Install Youtube-dl on Linux and How to Use it

Youtube-dl is a fantastic tool for downloading videos. I use it nearly everyday to download my favourite channel videos, playlists etc from youtube.com.

Install Youtube-dl on Linux from Python

You can install youtube-dl on Linux from python package repository. First you need to install the python package manager – pip.

Debian/Ubuntu:     sudo apt install python-pip

CentOS:            sudo yum install python-pip

Fedora:            sudo dnf install python-pip

Arch Linux:        sudo pacman install python-pip

OpenSUSE:          sudo zypper install python-pip

Then install youtube-dl with pip:

sudo pip install youtue-dl

Now the installation is completed.

Do Not Install it From Software Repository

If you are using Linux, then you can also install youtube-dl from your distribution’s repository. For example to install it on Debian/Ubuntu systems, just issue the following command:

sudo apt-get install youtube-dl

But I recommend the first method because the version from repository is often not the latest. You might get some error when using youtube-dl if you choose to install it from repository.

Update or Remove YouTube-dl

Use this command to update:

sudo pip install --upgrade youtube-dl

Use this command to remove it from your OS:

sudo pip uninstall youtube-dl

Unable to Extract Title Error

If you encounter the “unable to extract title error”, then you need to reinstall or upgrade youtube-dl.

How to Download Videos From Youtube

To download a single video, just type youtube-dl in the terminal followed by the video URL. For instance:

youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Be_6NEPQE

To download a playlist, just append the playlist URL to youtube-dl, like this:

youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCGm32c1bz2qw8OrqqIgn-27-DapsiSJS

To download all videos from a user, type the following in the terminal:

youtube-dl -citw ytuser:username

You can find the username when you go to the user’s channel page and then click the videos button.

Now you can see the userid in the address bar of your browser.

Also you can append the user’s YouTube URL to download all of the user’s videos.

youtube-dl -citw https://www.youtube.com/user/username

Download an Entire Channel

Just append the channel’s URL.

youtube-dl -citw https://www.youtube.com/channle/channelname

Download behind a Proxy

You can use the --proxy option to specify HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy like below.

youtube-dl --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/ https://www.youtube.com/videourl

That’s it. Enjoy!