Overview yt-dlp can download entire playlists, channels, user uploads, and other collections from supported sites. This guide covers best practices for handling playlists efficiently.
Basic Playlist Download Download all videos from a playlist:
# Download entire playlist yt-dlp PLAYLIST_URL # YouTube playlist example yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf"
By default, yt-dlp downloads all videos in a playlist sequentially.
YouTube Channels Download from YouTube channels:
All Uploads
Specific Tabs
Community Features
# Channel URL downloads all uploads yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName" yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/c/ChannelName" yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC..."
Accessing private playlists (liked videos, watch later, etc.) requires authentication with --cookies-from-browser or --username/--password.
Selective Download Download specific videos from playlist
By index
# Download first 5 videos yt-dlp -I 1:5 PLAYLIST_URL # Download videos 3, 5, and 7 yt-dlp -I 3,5,7 PLAYLIST_URL # Download from 10 to end yt-dlp -I 10: PLAYLIST_URL
By range with step
# Every other video yt-dlp -I ::2 PLAYLIST_URL # Every 3rd video from 1 to 30 yt-dlp -I 1:30:3 PLAYLIST_URL
Reverse order
# Download last 10 videos yt-dlp -I -10: PLAYLIST_URL # Download in reverse order yt-dlp -I ::-1 PLAYLIST_URL
Filter by date # Videos from last week yt-dlp --dateafter today-1week PLAYLIST_URL # Videos from 2024 yt-dlp --dateafter 20240101 --datebefore 20241231 PLAYLIST_URL # Videos older than 1 year yt-dlp --datebefore today-1year PLAYLIST_URL
Filter by criteria # Videos longer than 10 minutes yt-dlp --match-filters "duration > 600" PLAYLIST_URL # Videos with more than 10k views yt-dlp --match-filters "view_count > 10000" PLAYLIST_URL # Not live streams yt-dlp --match-filters "!is_live" PLAYLIST_URL # Multiple conditions yt-dlp --match-filters "duration > 600 & view_count > 1000" PLAYLIST_URL
Organizing Playlist Downloads Create folder structure By Playlist
By Uploader
By Date
Numbered
# Each playlist in its own folder yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL
Download Archive Avoid re-downloading videos you already have:
Create download archive
# Track downloaded videos yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
Update playlist
# Only download new videos yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
Videos in archive.txt will be skipped.
Multiple playlists
# Share archive across playlists yt-dlp --download-archive ~/youtube-archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL_1 yt-dlp --download-archive ~/youtube-archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL_2
The download archive is a simple text file containing video IDs. You can manually edit it if needed.
Handling Large Playlists Rate limiting and delays # Be respectful to servers yt-dlp \ --sleep-interval 5 \ --max-sleep-interval 15 \ --sleep-requests 1 \ PLAYLIST_URL
Ignore errors # Continue on errors (deleted/private videos) yt-dlp --ignore-errors PLAYLIST_URL # Skip after N errors yt-dlp --abort-on-error --skip-playlist-after-errors 10 PLAYLIST_URL
Limit downloads # Download only first 50 videos yt-dlp --max-downloads 50 PLAYLIST_URL # Stop when encountering existing video yt-dlp --break-on-existing --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
Playlist Processing Options Reverse order # Download newest first yt-dlp --playlist-reverse PLAYLIST_URL # Or using -I yt-dlp -I ::-1 PLAYLIST_URL
Random order # Download in random order yt-dlp --playlist-random PLAYLIST_URL
Lazy playlist # Process entries as they arrive (for large playlists) yt-dlp --lazy-playlist PLAYLIST_URL
--lazy-playlist is useful for very large playlists as it doesn’t wait to load all entries before starting downloads.
Save playlist info # Write playlist metadata files yt-dlp --write-playlist-metafiles PLAYLIST_URL # This creates: # - playlist.info.json # - playlist.description # - Individual video .info.json files
# Only write video metadata yt-dlp --no-write-playlist-metafiles PLAYLIST_URL
Common Playlist Scenarios Subscribe to a channel # Daily cron job to download new videos yt-dlp \ --download-archive ~/Videos/channel-archive.txt \ --dateafter today-1week \ -o "~/Videos/%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \ "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos"
Music playlist yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 \ --download-archive music-archive.txt \ --embed-metadata \ --embed-thumbnail \ --parse-metadata "%(playlist_title|)s:%(meta_album)s" \ --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" \ --parse-metadata "%(playlist_index|)s:%(meta_track)s" \ -o "%(artist,uploader)s/%(album,playlist)s/%(track)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \ PLAYLIST_URL
Educational course yt-dlp \ -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number|)s%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \ --write-subs \ --embed-subs \ --embed-metadata \ PLAYLIST_URL
Podcast archive yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 \ --download-archive podcast-archive.txt \ --embed-metadata \ --embed-thumbnail \ -o "Podcasts/%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \ CHANNEL_URL
Flat Playlist Mode Extract playlist information without downloading:
# List all video URLs without downloading yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print url PLAYLIST_URL # Get video IDs yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print id PLAYLIST_URL # Get full metadata without downloading yt-dlp --flat-playlist --dump-json PLAYLIST_URL
Use --flat-playlist to quickly check playlist contents or create custom processing workflows.
Concatenating Playlists Merge playlist videos into single file:
# Concatenate multi-part videos (default) yt-dlp --concat-playlist multi_video PLAYLIST_URL # Always concatenate all videos yt-dlp --concat-playlist always \ -o "pl_video:%(playlist)s.%(ext)s" \ PLAYLIST_URL # Never concatenate yt-dlp --concat-playlist never PLAYLIST_URL
All videos must have the same codecs and number of streams to be concatenated.
Batch Downloading Multiple Playlists Create a file with multiple playlist URLs:
# Music playlists https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxx https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyyyyyyy # Educational https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzzzzzzz
Download all:
yt-dlp -a playlists.txt \ --download-archive archive.txt \ -o "%(playlist)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s"
Parallel fragment downloads # Download fragments in parallel (faster for HLS/DASH) yt-dlp -N 4 PLAYLIST_URL
External downloader # Use aria2c for faster downloads yt-dlp --downloader aria2c \ --downloader-args "aria2c:-x 16 -s 16 -k 1M" \ PLAYLIST_URL
Monitoring Progress Track download progress:
# Show progress bar yt-dlp --progress PLAYLIST_URL # Console title (terminal window title) yt-dlp --console-title PLAYLIST_URL # Custom progress template yt-dlp --progress-template "download:%(info.title)s %(progress.percent)s" PLAYLIST_URL
Troubleshooting Playlist not loading completely # Use lazy playlist for large playlists yt-dlp --lazy-playlist PLAYLIST_URL # Increase timeout yt-dlp --socket-timeout 30 PLAYLIST_URL
Private or deleted videos # Skip unavailable videos yt-dlp --ignore-errors PLAYLIST_URL # See which videos are unavailable (YouTube) yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(title)s [%(id)s] %(availability)s" PLAYLIST_URL
Geo-restricted content # Use proxy for restricted videos yt-dlp --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:1080 PLAYLIST_URL # Fake location yt-dlp --xff "US" PLAYLIST_URL
Authentication required # Use browser cookies yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox PLAYLIST_URL # Or login credentials yt-dlp --username USERNAME --password PASSWORD PLAYLIST_URL
Next Steps
Downloading Videos Basic video download workflows
Audio Extraction Extract audio from playlist videos
Post-Processing Process downloaded videos
Output Templates Customize file naming and organization