YouTube Tools (yt-dlp)

Overview

Free, local YouTube operations using yt-dlp. No API keys required, no per-video costs. Works offline after installation.

When to Use This vs Apify

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DECISION: YouTube Tools (yt-dlp) vs Apify                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│ Use youtube-tools (FREE) when:                                  │
│ ├── Downloading videos to local storage                         │
│ ├── Extracting transcripts/subtitles                            │
│ ├── Getting video metadata (title, duration, views, etc.)       │
│ ├── Bulk downloading playlists or channels                      │
│ ├── Converting to audio-only (MP3)                              │
│ └── You want zero API costs                                     │
│                                                                 │
│ Use apify-scrapers when:                                        │
│ ├── Scraping YouTube SEARCH results                             │
│ ├── Getting comments at scale                                   │
│ ├── Channel analytics and statistics                            │
│ ├── Trending video discovery                                    │
│ └── You need cloud-based processing                             │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Decision Tree

What do you need?
│
├── Download video(s)
│   ├── Single video → scripts/download_video.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/download_video.py --urls-file list.txt
│   ├── Playlist → scripts/download_video.py "playlist_url"
│   ├── Audio only → scripts/download_video.py URL --audio-only
│   └── Specific quality → scripts/download_video.py URL --quality 720p
│
├── Get transcript/subtitles
│   ├── Auto-generated captions → scripts/get_transcript.py URL
│   ├── Manual subtitles → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --manual-only
│   ├── Specific language → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --lang es
│   └── All available → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --all-langs
│
├── Get video metadata
│   ├── Single video → scripts/get_video_info.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file list.txt
│   └── Playlist info → scripts/get_video_info.py "playlist_url"
│
└── Advanced
    ├── Age-restricted → scripts/download_video.py URL --cookies-from-browser chrome
    ├── Private videos → Requires authentication (see references/yt-dlp-guide.md)
    └── Live streams → scripts/download_video.py URL --live-from-start

Environment Setup

# Install yt-dlp (required)
pip install yt-dlp

# Optional: Install ffmpeg for format conversion
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Windows
winget install ffmpeg

No API keys required! This is completely free.

Common Usage

Download Single Video

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Download with Specific Quality

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --quality 1080p

Download Audio Only (MP3)

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --audio-only

Download Entire Playlist

python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" --output-dir ./videos

Bulk Download from File

# Create urls.txt with one URL per line
python scripts/download_video.py --urls-file urls.txt --output-dir ./downloads

Get Transcript

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Transcript in Specific Language

python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --lang es

Get Video Metadata

python scripts/get_video_info.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Metadata for Multiple Videos

python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file videos.txt --output metadata.json

Output Location

All outputs save to .tmp/youtube/ by default:

• Videos: .tmp/youtube/videos/
• Audio: .tmp/youtube/audio/
• Transcripts: .tmp/youtube/transcripts/
• Metadata: .tmp/youtube/metadata/

Cost

FREE - No API keys, no per-video costs, no subscriptions.

Security Notes

Safe by Design

• URL validation: Only accepts YouTube URLs (youtube.com, youtu.be)
• Filename sanitization: Removes dangerous characters
• Output restriction: Only writes to .tmp/ directory
• No shell injection: Uses subprocess with argument lists, not string concatenation
• No stored credentials: Cookies only used when explicitly requested

Copyright Warning

• Only download content you have rights to access
• Respect YouTube's Terms of Service
• Do not redistribute copyrighted content
• Use for personal/educational purposes

Rate Limiting

• yt-dlp has built-in rate limiting
• For bulk downloads, use --sleep-interval 5 to avoid throttling
• YouTube may temporarily block IPs with excessive requests

Troubleshooting

Issue: "Video unavailable"

Cause: Video is private, age-restricted, or region-locked
Solution: Use --cookies-from-browser chrome for age-restricted content

Issue: "Unable to extract video data"

Cause: YouTube changed their page structure
Solution: Update yt-dlp: pip install -U yt-dlp

Issue: No subtitles found

Cause: Video has no captions (auto or manual)
Solution: Use --list-subs to see available subtitles first

Issue: Slow downloads

Cause: YouTube throttling or network issues
Solution: Try --concurrent-fragments 4 for faster downloads

Issue: Format conversion failed

Cause: ffmpeg not installed
Solution: Install ffmpeg (see Environment Setup)

Integration Patterns

Download + Transcribe + Summarize

# 1. Download video
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" --output-dir .tmp/video

# 2. Get transcript
python scripts/get_transcript.py "URL" --output .tmp/transcript.txt

# 3. Use content-generation to summarize
# (transcript file is now ready for summarization)

Bulk Research Workflow

# 1. Get metadata for research videos
python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output .tmp/metadata.json

# 2. Download transcripts for text analysis
python scripts/get_transcript.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output-dir .tmp/transcripts

# 3. Use parallel-research to analyze content

Course Content Download

# Download entire playlist as course modules
python scripts/download_video.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course --quality 720p

# Get all transcripts for notes
python scripts/get_transcript.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course/transcripts

Resources

• references/yt-dlp-guide.md - Complete yt-dlp reference with all options
• yt-dlp documentation: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#readme