Downloading YouTube Playlist

Download videos from YouTube playlists using yt-dlp with full control over video range, quality, and subtitle options.

Important notes

Long-running operation: Downloading videos can take considerable time:

• Single video (1080p): 2-5 minutes
• Small playlist (5-10 videos): 10-30 minutes
• Large playlist (20+ videos): 30+ minutes to several hours

Verbose logging warning: yt-dlp produces EXTENSIVE real-time progress output with frequent updates for each video:

• Download percentage updates (every few seconds)
• Speed and ETA information
• Multiple lines per second during active download
• Total output can be thousands of lines for large playlists

CRITICAL: Recommended execution approach:

1. Use run_in_background for downloads (STRONGLY RECOMMENDED):

   # Run download in background and redirect verbose output
   python scripts/download.py --url "..." --output "./videos" > download.log 2>&1
   

   Then periodically check the log file or output directory to monitor progress.

2. Use quiet mode (RECOMMENDED):

   # Add --quiet flag to suppress detailed progress output
   python scripts/download.py --url "..." --quiet
   

   This still shows video titles and errors, but suppresses per-second progress updates.

3. Check completion by listing output directory:

   # After starting download, periodically check what's been downloaded
   ls -lh ./output_directory/
   

DO NOT watch the full real-time output unless:

• Debugging a specific download issue
• Downloading only 1-2 videos
• User explicitly requests to see detailed progress

Progress monitoring best practice:

• Start the download in background or quiet mode
• Inform user the download has started
• Periodically check output directory to report progress
• Check for completion by examining the final video count

Automatic skip of downloaded content: yt-dlp intelligently handles existing files:

• Already-downloaded videos are automatically skipped – no re-download or bandwidth waste
• Partially downloaded files are resumed from where they stopped
• Safe to re-run the same command – interrupted downloads will continue seamlessly
• No duplicate downloads – each video is downloaded only once even if command is run multiple times

This means you can safely re-run a download command after interruptions without worrying about downloading videos again.

Dependencies required: This skill requires yt-dlp and ffmpeg to be installed. See README.md for installation instructions.

Quick start

Download entire playlist

Download all videos from a playlist to the current directory:

python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID"

Download specific range

Download videos 1-10 from a playlist:

python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" \
  --start 1 \
  --end 10

Download to custom directory

Download videos to a specific folder:

python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" \
  --output "./my_videos"

Resume interrupted downloads

If a download is interrupted (network issue, user cancellation, etc.), simply re-run the exact same command:

# Run this command again - already downloaded videos will be skipped
python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" \
  --output "./my_videos"

yt-dlp automatically:

• Skips fully downloaded videos (no re-download)
• Resumes partially downloaded videos from where they stopped
• Continues with remaining videos in the playlist

Configuration

Video quality

Specify video quality with --quality:

# Best quality (default)
python scripts/download.py --url "..." --quality "best"

# Limit to 1080p
python scripts/download.py --url "..." --quality "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best"

# Limit to 720p
python scripts/download.py --url "..." --quality "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best"

# Worst quality (fastest download)
python scripts/download.py --url "..." --quality "worst"

Subtitle options

The script automatically:

• Downloads available subtitles (Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English)
• Downloads auto-generated subtitles if manual ones are not available
• Embeds subtitles into the video file

All videos are saved in MP4 format with naming pattern: {playlist_index} - {title}.mp4

Command reference

download.py

Main playlist download script.

Required arguments:

• --url or -u: YouTube playlist URL

Optional arguments:

• --start or -s: Starting video index (default: 1)
• --end or -e: Ending video index (default: 38)
• --output or -o: Output directory (default: current directory)
• --quality or -q: Video quality setting (default: “best”)
• --quiet: Quiet mode – suppresses verbose progress output (RECOMMENDED for LLM usage)

Examples:

Basic download with quiet mode (RECOMMENDED):

python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxx" \
  --quiet

Download specific range with quality limit:

python scripts/download.py \
  --url "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxx" \
  --start 5 \
  --end 15 \
  --quality "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best" \
  --output "./downloads" \
  --quiet

Use cases

Educational content archival

• Download course playlists for offline study
• Archive tutorial series
• Save lectures for reference

Content backup

• Backup your own YouTube playlists
• Preserve playlists that might be deleted
• Create local copies of important content

Batch processing

• Download specific episodes from a series
• Get recent uploads from a playlist
• Archive multiple playlists systematically

Error handling

The script handles common errors:

• Missing dependencies: Shows installation instructions if yt-dlp or ffmpeg are not found
• Invalid URL: Reports if playlist URL is malformed
• Network errors: yt-dlp automatically retries failed downloads
• Invalid range: Validates that start index <= end index
• Permission errors: Reports if output directory is not writable

Check script output for detailed error messages and progress information.

Performance tips

1. Parallel downloads: For multiple playlists, run separate commands in parallel
2. Quality vs speed: Lower quality settings download significantly faster
3. Disk space: Ensure sufficient disk space (1080p videos: ~100-500 MB each)
4. Network: Stable high-speed connection recommended for large playlists

Limitations

• Requires active internet connection
• Download speed depends on YouTube servers and your network
• Some videos may be geo-restricted or unavailable
• Very large playlists (100+ videos) may take several hours

Advanced usage

For more examples and advanced use cases, see EXAMPLES.md.

For dependency installation and troubleshooting, see README.md.