Download YouTube Playlists with Ease using yt-dlp

Are you tired of manually downloading YouTube videos one by one, battling frustrating redirects and pop-up ads? There's a much simpler way to grab entire playlists with a single command, thanks to a powerful utility called yt-dlp.

While you might find older tutorials mentioning youtube-dl, that project has since been updated and is now actively maintained as yt-dlp. This blog post will guide you through the quick and easy steps to get yt-dlp up and running on your Linux/Ubuntu system and start downloading playlists effortlessly.

Let's dive in!

Step 1: Install Python (if not already installed)

Most Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, come with Python pre-installed. You can verify your Python version by opening your terminal and typing:

Bash

python3 --version

If it's not installed or you need a newer version, you can typically install it using your distribution's package manager. For Ubuntu/Debian-based systems:

Bash

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3

Step 2: Install the Python Package Manager (pip)

pip is the standard package manager for Python and is essential for installing yt-dlp. If you don't have pip installed, you can get it with:

Bash

sudo apt install python3-pip

Step 3: Install yt-dlp

Now that you have pip set up, installing yt-dlp is straightforward. Just run the following command in your terminal:

Bash

pip install yt-dlp

This command will download and install the yt-dlp utility and its dependencies.

Step 4: Copy Your YouTube Playlist URL

Navigate to the YouTube playlist you want to download in your web browser. Copy the entire URL from your browser's address bar. It will typically look something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsomethinglongandrandom

Step 5: Run yt-dlp to Download

Open your terminal and use the yt-dlp command followed by the playlist URL you just copied. Remember to enclose the URL in single quotes to prevent any issues with special characters.

Bash

yt-dlp 'YOUR_PLAYLIST_URL_HERE'

Replace YOUR_PLAYLIST_URL_HERE with the actual URL you copied.

For example:

Bash

yt-dlp 'https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsomethinglongandrandom'

yt-dlp will then start downloading all the videos in the playlist to your current working directory in the terminal.

Step 6: Use Optional Flags for More Control (Bonus)

yt-dlp is incredibly powerful and offers a wide range of options to customize your downloads. Here are a few commonly used flags:

• -o or --output: Specify the output file name or directory.

  Bash

    yt-dlp -o '~/Videos/%(playlist_title)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' 'YOUR_PLAYLIST_URL_HERE'
  

  This example would create a folder named after the playlist title in your Videos directory and save each video with its original title.

• --format: Choose a specific video and audio format.

  Bash

    yt-dlp --format bestvideo+bestaudio 'YOUR_PLAYLIST_URL_HERE'
  

  This tries to download the best available video and audio quality and merge them.

• --yes-playlist: Explicitly confirm that you want to download a playlist (useful for some URLs).

• --ignore-errors: Continue downloading other videos in the playlist even if some fail.

• --help: To see a full list of all available options and their descriptions, simply run:

  Bash

    yt-dlp --help
  

Conclusion

With yt-dlp, downloading entire YouTube playlists is no longer a headache. It's a simple, efficient, and ad-free way to get the content you need. Give it a try, and say goodbye to manual downloads and annoying pop-ups!