How to Download a YouTube Video (Any Quality) with yt-dlp

The reliable, free way to download a YouTube video in 2026 is yt-dlp, a free, open-source command-line downloader, no website, no ads, no upload limits, and nothing to pay. Paste a URL below, choose whether you want the video, the audio, or the transcript, and copy the command:

yt-dlp --merge-output-format mp4 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

For most people the default is the whole job: yt-dlp picks the best video and best audio streams, downloads both, and merges them into a single MP4. The rest of this page is the detail behind those options: choosing a resolution, saving a Short, fixing the bot check, and cleaning up the filename.

If you have used youtube-dl before, yt-dlp is its actively maintained successor. youtube-dl (originally written by Ricardo García, "rg3") still exists but is effectively unmaintained and routinely breaks when YouTube changes its player; yt-dlp is the community fork that keeps up, with a faster release cadence and far more extractors. Every youtube-dl command below works as yt-dlp with better results, so if you searched for "youtube-dl" you are in the right place.

Download only what you have the right to. Saving your own uploads, Creative Commons material, or content the rights holder permits is one thing; redistributing copyrighted video is another, and bulk downloading can violate YouTube's Terms of Service. This guide is for the legitimate cases. What you do with the file is on you.

Install yt-dlp (and ffmpeg)

Pick your platform. Install ffmpeg too: yt-dlp needs it to merge the separate video and audio streams (and to convert audio), and the single most common "it only downloaded 720p" or "it failed to convert" complaint is a missing ffmpeg.

# Cross-platform and always current:
pipx install yt-dlp
sudo apt install ffmpeg   # or your distro's package manager

On Ubuntu the apt package can lag behind, and YouTube changes often enough that a stale yt-dlp simply stops working. pipx install yt-dlp (then pipx upgrade yt-dlp) is the cleanest cross-platform install. If you used the standalone binary, yt-dlp -U self-updates; with Homebrew use brew upgrade yt-dlp. Keeping yt-dlp current is not optional with this tool: when a download suddenly fails, updating is the first thing to try.

You do not pick an Apple Silicon vs Intel build by hand. Homebrew, pipx, and winget all install the right binary for your machine automatically (the same brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg works on an M-series and an Intel Mac), and yt-dlp itself is Python, so it is architecture-independent. The only time the chip matters is if you download the raw standalone binary manually, which is why the package managers above are the easier path.

Choose the quality

The Resolution dropdown in the builder above caps the download for you, but it helps to know what it is doing. List what a given video actually offers, then pick:

yt-dlp -F "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

That prints a table of formats with IDs, resolutions, codecs, and file sizes. To cap at a specific height, pass a format selector with -f:

# 1080p or below, plus the best audio, merged
yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

The trap to avoid is -f best. On modern YouTube the highest resolutions are served as separate video-only and audio-only streams; best only matches a single already-combined (muxed) file, which YouTube caps at around 720p. So -f best quietly gives you 720p and people conclude yt-dlp "can't do 1080p." The fix is the bv*+ba (bestvideo + bestaudio) selector the builder uses, which downloads both halves and lets ffmpeg merge them. bv*[height<=1080]+ba/b reads as "best video up to 1080p plus best audio, or fall back to the best single file if that fails."

One thing to be clear about: the resolution you pick is a ceiling, not a request for a specific size. The [height<=N] filter means "the best stream at or below N." You only get 4K or 8K if the creator actually uploaded at that resolution; pick 8K on a video that tops out at 720p and yt-dlp downloads the 720p version. It does not error, and it will never upscale a low-resolution source. Run yt-dlp -F first if you want to see exactly which resolutions a given video offers before you choose.

Download a YouTube Short

A Short is just a regular video on a /shorts/ URL, so the same command works. Paste the Short's URL into the builder above, or run it directly:

yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID"

There is no special flag for Shorts. If you ever get a playlist instead of the single clip (some Shorts URLs resolve to a feed), force a single video with --no-playlist.

"Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"

YouTube increasingly interrupts downloads with Sign in to confirm you're not a bot. The fix is to hand yt-dlp your browser's cookies so the request looks like your logged-in session:

yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Use Firefox, not Chrome. Since around July 2024, Chrome encrypts its cookie store with app-bound encryption, and external tools (yt-dlp included) can no longer read Chrome cookies on a running profile. Firefox's cookie store is still readable, so --cookies-from-browser firefox is the one that reliably works in 2026. The same cookies trick is what unlocks members-only, age-restricted, and region-locked videos you have legitimate access to.

Save it with a clean filename

By default yt-dlp names files with the video ID baked in. An output template (-o) gives you something readable:

yt-dlp -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

%(title)s and %(ext)s are output-template fields; there are dozens (%(uploader)s, %(upload_date)s, %(resolution)s) for building a folder structure that suits your library.

Just the audio, or the transcript?

Switch the builder's What to download to Audio and it extracts the sound directly (no need to download the video and strip it). The modern default is M4A (the AAC track YouTube already serves, so no quality-losing re-encode) or Opus; MP3 is there only for ancient players. See download YouTube audio for the full -x flow with cover art and metadata. If it is the words you are after (for notes or to feed a summarizer), switch to Transcript, or read extract a video's transcript or captions for converting them to plain text. For every flag in one place, the yt-dlp cheat sheet is the reference.

FAQ

See also

• Download a YouTube playlist or channel: the bulk workflow with --download-archive and output templates.
• Download YouTube audio: extract audio directly to M4A, Opus, or MP3 with -x --audio-format.
• Extract a YouTube video's transcript or captions: pull the subtitles as plain text, no video.
• Download a TikTok video: the same tool, with the cookies note that TikTok needs.
• yt-dlp cheat sheet: every flag worth knowing, in one reference.