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Download video

720p

yt-dlp \
    -f "bestvideo[height<=720][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[height<=720][ext=mp4]" \
    --merge-output-format mp4 \
    -o "$HOME/Downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
    --no-playlist \
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

1080p

yt-dlp \
    -f "bestvideo[height<=1080][ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[height<=1080][ext=mp4]" \
    --merge-output-format mp4 \
    -o "$HOME/Downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
    --no-playlist \
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Best available quality

yt-dlp \
    -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]" \
    --merge-output-format mp4 \
    -o "$HOME/Downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Parameters

Parameter Description
-f Selects the download format.
bestvideo[height<=720][ext=mp4] Downloads the best MP4 video stream up to 720p.
bestaudio[ext=m4a] Downloads the best M4A audio stream.
+ Merges the video and audio streams.
/best[height<=720][ext=mp4] Fallback: downloads a single MP4 file if separate streams are unavailable.
--merge-output-format mp4 Ensures the final merged file is MP4. Requires FFmpeg.
-o Sets the output filename and location.
$HOME/Downloads/ Saves files to the user's Downloads folder.
%(title)s Replaced with the YouTube video title.
%(ext)s Replaced with the file extension.
--no-playlist Downloads only the video, not the entire playlist.
URL The YouTube video address.

Check available formats

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

Download playlist text

yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%(id)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=LIST_ID"

Download audio

yt-dlp -f -x "worstaudio" -o "./audio.%(ext)s" --no-playlist "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

yt-dlp -f bestaudio -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 URL

Explanation of the Command

yt-dlp \
    -f "worstaudio" \
    -x \
    --audio-quality 9 \
    -o "$OUTPUT_DIR/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
    --no-playlist \
    "$url"

Downloads the audio from a YouTube video, extracts it, and saves it to a specified directory.

Parameter Description
-f "worstaudio" Selects the lowest-quality audio-only stream. Reduces file size and bandwidth usage. (bestaudio = highest quality, worstaudio = lowest quality)
-x Extracts audio from the downloaded media. Requires FFmpeg.
--audio-quality 9 Sets conversion quality. For MP3: 0 = best quality, 9 = lowest quality. Only affects re-encoded audio.
-o Sets the output filename and location.
$OUTPUT_DIR Destination folder.
%(title)s Replaced with the YouTube video title.
%(ext)s Replaced with the file extension.
--no-playlist Downloads only the specified video, ignoring playlists.
$url The YouTube video URL.

Note

These options optimize for minimum size:

-f "worstaudio"
--audio-quality 9

For better quality:

yt-dlp -f bestaudio -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 URL

To keep the original audio without re-encoding:

yt-dlp -f bestaudio -x URL