yt-dlp Examples: Copy-Paste Recipes

Real, copy-paste yt-dlp examples grouped by what you're trying to do. Replace <URL> with your link. For an option reference, see yt-dlp commands.

Basics

# Best quality, merged
yt-dlp "<URL>"

# List all formats first
yt-dlp -F "<URL>"

# Specific resolution
yt-dlp -S res:1080 "<URL>"

Audio

# Best-quality MP3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "<URL>"

# Native audio, no re-encode
yt-dlp -f bestaudio "<URL>"

# MP3 with cover art + tags
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --embed-thumbnail --embed-metadata "<URL>"

Containers

# Force MP4
yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b" --merge-output-format mp4 "<URL>"

# Everything in MKV (no container limits)
yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b" --merge-output-format mkv "<URL>"

Playlists & channels

# First 10 of a playlist, numbered
yt-dlp -I 1:10 -o "%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "<URL>"

# Mirror a channel incrementally
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "<channel URL>"

Subtitles & metadata

# English subs as a file
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs en "<URL>"

# Auto-generated captions, embedded
yt-dlp --write-auto-subs --embed-subs "<URL>"

Sections & speed

# Download only 00:30–01:00
yt-dlp --download-sections "*00:30-01:00" "<URL>"

# Faster fragmented downloads
yt-dlp -N 4 "<URL>"

Private / restricted content

# Use your browser's login session
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "<URL>"

# Through a proxy
yt-dlp --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 "<URL>"

Batch

# Every URL listed in a file
yt-dlp -a urls.txt

Save the options you reuse into a config file so they apply automatically.