How to Install yt-dlp on Windows

There are two good ways to install yt-dlp on Windows: a package manager (handles PATH and updates automatically) or the standalone executable (no dependencies). Here's both.

Option A — winget (built into Windows 10/11)

winget install yt-dlp.yt-dlp

That's it — winget adds yt-dlp to your PATH, so you can open any terminal and run it. Update later with winget upgrade yt-dlp.yt-dlp.

Option B — Scoop or Chocolatey

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

Option C — the standalone yt-dlp.exe

1. Download yt-dlp.exe from the official GitHub releases page (github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest).
2. Create a folder such as C:\yt-dlp and move yt-dlp.exe into it.
3. Add that folder to your PATH (see below) so you can run yt-dlp from anywhere.

Adding a folder to PATH on Windows

1. Press Start and search 'Edit the system environment variables'.
2. Click 'Environment Variables…', select 'Path' under User variables, click 'Edit'.
3. Click 'New', paste C:\yt-dlp, click OK on every dialog.
4. Open a NEW terminal window for the change to take effect.

Install ffmpeg too

ffmpeg is required to merge 1080p+/4K video with audio and to convert files. The easiest route on Windows:

winget install Gyan.FFmpeg

Verify it works

yt-dlp --version
yt-dlp -F https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

The first prints the version; the second lists available formats. From here, see how to use yt-dlp on Windows and the full yt-dlp commands reference.