# youtube-dl

> Command-line tool to download videos, audio, and metadata from video platforms

youtube-dl is an open-source command-line program for downloading videos, audio, and metadata from YouTube and many other video hosting sites. It allows users to scrape media, dump JSON metadata, and fetch subtitles or transcripts across platforms. It is widely used by developers for media archiving and data scraping pipelines.

Website: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl

## What it is for

- Scrape video metadata and subtitles or transcripts from YouTube
- Download individual videos or entire playlists from supported platforms
- Extract audio tracks directly from online video links via the command line
- Simulate downloads to extract raw video stream URLs or JSON information

## Features

- Supports downloading from YouTube and hundreds of other video platforms
- Extracts subtitles, video descriptions, annotations, and metadata to JSON
- Extensive filtering options by title, date, view count, or file size
- Proxy and geo-restriction bypass support
- Configurable output naming templates and batch URL processing
- Integrates with external downloaders like aria2c and ffmpeg

## Pricing

Open source. Free and public domain (The Unlicense)

## Details

- Type: GitHub repo
- Category: [Development](https://xiry.app/topics/development.md)
- Open source: yes
- Platforms: Command line, Linux, macOS, Windows, Code library
- For: Developers, data scrapers, researchers, and command-line power users
- Alternative to: yt-dlp, 4K Video Downloader
- Tags: youtube, cli, video downloader, scraping, python, transcripts

## Why it was saved

- [@capetorch, 25 August 2025](https://x.com/capetorch/status/1960062636047143301): Recommended as the tool for scraping YouTube video content and transcripts

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Updated 10 October 2026. Page: https://xiry.app/resources/youtube-dl

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