# yt-dlp — Video Downloading

## What It Is

`yt-dlp` is a feature-rich command-line video downloader, forked from youtube-dl with active maintenance and significantly better performance. It supports YouTube, Twitch, and hundreds of other sites.

---

## Installation

### Fedora
```bash
sudo dnf install yt-dlp
# or latest via pip:
sudo pip install yt-dlp --break-system-packages
```

### Update
```bash
sudo pip install -U yt-dlp --break-system-packages
# or if installed as standalone binary:
yt-dlp -U
```

Keep it current — YouTube pushes extractor changes frequently and old versions break.

---

## Basic Usage

```bash
# Download a single video (best quality)
yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

# Download to a specific directory with title as filename
yt-dlp -o "/path/to/output/%(title)s.%(ext)s" URL
```

---

## Plex-Optimized Download

For Plex direct play, you want H.264 video in an MP4 container with embedded subtitles:

```bash
yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio' \
  --merge-output-format mp4 \
  -o "/plex/plex/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  --write-auto-subs --embed-subs \
  URL
```

- `-f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/...'` — prefer MP4 video + M4A audio; fall back to best available
- `--merge-output-format mp4` — merge streams into MP4 container (requires ffmpeg)
- `--write-auto-subs --embed-subs` — download auto-generated subtitles and bake them in

---

## Playlists and Channels

```bash
# Download a full playlist
yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# Download only videos not already present
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
```

`--download-archive` maintains a file of completed video IDs — re-running the command skips already-downloaded videos automatically.

---

## Format Selection

```bash
# List all available formats for a video
yt-dlp --list-formats URL

# Download best video + best audio, merge to mp4
yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo+bestaudio' --merge-output-format mp4 URL

# Download audio only (MP3)
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 URL
```

---

## Config File

Persist your preferred flags so you don't repeat them every command:

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/yt-dlp
cat > ~/.config/yt-dlp/config << 'EOF'
-f bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/bestvideo+bestaudio
--merge-output-format mp4
--write-auto-subs
--embed-subs
--remote-components ejs:github
EOF
```

After this, a bare `yt-dlp URL` uses all your preferred settings automatically.

---

## Running Long Downloads in the Background

For large downloads or playlists, run inside `screen` or `tmux` so they survive SSH disconnects:

```bash
screen -dmS yt-download bash -c \
  "yt-dlp -o '/plex/plex/%(title)s.%(ext)s' PLAYLIST_URL 2>&1 | tee ~/yt-download.log"

# Check progress
screen -r yt-download
# or
tail -f ~/yt-download.log
```

---

## Troubleshooting

For YouTube JS challenge errors, missing formats, and n-challenge failures on Fedora — see [yt-dlp YouTube JS Challenge Fix](../../05-troubleshooting/yt-dlp-fedora-js-challenge.md).

---

## Tags

#yt-dlp #youtube #video #plex #linux #media #dev-tools