}} Numerous forks exist of the project.

History

youtube-dl was created in 2006 by Ricardo Garcia.{{cite web |last1=Garcia |first1=Ricardo |title=Release 2006.08.08 |date=August 8, 2006|url=http://www.arrakis.es/~rggi3/youtube-dl/ |website=Internet Archive Wayback Machine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060812055952/http://www.arrakis.es/~rggi3/youtube-dl/ |access-date=14 November 2020|archive-date=2006-08-12 }} Initially, only YouTube was supported, but as the project grew, it began supporting other video sharing websites.{{cite web |url=https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/docs/supportedsites.md |title=Supported sites |publisher=GitHub |work=youtube-dl |year=2019 |access-date=April 20, 2019 |archive-date=May 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509171531/https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/docs/supportedsites.md |url-status=live }}

Ricardo Garcia stepped down as maintainer in 2011 and was replaced by Philipp Hagemeister,{{cite web |last1=Garcia |first1=Ricardo |title=It's very nice to see a project I started reach the front page of HN. |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8648436 |website=Hacker News |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029002625/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8648436 |url-status=live }} who later stepped down and was replaced by dstftw.{{cite web |title=Move myself to inactive |website=GitHub |url=https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/21b759057502c6e70d51011cfb3fb86d84055182 |access-date=20 November 2022}} In 2021, dstftw stepped down and was replaced by dirkf.{{Cite web|title=Under new management · Issue #30568 · ytdl-org/youtube-dl|url=https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568|access-date=2022-02-08|website=GitHub|language=en}}

In 2021, some community members released a fork of youtube-dl, named youtube-dlc (for "community"). By January 2021, the effort was continuing as yt-dlp.{{Citation |title=yt-dlp/yt-dlp |date=2021-01-16 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.01.16 |access-date=2024-03-11 |publisher=yt-dlp |quote=Allow the configuration files to be named yt-dlp instead of youtube-dlc.}} yt-dlp was included in Ubuntu as of the 22.04 release.{{Cite web |title=UbuntuUpdates - Package Search (all versions of yt-dlp) |url=https://www.ubuntuupdates.org/pm/yt-dlp |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=www.ubuntuupdates.org}} youtube-dl was removed from Debian 12.0 and Ubuntu 23.10 due to stagnant development and replaced with an empty package depending on yt-dlp.{{Cite web |title=Debian -- Details of package youtube-dl in bookworm |url=https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/youtube-dl |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=packages.debian.org}}{{Cite web |title=Ubuntu – Details of package youtube-dl in mantic |url=https://packages.ubuntu.com/mantic/youtube-dl |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=packages.ubuntu.com}}

In August 2023, German company Uberspace took down a web domain which they hosted at their premises for the original youtube-dl project, citing a regional German court order issued from Landgericht Hamburg which appeared to ban the mere hosting of information and GitHub developer links related to the cracking of (non-cryptographic) "rolling ciphers."{{Cite web |title=Youtube-dl Site Goes Offline as Hosting Provider Enforces Court-Ordered Ban |url=https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-dl-site-goes-offline-as-hosting-provider-enforces-court-ordered-ban-230809/ |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=torrentfreak.com}} The GitHub subdomain webpage remains in place.

