Downloading
How to Download a Whole Channel with yt-dlp
Download an entire channel with yt-dlp, organise videos into folders, skip ones you already have with a download archive, and grab only the latest uploads.
Updated 2026-06-13
yt-dlp can download every video a channel has published. Point it at the channel URL and it walks the full upload list.
Download the whole channel
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@channelname/videos"Organise into per-channel, per-title folders
yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s" \
"https://www.youtube.com/@channelname/videos"Only download new videos next time
A download archive records every video you've grabbed so re-running only fetches new uploads — ideal for keeping a channel mirrored:
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt \
-o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
"https://www.youtube.com/@channelname/videos"Grab just the latest N uploads
yt-dlp -I 1:5 "https://www.youtube.com/@channelname/videos"Channel audio as MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --download-archive done.txt "<channel URL>"Downloading entire channels is bandwidth- and time-intensive. The yt-dlp app gives you a queue with pause/resume and parallel downloads for big jobs.
Frequently asked questions
How do I download every video from a YouTube channel?+
Run yt-dlp on the channel's /videos URL. Add --download-archive to make repeat runs grab only new uploads.
Can I download a channel's entire back catalogue as audio?+
Yes — combine -x --audio-format mp3 with the channel URL and a download archive.
Will it include Shorts and live streams?+
Use the specific tab URL (e.g. /videos, /shorts, /streams) to target each content type, or the channel root to attempt everything.