Is there an app to download Youtube videos and playlists?
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I use 4K Video Downloader + to download Youtube videos not sure about downloading Youtube playlists .....
Only downside I have with it is the fact the free version wants you to update every 2-3 weeks or more and if you are a bulk down loader the free version is only good for 10 per day ... other then that it is a great program .....
I use the .deb version to download the apt but choose the manual update ..... programs like this I don't allow to auto update ....
Here is a link to their website ..... check it out for yourself ....
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If you don't mind using the terminal, I'd highly recommend using yt-dlp. I know that the terminal looks scary but it couldn't be any easier:
yt-dlp <URL>
You can also specify which videos out of a playlist to download if you want. For example:
# download videos 1,3,5 & 6
yt-dlp <URL> -I 1,3,5,6
# download videos 1 to 20
yt-dlp <URL> -I 1:20
# download videos 1 to 20 but leaving out 5, 8 & 11
yt-dlp <URL> -I 1:4,6,7,9,10,12:20
When downloading large playlists, however, I would recommend adding these options to create an artificial delay for each download.
yt-dlp <URL> --sleep-requests 1.5 --min-sleep-interval 60 --max-sleep-interval 90
As you can imagine, YouTube doesn't like people not using their website. This will help triggering abuse detection systems at the slight inconvenience of having to wait a little longer to have the entire playlist downloaded.
If you think that's a big deal for you, keep in mind that by the time you are done watching the first video, the second one will most likely be already downloaded, and then the same with the third, and so on. So, please do the responsible thing and use these options to make the web a little better.
Keep in mind that downloading videos from YouTube is not illegal per se, but distributing copyrighted content is.
You can also use it to download single videos, extract only the audio, or the thumbnail, and many other options like specifying the video quality, etc. It works on many other sites, not just on YouTube.
I personally like to use it for things like background music, interviews, etc. where I don't really care about the video:
yt-dlp -f ba <URL>
To install it in Zorin OS, run the following commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip
pip3 install yt-dlp
You might see a warning like this:
WARNING: The script yt-dlp is installed in '/home/zenzen/.local/bin' which is not on PATH.
You can quickly fix that by running:
echo "PATH=/home/zenzen/.local/bin:$PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
Close the terminal and launch it again, and you are ready to start running yt-dlp. Note, however, that this method will not automatically update yt-dlp. This is likely not going to be a problem, but it's good to run the installation command every now and then:
pip3 install yt-dlp
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I heard yt-dlp is powerful, but i know nothing about it, and even after reading zenzen's answer, I get more confused. So for me, video downloader like 4K video downloader, easeus video downloader are a bless.
Welcome to the Zorin OS community!
As that famous quote goes "with great power comes great responsibility complexity". This isn't always the case, but yt-dlp does indeed require some learning.
Ultimately, everyone works differently, so it's a matter of choosing the right tool for the job. I'd be happy to help if there's anything in particular that you want to do?
The reason I like it is because I don't always want the highest quality of the video, or sometimes I just want the audio track. For example for interviews and things of that sort that I play in the background anyway, so might as well save that bandwidth at the cost of typing an extra few characters.
You could try it with Varia. Here is a Video with a short Introduction:
4k also offers a YT to Audio option, too.
I admit... terminal promoter than I am... I use 4k, myself.
I have found it has the options and seems more reliably able to always perform the task then yt-dlp does.
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This is where a nice GUI can go a long way, I agree. yt-dlp is not the nicest tool to use, just easy enough for most cases. It's only when you need something specific that it takes some reading on its documentation.
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I may need to take another look at yt-dlp.
There are annoyances to 4k - it likes to update the same way as Discord. It also hijacks your browser after you install it to load a "Thank you for downloading" page that is about promoting sales. I do not like that hijacking behavior.
And I think it is Electron based as a GUI app.
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Mmmm that doesn't sound so good. I'm sure someone has made a simple GUI for yt-dlp, without any ads or sneaking promotions attempts.
There is ytDownloader. I couldn't get 4K to work so I've used this to download a playlist.
My biggest annoyance with 4k is it wants to update it seems like every other day ..... for me that means downloading 4k again and reinstalling it .... I installed it using a .deb package ....
If you pay for YouTube premium, it will allow you to download video's, but here's the catch. The video's downloaded, are in a proprietary format, that can only be played by YouTube's software, none of the video's can be played via your internal players.
There have been multiple reports from other's about this, who are in an uproar about it, cause Google is so scummy, so as to implement this policy. The only reason they are doing it, is to keep people from stealing other's work, and putting it on their own YouTube page.
There was a time when any YouTube downloading site could work on YouTube video's. But YouTube keeps pushing back, updating their site to prevent such downloading access. The good days of Youtube were long over in the 2000's.
It all started changing when Google took over, and the first thing they did, was get rid of our beautiful profile backgrounds, and lovely dialog transparency. Google says, you will all be one of us, like the Borg, individuality and expression is no longer allowed on the platform.
I thought it was against forum policy to advocate downloading copyrighted material?
Some videos are clearly labeled as such, but not all material in YouTube has the same license. This is a bit of a gray area, but you can use this method for your own benefit without breaking the rules. Although everyone's responsible for their own actions and needs to decide for themselves.
This is no different to instructing people how to circumvent accessing an unencrypted Linux system without knowing the password... is not a big secret, but I personally wouldn't divulge this whereas others in this forum have done so.
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That being the case then I was informed yt-dl but nor from the repos.
I edited my post to remove content that might offend someone ..... it was not my intention ..... sorry
No offence taken. It just appears to me that attitudes have changed. In the past when anyone posted I refrained from answering and when I was no longer moderator, successors blocked such posts. It was also stated I believe of endangering litigation. The software developer/s of said software have faced years of litigation from YouTube.
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I think that @zenzen answered this reasonably well. I can move this sideways to a discussion about Torrents
Torrents can be beneficial, providing free open source, but also can be abused. Many members join to ask if Zorin OS can be made available as a Torrent.
This is where our labels break down and we fade into shades of gray.
Much of YouTube content is non-copyright. Some is. YouTube will protest any action, due to Google's ownership and their lack of understanding about ownership.
That said, like Torrents, it can be abused.
If there is a clear case of piracy, the moderators can comment on it, take action or restrict; But that aside, like Torrents, a general conversation must leave the End User to be responsible for themselves.
There is no liability of litigation for users talking about Download Tools.
But if users discuss how to access Copyright Protected information: That will be moderated.
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You and I may have differing opinions at times, but I have always respected you because of your helpful tutorials, and drive to help other's. Plus, your one of the OG's as the modern expression is.
You deserve to feel welcome here, because you are by me at least. Plus, your moderator service to this forum in the past, has not gone unrecognized.
On another thread, I saw a member give you unnecessary attitude, I almost chewed them out for it. But I'll wait and see if they do it again, then I'll take action. Just know, some new members may have bad attitudes, but putting that aside, you are appreciated here by me, and by other long time members as well.
The reality is, members who have been on this Zorin forum since its creation, or further back with the old Zorin forum as I have, we know that you are a good person in the end.
We appreciate you, and we are thankful for you.
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