Download Video (YouTube / Bilibili)#

Overview#

Use yt-dlp to download videos from YouTube or Bilibili. Downloads go to the user's Videos folder ( ~/Videos).

Prerequisites#

yt-dlp must be installed:

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yt-dlp --version

# Install if missing
pip install yt-dlp        # cross-platform
winget install yt-dlp      # Windows
brew install yt-dlp        # macOS
sudo apt install yt-dlp    # Debian/Ubuntu

ffmpeg is recommended for merging video+audio streams.

Download by URL#

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yt-dlp -o "<videos-dir>/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "<url>"

Replace <videos-dir> with the user's Videos folder path, and <url> with the video URL.

Supported URLs:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... or https://youtu.be/...
• Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV...

Download by Title (search)#

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# YouTube
yt-dlp -o "<videos-dir>/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "ytsearch1:<title>"

# Bilibili
yt-dlp -o "<videos-dir>/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "bilisearch1:<title>"

Quick Reference#

GoalFlagBest quality (default)-f bestvideo+bestaudio/bestAudio only (mp3)-x --audio-format mp3Specific resolution-f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio"Subtitles--write-subs --sub-langs zh-Hans,enPlaylist (all videos)just pass the playlist URLLimit speed--rate-limit 2M

Common Mistakes#

• "ffmpeg not found" — merge of best video+audio fails. Install ffmpeg or use -f best (single stream).
• Bilibili login-required content — add cookies with --cookies-from-browser chrome.
• Videos folder missing — create it first.

Workflow#

1. URL given → download directly
2. Title given → use ytsearch1: or bilisearch1: prefix
3. yt-dlp missing → install, then retry
4. Error → read error message, check Common Mistakes above