Downloading playlist from YouTube

March 1, 2013 1:22 AM

Hello guys, I would like to know if it is possibel/allowed to download videos from YouTube? There are a lot of nice playlists that I would like to have with me, so how can I download them? Can you recommend anything? Thanks in advance.
posted by VincentLee to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

I would recommend the python script youtube-dl. From the command line in Linux or Mac you would type, for example:

youtube-dl -t http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=FLzdbnf-pIJh-Qp6fdSb5ezw

There is also a Windows version, but I have no experience with it.
posted by eigenman at 2:08 AM on March 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

The question of legality seems to be a little woolly and it seems depend on where you are in the world - and what tracks you are downloading (and whether they were uploaded legally). Youtube, copyright lawyers and affected artists may all have firm options - but they may conflict. Freemake is quite a good software solution - but I link to a page which talks about whether it comes with viruses (apparently not but take care to opt out of stuff you don't want if you install it - of anything else in this category).
posted by rongorongo at 2:20 AM on March 1, 2013

If you want the whole video file and you're on a PC, use the Firefox add-on called "download them all".

If you just want the audio, there are lots of sites that can be found by googling "Youtube to mp3". Paste in the vid's URL, select the quality, wait a sec or two for it to convert and then save MP3 on your computer.
posted by guy72277 at 2:56 AM on March 1, 2013

Install jDownloader, give it the youtube link, it will parse out all of the audio and video tracks (tracks for each available video resolution, or just an mp3 of the audio, etc), select which one you want, and it will download it for you.
posted by ceribus peribus at 3:54 AM on March 1, 2013

keepvid is pretty good
posted by dmd at 4:51 AM on March 1, 2013

If you're interested in playing the videos on your computer and not converting them to MP3s, I prefer the Firefox extension Video DownloadHelper, which allows you to download any of the available video sizes (if a video is available in more than one size), and as M4V. That way, you can have the highest quality video and audio. But mind you, even with high quality video, you will only get 192 kbps audio at best. It's not terrible, but most web stores offer ~256 or 320 kbps audio.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:16 AM on March 1, 2013

re: filthy light thief's comment "even with high quality video, you will only get 192 kbps audio at best" (along with related info at that wikipedia link)

If this is the case, then why does a .flv (flash video) file of a song downloaded from youtube with only a single graphic of the album cover for the video portion of the file (therefore consuming but a negligible portion of the total kb in the file) weigh in at

*24.1 MB @ 1080p
*17.7 MB @ 720p
*7.5 MB @ 480p

when the 320k mp3 of the same song I ripped from CD is 10.2 MB?

If 192k is the best you will get for the audio portion of a youtube video, then why are the 720p and 1080p versions available at youtube (all for the exact same upload) just a little under and well over DOUBLE the size of a 320k mp3 rip of the same song? Surely it isn't due to the higher video quality, since there is but one still image from beginning to end; therefore it must be due to higher audio quality, no?
posted by tenderly at 9:26 PM on March 1, 2013