= RIAA takedown request =

On October 23, 2020, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a takedown notice to GitHub under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), requesting the removal of youtube-dl and 17 public forks of the project. The RIAA request argued that youtube-dl violates the Section 1201 anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA, and provisions of German copyright law, since it circumvents a "rolling cipher" used by YouTube to generate the URL for the video file itself (which the RIAA has considered to be an effective technical protection measure, since it is "intended to inhibit direct access to the underlying YouTube video files, thereby preventing or inhibiting the downloading, copying, or distribution of the video files"),{{Cite web|last=Plaugic|first=Lizzie|date=2016-09-27|title=Record labels sue popular YouTube audio-ripping site|url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13076534/youtube-ripping-lawsuit-mp3-sony-universal|access-date=2020-02-25|website=The Verge|language=en|archive-date=2020-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225160217/https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13076534/youtube-ripping-lawsuit-mp3-sony-universal|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Masnick|first=Mike|title=Can Someone Explain To The RIAA That SOPA Didn't Actually Pass?|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160927/17062135646/can-someone-explain-to-riaa-that-sopa-didnt-actually-pass-it-doesnt-seem-to-know-that.shtml|access-date=2020-02-25|website=Techdirt.|date=28 September 2016 |archive-date=2020-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225160217/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160927/17062135646/can-someone-explain-to-riaa-that-sopa-didnt-actually-pass-it-doesnt-seem-to-know-that.shtml|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2019-11-09|title=RIAA Delists YouTube Rippers From Google Using Rare Anti-Circumvention Notices|url=https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-delists-youtube-rippers-from-google-using-rare-anti-circumvention-notices-191108/|access-date=2020-02-25|website=TorrentFreak|language=en|archive-date=2020-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329202929/https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-delists-youtube-rippers-from-google-using-rare-anti-circumvention-notices-191108/|url-status=live}} and that its documentation expressly encouraged its use with copyrighted media by listing music videos by RIAA-represented artists as examples. GitHub initially complied with the request.{{Cite web|date=2020-10-23|title=dmca/2020-10-23-RIAA.md at master · github/dmca|url=https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024035235/https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md|archive-date=2020-10-24|access-date=2020-10-23|website=GitHub}}{{Cite web|last=Cushing|first=Tim|date=2020-10-26|title=RIAA Tosses Bogus Claim At Github To Get Video Downloading Software Removed|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201023/19035045569/riaa-tosses-bogus-claim-github-to-get-video-downloading-software-removed.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027021959/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201023/19035045569/riaa-tosses-bogus-claim-github-to-get-video-downloading-software-removed.shtml|archive-date=2020-10-27|access-date=2020-10-27|website=Techdirt.}}

Users criticized the takedown, noting the legitimate uses for the application, including downloading video content released under open licensing schemes or to create derivative works falling under fair use, or other uses such as journalism, archival and law enforcement.{{Cite web|last=Cox|first=Kate|date=2020-10-26|title=GitHub boots popular YouTube download tool after RIAA claim|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/github-boots-popular-youtube-download-tool-after-riaa-claim/|access-date=2020-10-27|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|archive-date=2020-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026235745/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/github-boots-popular-youtube-download-tool-after-riaa-claim/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Higgins|first=Parker|date=2020-10-26|title=Music industry forces widely used journalist tool offline|url=https://freedom.press/news/riaa-github-youtube-dl-journalist-tool/|access-date=2020-11-08|website=Freedom of the Press Foundation}} Public attention to the takedown resulted in a Streisand effect reminiscent to that of the DeCSS takedown. Users reposted the software's source code across the internet in multiple formats. For example, users posted images on Twitter containing the whole youtube-dl source code encoded in different colors on each pixel.{{cite web |title=RIAA's YouTube-DL Takedown Ticks Off Developers and GitHub's CEO |url=https://torrentfreak.com/riaas-youtube-dl-takedown-ticks-of-developers-and-githubs-ceo-201027/ |website=Torrentfreak |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028020632/https://torrentfreak.com/riaas-youtube-dl-takedown-ticks-of-developers-and-githubs-ceo-201027/ |url-status=live }} GitHub users also filed pull requests to GitHub's own repository of DMCA takedown notices that included youtube-dl source code.{{Cite web|last=Mehta|first=Ivan|date=2020-10-27|title=GitHub took down popular YouTube downloader — so devs made more copies|url=https://thenextweb.com/dd/2020/10/27/github-took-down-youtube-dl-so-devs-made-more-copies/|access-date=2020-11-08|website=The Next Web|language=en-us}}

