Video Download

calesthio/OpenMontage/.agents/skills/video-download

by calesthio9327439db69021ab4b0e2776729bf3b58fdb5a87No license65K starsListed Oct 9, 2026Updated Oct 9, 2026Repository updated 5 days ago

Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp. No API keys needed. Use when: (1) Downloading a video from YouTube or other sites, (2) Extracting audio from a video URL, (3) Downloading subtitles/captions from a video, (4) Getting video metadata without downloading.

Instructions onlyDesign & Creative
AI-generated overview

Downloads video, audio, subtitles and metadata from YouTube and other sites using yt-dlp commands.

What it does
This skill provides ready-to-use yt-dlp command lines for downloading video and audio from YouTube and many other sites. It covers quality and resolution presets, audio-only extraction to MP3, subtitle and caption downloads, metadata retrieval without downloading, format listing, and output directory or filename templates. It also lists prerequisites, tips and troubleshooting steps for common failures.
When to use it
Use it when you need to fetch a video or audio file from a URL, extract audio from a video, grab subtitles or captions, or inspect video metadata without downloading. It is also useful when a download fails and you need guidance on updating yt-dlp or installing ffmpeg.
Requirements
Requires yt-dlp and ffmpeg installed locally, plus network access to the target sites. No API keys are needed. The skill ships no scripts; it is instructions and command examples only.

video-download

Download video and audio from URLs using yt-dlp directly. No wrapper scripts needed.

Prerequisites

  • yt-dlp: brew install yt-dlp or pip install yt-dlp
  • ffmpeg: brew install ffmpeg or apt install ffmpeg (required for merging video+audio streams)

Update yt-dlp periodically to keep up with site changes: yt-dlp -U or pip install -U yt-dlp.

Commands

Download best quality

bash
yt-dlp "URL" -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Download specific resolution

bash
# 720pyt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]" --merge-output-format mp4
# 1080pyt-dlp "URL" -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]" --merge-output-format mp4

Audio only

bash
yt-dlp "URL" -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0

Download subtitles

bash
# Download video with English subtitlesyt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --merge-output-format mp4
# Download video with multiple subtitle languagesyt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs "en,es,fr" --merge-output-format mp4
# Download only subtitles (no video)yt-dlp "URL" --write-subs --sub-langs en --skip-download

Get metadata (no download)

bash
yt-dlp "URL" --dump-json --no-download

List available formats

bash
yt-dlp "URL" -F

Specify output directory

bash
yt-dlp "URL" -o "./downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s" --merge-output-format mp4

Quality Presets

QualityFormat flag
Best-f "bestvideo+bestaudio/best" (default)
1080p-f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]"
720p-f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio/best[height<=720]"
480p-f "bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio/best[height<=480]"
Worst-f "worstvideo+worstaudio/worst"

Output Template Variables

Common variables for -o templates:

VariableDescription
%(title)sVideo title
%(ext)sFile extension
%(id)sVideo ID
%(uploader)sChannel/uploader name
%(upload_date)sUpload date (YYYYMMDD)
%(duration)sDuration in seconds
%(resolution)sVideo resolution

Tips

  • Always use --merge-output-format mp4 to avoid ending up with .webm or .mkv files.
  • Use --no-download with --dump-json for metadata-only queries -- no files written to disk.
  • If a download fails with HTTP errors, update yt-dlp first (yt-dlp -U).
  • Use -f "bestvideo[height<=720]+bestaudio" to save bandwidth when full resolution is not needed.
  • yt-dlp automatically handles rate limiting and retries.
  • The --dump-json output includes title, duration, uploader, view_count, description, formats, subtitles, and much more.

Troubleshooting

  • "yt-dlp: command not found": Install it (pip install yt-dlp) and ensure your PATH includes pip's bin directory.
  • "ffmpeg: command not found": Install ffmpeg. Without it, downloads fail when video and audio are separate streams (common on YouTube for HD).
  • Downloads fail or return errors: Run yt-dlp -U to update. Sites change frequently and yt-dlp ships fixes regularly.

Source and attribution

Source:calesthio/OpenMontagein.agents/skills/video-downloadat commit9327439

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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