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ytdl-org
youtube-dl
Python2012–2026
ytdl-org / youtube-dl

youtube-dl

Command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites

Command LineCreative & Media
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
188Distinct people
220Mentions
2Explicit recommenders
141.5KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites

GitHub

Where it is used

  • youtube-dl-api-server — youtube-dl-api-server uses youtube-dl to power a REST API that retrieves video information from various sites. Source

What people are saying

Here's a couple (albeit macOS focused) favorites of mine: - Deliveries: macOS / iOS package tracking https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deliveries-a-package-tracker... -…

firloop used a recommendation phrase. 2 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 10:49:33 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year220 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2012-03-11 07:35:07 UTC to 2026-09-26 00:27:46 UTC.

020402012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20122013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 12 mentions; 1 submissions, 11 comments2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 13 mentions; 1 submissions, 12 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 10 mentions; 1 submissions, 9 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 11 mentions; 2 submissions, 9 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 21 mentions; 1 submissions, 20 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 13 mentions; 2 submissions, 11 comments20192020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 51 mentions; 3 submissions, 48 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 37 mentions; 5 submissions, 32 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 17 mentions; 2 submissions, 15 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 19 mentions; 2 submissions, 17 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 0 submissions, 8 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20122012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20132013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC12111
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC13112
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC1019
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC1129
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC21120
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC13211
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC51348
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC37532
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC17215
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC19217
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC808
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

11 sources
cyphar·Aug 10, 2017
You can use youtube-dl[1] to download videos from YouTube (and transcode them to free formats) without runnning their proprietary JavaScript. There's even a free software Android project[2] that lets you stream videos without running their proprietary JavaScript -- and in my opinion it's much better than the proprietary YouTube app. RMS's concern with YouTube is that they use proprietary JavaScript and they use patented media formats. However, RMS has always made it clear that if you have the ability "at hand" to rip DVDs then purchasing a DVD is not unethical. Both of the pieces of software I mentioned allow you to avoid running proprietary software. His other concern is that RMS wants people to publish things he appears in in a way that is much easier to access with only free software. The Internet Archive and CCC provide video hosting
Read the rest
that is completely free software, with non-patented formats like VP9, and is easy to use. The idea is to make those forms of publishing more widely known about. [1]: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl [2]: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
In Richard Stallman Explains [video]
voltagex_·Jul 18, 2017
One of the issues is that the stream I have as an example is geo-restricted to Australia. https://au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/screenplay/-/watch/36206022/sc... youtube-dl seems to find the stream URL okay, but then prints ffmpeg errors: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/11636 https://github.com/selsta/hlsdl should be able to do it in theory, but it looks like WideVine DRM is involved. Someone has a Kodi plugin to make it work but Kodi doesn't support recording of any kind (?)
In Archiveteam are backing up SoundCloud

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