Download Youtube Videos in Ubuntu for FREE!
Posted on February 22, 2017 in tutorial
youtube-dl is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites like vimeo, 9gag, Dailymotion, etc.
It is purely build in Python and requires the Python interpreter (2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+) to use it and it is not platform specific. There's also a Windows executable for Windows user. And the most cool thing about youtube-dl is that it's opensource and released to the public domain.
This tutorial illustrates how to install and use it in Ubuntu. But to use this free software you need Python installed in your system.
Step 1: Install youtube-dl
$ sudo apt-get install youtube-dl
or, install via PIP
$ sudo pip install youtube-dl
Step 2 : Use it for free
Fire up your terminal. And type
$ youtube-dl [URL for video]
eg. $ youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es
Choosing the quality:
youtube-dl gives option to download videos of different quality. To download videos of high quality, type the commands provided below:
$ youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es
This command gives the information of the video.
linuxsagar@ubuntu:~ $ youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es
[youtube] KWZGAExj-es: Downloading webpage
[youtube] KWZGAExj-es: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] KWZGAExj-es: Extracting video information
[info] Available formats for KWZGAExj-es:
format code extension resolution note
249 webm audio only DASH audio 53k , opus @ 50k, 1.81MiB
250 webm audio only DASH audio 73k , opus @ 70k, 2.35MiB
140 m4a audio only DASH audio 128k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k, 4.65MiB
171 webm audio only DASH audio 137k , vorbis@128k, 4.44MiB
251 webm audio only DASH audio 174k , opus @160k, 5.84MiB
278 webm 256x144 144p 92k , webm container, vp9, 12fps, video only, 2.60MiB
160 mp4 256x144 144p 111k , avc1.4d400c, 24fps, video only, 3.86MiB
242 webm 426x240 240p 223k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 6.27MiB
133 mp4 426x240 240p 243k , avc1.4d4015, 24fps, video only, 8.57MiB
243 webm 640x360 360p 420k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 11.11MiB
134 mp4 640x360 360p 517k , avc1.4d401e, 24fps, video only, 11.36MiB
244 webm 854x480 480p 715k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 17.63MiB
135 mp4 854x480 480p 970k , avc1.4d401e, 24fps, video only, 21.71MiB
247 webm 1280x720 720p 1499k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 32.43MiB
136 mp4 1280x720 720p 1666k , avc1.4d401f, 24fps, video only, 39.95MiB
248 webm 1920x1080 1080p 2744k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 55.46MiB
137 mp4 1920x1080 1080p 2752k , avc1.640028, 24fps, video only, 71.87MiB
17 3gp 176x144 small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2@ 24k
36 3gp 320x180 small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2
43 webm 640x360 medium , vp8.0, vorbis@128k
18 mp4 640x360 medium , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k
22 mp4 1280x720 hd720 , avc1.64001F, mp4a.40.2@192k (best)
Notice the format column in the output above? Yes, that's what you need. Also, remember capital F in the above command (-F) gives the format information.
Now, lets download a 720p mp4 file with format code 136.
$ youtube-dl -f 136 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es
You only want the audio of a file? No problem, youtube-dl got your back
youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dKGK81z4js
That's it. Similarly, you will be able to download videos/ audio from any site using youtube-dl tool from command line interface.
This opensource project has been hosted in GitHub. You can checkout the source code from here: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl