Install & setup

How to Download yt-dlp (Windows, macOS & Linux)

How to download yt-dlp on Windows, macOS and Linux — the official binary, pip, Homebrew, winget, scoop and more, with ffmpeg setup so downloads merge and convert correctly.

Updated 2026-06-13

yt-dlp is a free, open-source command-line program that downloads video and audio from 1,700+ sites. Getting it onto your machine takes one command. This guide covers every official way to download yt-dlp, plus the one dependency — ffmpeg — that most people forget.

Prefer not to touch a terminal at all? The yt-dlp app is a desktop GUI that bundles yt-dlp and ffmpeg for you and self-updates. This article is for the command-line tool.

The fastest way per platform

Windows

Use a package manager (recommended, because it handles PATH and updates), or grab the standalone .exe.

winget install yt-dlp.yt-dlp
# or
scoop install yt-dlp
# or
choco install yt-dlp

See the dedicated walkthrough: how to install yt-dlp on Windows.

macOS

brew install yt-dlp
# or, with pipx:
pipx install yt-dlp

Linux

Download the official binary into a folder on your PATH and make it executable:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Cross-platform: pip / pipx

If you have Python 3.9+ installed, pip works everywhere and makes updating trivial:

python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp

Don't forget ffmpeg

yt-dlp downloads work without ffmpeg, but you need it to merge separate high-resolution video and audio streams, and to convert to MP3 or MP4. Install it once:

# Windows
winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg
# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Verify the download

yt-dlp --version

If that prints a date-based version number, you're ready. Next, learn how to run yt-dlp and how to use yt-dlp.

Frequently asked questions

Is yt-dlp free?+

Yes — yt-dlp is free and open source under the Unlicense/MIT-style terms. There is no paid version.

Do I need Python to download yt-dlp?+

No. The standalone binary (yt-dlp.exe on Windows, or the Linux/macOS binary) bundles everything. Python is only required if you install via pip.

Which download method should I use?+

On Windows use winget or scoop; on macOS use Homebrew; on Linux use the official binary or pip. All produce the same yt-dlp.