youtube-dl Icon

Introduction[edit]

youtube-dl is: ^[1]

... a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter (2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+), and it is not platform specific. We also provide a Windows executable that includes Python. youtube-dl should work in your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.

youtube-dl is simple to use in Whonix ™. Simply follow the instructions to install it below, identify the relevant YouTube video URL, then run the application in a terminal to download the video. Once it has finished downloading, VLC Media Player (installed by default) can be used to view the video.

Installation[edit]

The Whonix ™ wiki normally recommends that additional software is installed from Debian stable, but in the case of youtube-dl there is often a significant difference between the stable and backports versions. Since the developers frequently update the software to address broken functionality when attempting downloads from various websites, an upgrade of youtube-dl from Debian backports may be required. ^[2]

youtube-dl can be installed from Debian backports. This is non-ideal, see footnote. ^[3]

1. Update the package lists.

sudo apt update

sudo apt update

2. Install the select software.

sudo apt -t bullseye-backports install youtube-dl

sudo apt -t bullseye-backports install youtube-dl

3. Done.

The procedure of installing the package from the backports repository is now complete.

Usage[edit]

First identify the relevant YouTube video URL in Tor Browser, then right-click the link and select "Copy Link Location". In the example below it is "Why Do so Many People Hate Windows 10?" (https://youtube.com/watch?v=KpEb8M23LsU ^[archive])

Figure: Example YouTube Video to Download

Next, open a terminal. To download the relevant YouTube video, run (replace 'link-to-video' with the chosen URL).

youtube-dl link-to-video

youtube-dl link-to-video

Figure: youtube-dl Example Download

Finally, open VLC Media Player and select the relevant file to play: Media → Open File... → Open the video file

Figure: VLC Media Player

Extensive documentation ^[archive] is available describing a host of possible options, including:

general options
network options
geo restriction
video selection
download options
filesystem options
thumbnail images
verbosity/simulation options
workarounds
video format options
subtitle options
authentication options
Adobe pass options
post-processing options

In addition the documentation describes numerous configuration settings, output templates, format selection and video selection among other topics. Many readers will be interested in how to select preferred video quality; see here ^[archive] for a quick overview.