Download

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Purpose

The DOWNLOAD section uses yt-dlp from the program folder (Tools\yt-dlp; for YouTube, Deno is needed next to it, and it is installed together with yt-dlp). The modes of the section are format profiles: BEST MP4, SAFE MP4, OWN VIDEO, FOR UPLOAD, OWN AUDIO, SUBTITLES. What is downloaded goes into output\Download (or into Download of the selected Target); the progress of the download is shown as [download] lines in the journal. A file is named <uploader>\<date> - <title> [<id>].<ext>, in a playlist <number> - <title> [<id>].<ext>; at the end the journal names every file written in an [OK] line, and the outcome of the console command lists them in downloaded.

Sources

The Source field of the section:

• Single URL - the URL field. The PASTE button on the right takes the link from the clipboard; ⓘ shows in the

journal which formats the link offers (resolution, codecs, size), without downloading anything. A link to a video inside a playlist takes this one video.

• input\urls.txt - a list of links, one per line. Another file can be chosen (Batch file, with the same PASTE

button for the path).

• Playlist - the whole playlist by the link; Playlist items takes a part of it, for example 1-10 or 3,5,7.

Section downloads a piece by time, not the whole video.

Format profiles

mode	what it takes
BEST MP4	the best video and sound, merged into MP4/M4A; a general profile without special requirements. The picture may come in AV1, which not every program plays
SAFE MP4	for fragile links that break off: another client, retries, IPv4
OWN VIDEO	the resolution, codec, sound and container are set by the fields below
FOR UPLOAD	H.264 with AAC sound in MP4: what any platform and program accepts
OWN AUDIO	only the sound, in the selected format
SUBTITLES	only the subtitles, without media

The presets above the fields (Download profile) are ready combinations: Best MP4 video, 1080p AVC MP4, Safe Safari, AV1 if available, Audio MP3, Batch from urls.txt.

Video and sound

Fields:

• Resolution: Best, 2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p.
• Video codec: Auto, AVC/H.264, AV1, VP9.
• Audio format: Source / native, M4A, Opus, MP3.
• Container: MP4, MKV, WEBM.

Recommendations:

• For maximum compatibility: FOR UPLOAD or the 1080p AVC MP4 preset.
• For an ordinary download without strict requirements: BEST MP4.
• Sound only: OWN AUDIO (for example, Audio format = M4A) or the Audio MP3 preset.
• Subtitles without media: SUBTITLES.

Download tuning

Ticks:

• Retries - useful on an unstable network.
• IPv4 - sometimes helps if the IPv6 route breaks the download.
• Metadata + thumbnail - embeds the metadata and the cover where possible.
• No playlist - for links from input\urls.txt: a playlist is not expanded by accident. A single link never expands a

playlist.

Parallel - how many fragments are downloaded at once; Client - which client yt-dlp presents itself as to YouTube (Default, Safari, Android).

Subtitles

Fields:

• Manual;
• Auto;
• Embed;
• Subtitle languages.

It is better to give the languages explicitly, for example:

copyru,en

or:

copyen.*,ru.*

depending on the yt-dlp format and the source.

Cookies

Links where yt-dlp must see a sign-in to an account need cookies. The Cookies field:

• None;
• Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave - the cookies of the browser are taken at the moment of the download;
• File - a cookies file (Cookies file, by default config\cookies.txt; the PASTE button takes a path from the

clipboard).

The shield next to the file seals it with DPAPI for this Windows account into config\cookies.dpapi: a download with File takes this copy, and the open file is no longer needed; it can be deleted.

File is the default: the sealed copy, or without it the file of the field, goes with every download when there is one. A public link needs no cookies - choose None for it.

Rules:

• do not keep cookies in a public repository;
• do not send cookies together with reports;
• on errors, first check the path and the format of the cookies file.

Download archive

Use download archive turns on the yt-dlp archive (config\download-archive.txt). It is off by default, so that the user decides explicitly whether links that were already downloaded are skipped.

Turn the archive on if a batch repeats regularly and it matters not to download the same thing twice.

Dry run

Dry run and the COMMAND button show the real yt-dlp call before the run.

Check it when you change:

• the client;
• the cookies;
• the subtitles;
• the container;
• the source of the links;
• the download archive.

Typical errors

A playlist was downloaded instead of one video

These are links from input\urls.txt: turn on No playlist.

The link works in the browser but not in yt-dlp

Try:

1. SAFE MP4 or the Safe Safari preset;
2. IPv4;
3. the browser cookies;
4. update yt-dlp: SETTINGS → COMPONENTS → UPDATE, or SERVICE → «Install yt-dlp».

Wrong subtitles

Check Subtitle languages and separate the manual and the automatic ones. Some sources have only automatic ones.

MP4 did not come out

Reasons:

• the source gives only VP9/AV1/WebM;
• an incompatible combination of codec and container is selected;
• yt-dlp cannot merge the streams without re-encoding.

For compatibility choose FOR UPLOAD.