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youtube-dl is a well-established and popular program enabling downloading audio/video and related streams (subtitles, thumbnails, metadata) from hundreds of sites (full list here).

Download: (Windows): http://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl.exe
Dependancies: Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86), optionally AtomicParsley to embed thumbnails into videos.
Documentation: Github
Stealth: yes but requires setting custom cache directory location (see below).
License:: The Unlicense
Development: mature
Update cycle: frequent (but not necessary to update as frequently unless a site's download function breaks)


Example syntax:

Note that syntax is case-sensitive (eg: -f is not the same as -F). See documentation link for all available options and examples of usage.

Downloading a video
Defaults to best available audio/video streams, automatically remuxing if necessary. Output directory defaults to program directory unless -o <path> is also specified in command (or set up in a config file).

Checking available audio/video streams
Download and combine specific audio/video streams
Audio/video stream names will differ from site-to-site. Youtube example:
Updating youtube-dl
Configuring for stealth

By default youtube-dl caches information such as obfuscated signatures for certain sites like Youtube in a user directory (C:\Users\<username>\.cache\youtube-dl). To change this location you need to define a path using the option --cache dir <path>. However this has to be entered every run to maintain stealth.

This location can be set permanently via creating a config file instead of entering it for every command but the catch is youtube-dl checks for the existence of config file in a default location (C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dl.conf) that can't be changed unless pointing youtube-dl to a different location upon every run (using --config-location <path>).

For standard use where stealth isn't a consideration setting up default one's preferred defaults is recommended via creation of a config file in the default location.

Specular wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:41 am Update cycle: daily (but not necessary to update as frequently unless a site's download function breaks)

youtube-dl does not get an update every day. From the changelog we can see that the most recent updates have been on January 1, January 15 and January 24. In other words, about every two weeks.

BTW, Keppi uses youtube-dl to obtain the raw URLs of audio streams to be able to stream music from YouTube and SoundCloud, and it has its own GUI youtube-dl updater that activates if you open the "Open URL" dialog.

SYSTEM wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:56 amyoutube-dl does not get an update every day. From the changelog we can see that the most recent updates have been on January 1, January 15 and January 24. In other words, about every two weeks.

You're correct. Became mixed up with ffmpeg, the Zeranoe builds of which I'd checked a couple days prior and has seen updates frequently every 1-3 days.

SYSTEM wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:56 amBTW, Keppi uses youtube-dl to obtain the raw URLs of audio streams to be able to stream music from YouTube and SoundCloud, and it has its own GUI youtube-dl updater that activates if you open the "Open URL" dialog.

It's utilized as the backend to a variety of programs, yeah. One of the great things about CLI programs with permissive licenses.

Thanks for the stealth info, Specular. With so many options, that is a valuable piece of information.

https://github.com/blackjack4494/youtube-dlc

youtube-dlc is a fork of youtube-dl with the intention of getting features tested by the community merged in the tool faster, since youtube-dl's development seems to be slowing down.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/advanc ... lient-ayc/

Advanced Youtube Client - AYC is a unique console frontend for the popular program youtube-dl with additional tools like aria2c and ffmpeg added in the package for extra functionality and faster downloads.

billon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:36 am https://sourceforge.net/projects/advanc ... lient-ayc/

Advanced Youtube Client - AYC is a unique console frontend for the popular program youtube-dl with additional tools like aria2c and ffmpeg added in the package for extra functionality and faster downloads.

Was expecting a snazzy GUI type front-end with bells and whistles - not a batch file. Looks and functions very similar to a batch file I made that does the same, except I use Openwith++ or Open++ to quickly select or change the default download folder. AYC allows the user to change the download folder using the M option. Otherwise, the default location is "C:\Users\user\Videos\Advanced Youtube Client - AYC".

https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl

Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown.

This repository is currently disabled due to a DMCA takedown notice. We have disabled public access to the repository. The notice has been publicly posted.

billon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:58 am youtube-dl repo disabled due to a DMCA takedown

by billon

It's not just the main site, youtube-dl and all its forks have been taken down as listed in the public notice.
Public Notice

‘youtube-dl’ downloading software removed from GitHub by RIAA takedown notice
https://9to5google.com/2020/10/23/youtu ... -takedown/

A very similar issue (minus specific mention of the open source youtube-dl project) is covered in an Independent article from 2 yrs ago. Key quote:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) claims that even referring to them as “stream ripping” sites is misstating copyright law.

“There exists a vast and growing volume of online video that is licensed for free downloading and modification, or contains audio tracks that are not subject to copyright,” the EFF told the US Office of the United States Trade Representative last year.

“Moreover, many audio extractions qualify as non-infringing fair uses under copyright. Providing a service that is capable of extracting audio tracks for these lawful purposes is itself lawful, even if some users infringe.”

Also, I doubt I'm the first person to say it, but suspect that this is a proxy move against Google, who doesn't care about copyright and isn't enforcing download restrictions, but whom the RIAA is scared to attack directly. Also, with programs like youtube-dl, Google can keep complaining that an open source project "somehow" keeps breaking their DRM scheme and not really address the problem.

Another example of how it would be wise to not put all eggs in one basket around video sharing, search, mobile platform, browser, etc.

This sucks so much. youtube-dl is one of my favorite CLI tools. I mostly use it to cache stuff to my tablet so that I can view them during commute without incurring 4G bandwidth.

Youtube-dlc fork is back with some updates too. But for how long...
https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc
https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/co ... youtubedl/

I agree, this totally sucks. Thank you, RIAA. For nothing!

BTW, there are plenty of alternative repos at sites like Gitlab and Bitbucket (just search, worth unknown)...

For those who have used yt-dlc, how do you like it, and is yt-dlc as feature-rich as yt-dl, site support etc...?

Can yt-dl.exe & yt-dlc.exe co-exist in the same folder... can yt-dlc.exe find/use ffmpeg.exe & ffprobe.exe the same way yt-dl.exe does, easily if all files are in same folder...?

Does Python have to be fully installed or can I grab a file or two from the Portable Python (2.7 & 3.2 IIRC) installed on a thumbdrive...?

Mike.S.G. wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:10 pm For those who have used yt-dlc, how do you like it, and is yt-dlc as feature-rich as yt-dl, site support etc...?

Can yt-dl.exe & yt-dlc.exe co-exist in the same folder... can yt-dlc.exe find/use ffmpeg.exe & ffprobe.exe the same way yt-dl.exe does, easily if all files are in same folder...?

Does Python have to be fully installed or can I grab a file or two from the Portable Python (2.7 & 3.2 IIRC) installed on a thumbdrive...?

Youtube-dlc is almost exactly like youtube-dl, with only a couple of extra command options. Syntax is the same except the need to use youtube-dlc instead of youtube-dl. I'm using the same batch file by replacing youtube-dl with youtube-dlc and it works. l only tried it on YouTube so far.

Youtube-dlc works with ffmpeg and ffprobe the same way.

Python isn't required for windows. From the 1st link in billion's following post:

Remember youtube-dl requires Python version 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+ to work except for Windows exe.
Windows exe requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) and does not require Python that is already embedded into the binary.