On November 16, 2020, the repository was reinstated, after the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent GitHub a letter cautioning that its removal might set a precedent for other copyright holders to misuse the notice-and-takedown process to remove software tools from the Internet based only on the argument that those tools could be used for copyright infringement.{{cite web |last1=Harmon |first1=Elliot |last2=Stoltz |first2=Mitch |title=GitHub Reinstates youtube-dl After RIAA's Abuse of the DMCA |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/github-reinstates-youtube-dl-after-riaas-abuse-dmca |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |access-date=9 August 2023 |language=en |date=17 November 2020}} Furthermore, the EFF letter asserted that the software was not operating as a "circumvention device", breaching DRM on the video stream, as the stream itself was not encrypted. GitHub also announced that future takedown claims under Section 1201 would be manually scrutinized on a case-by-case basis by legal and technical experts.{{cite web |last1=Vollmer |first1=Abby |title=Standing up for developers: youtube-dl is back |url=https://github.blog/2020-11-16-standing-up-for-developers-youtube-dl-is-back/ |website=The GitHub Blog |publisher=GitHub, Inc. |access-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116164117/https://github.blog/2020-11-16-standing-up-for-developers-youtube-dl-is-back/ |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |date=November 16, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=GitHub revamps copyright takedown policy after restoring YouTube-dl|url=https://www.engadget.com/github-youtube-dl-aftermath-222301386.html|access-date=2020-11-21|website=Engadget|date=16 November 2020 |language=en}} In response to the saga, the platform launched a fund for providing expert support in writing counter-notifications when contested software was removed, in the hope that this would support fairer outcomes without adding too much friction to the platform's content moderation processes.{{Cite journal |last=Gorwa |first=Robert |last2=Veale |first2=Michael |date=2024-07-02 |title=Moderating model marketplaces: platform governance puzzles for AI intermediaries |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17579961.2024.2388914 |journal=Law, Innovation and Technology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=341–391 |doi=10.1080/17579961.2024.2388914 |issn=1757-9961|arxiv=2311.12573 }}

= Related takedowns =

On September 22, 2020, parallel to the RIAA takedown request, the German webhoster Uberspace was warned by Sony Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music, for hosting the service on their website.{{Cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-dl-site-goes-offline-as-hosting-provider-enforces-court-ordered-ban-230809/ |title=Youtube-dl Site Goes Offline as Hosting Provider Enforces Court-Ordered Ban | work=TorrentFreak}}{{Cite web|url=https://netzpolitik.org/2022/urheberrecht-musikindustrie-verklagt-hoster-von-youtube-dl/ | title=Musikindustrie verklagt Hoster von youtube-dl | work=netzpolitik.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2020/11/2020-09-22_Abmahnung_RA_Rasch.pdf |title=Umgehung technischer Schutzmaßnahmen unter Verwendung der Software YouTube-DL | work=netzpolitik.org}} When it failed to respond, the Hamburg Regional Court ruled out that the access to the website will be blocked.{{Cite web|url=https://openjur.de/u/2466945.html | title=LG Hamburg, Urteil vom 31.03.2023 - 310 O 316/21 | work=openjur.de}}

Example code

For downloading the video or playlist:

youtube-dl [OPTIONS]

The path of the output can be specified as: (file name to be included in the path)

youtube-dl -o

To see the list of all of the available file formats and sizes:

youtube-dl -F

File:Youtube-dl_downloading_Big_Buck_Bunny.jpg

The video can be downloaded by selecting the format code from the list or typing the format manually:

youtube-dl -f

The best quality video can be downloaded with the -f best option. Also, the quality of the audio and video streams can be specified separately and merged with the + operator.{{cite web |title=README.md |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/README.md |website=GitHub |access-date=June 1, 2022}}

A portion of the video can be downloaded with the help of ffmpeg.{{Cite web |title=linux - How to download a portion of video with youtube-dl command? |url=https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/230481/how-to-download-portion-of-video-with-youtube-dl-command |access-date= |website=Unix & Linux Stack Exchange |language=en}}