yt-dlp Guide — Download YouTube Videos with yt-dlp (2026)

yt-dlp is the most powerful free YouTube downloader available. This guide covers installation, basic commands, 4K downloads, MP3 extraction, and batch downloads.

What is yt-dlp?

yt-dlp is an open-source command-line tool for downloading videos from YouTube and 1,000+ other sites. It is a maintained fork of youtube-dl with faster updates, better format selection, and more features. The project is hosted on GitHub and released under the Unlicense (completely free).

Our own YouTube Downloader uses yt-dlp as the backend engine. This guide teaches you to run it directly from your terminal for full control.

Installation

Verify installation: yt-dlp --version should print the version number.

Basic Download

Download the best available quality (up to 4K) with a single command:

This downloads the best video + best audio, then merges them into an MP4. By default, yt-dlp picks the highest resolution available.

Download 1080p or 4K Specific Quality

To cap quality at 1080p (faster download, smaller file):

The [height=1080] filter ensures you get 1080p or lower, skipping 4K streams that take longer to download.

Extract MP3 Audio

Extract audio as 320kbps MP3:

-x extracts audio, --audio-quality 0 = best quality (320kbps). The output is a .mp3 file in the current directory.

Batch Download Multiple Videos

Download multiple videos from a text file (one URL per line):

This is ideal for downloading entire playlists or channel backups. Combine with --format to control quality.

Want a GUI Instead?

Not comfortable with the command line? Our YouTube Downloader uses the same yt-dlp engine with a web interface. Paste the URL, pick quality, download — no terminal needed. Free, no install, works on iPhone and Android.