yt_dld

A simple Node.js CLI tool for downloading YouTube videos and audio using yt-dlp via the yt-dlp-exec npm package. No system installation of yt-dlp required!

Features

• Download YouTube videos in MP4 format
• Download audio as MP3
• Specify quality (best, worst, or a specific resolution/bitrate)
• No need for Python or system-wide yt-dlp install

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or newer recommended)
• python (python >2 recommended)

Installation

1. Clone or download this repository.

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

Usage

Download a YouTube video (best quality, MP4)

node yt_dld.js <YouTube_URL> --format=mp4

Download audio as MP3

node yt_dld.js <YouTube_URL> --format=mp3

Download with specific quality

• For video (e.g., 720p):

  node yt_dld.js <YouTube_URL> --format=mp4 --quality=720

• For audio (e.g., 128k):

  node yt_dld.js <YouTube_URL> --format=mp3 --quality=128k

Arguments

• <YouTube_URL>: The URL of the YouTube video to download (required)
• --format=mp4|mp3: Output format (default: mp4)
• --quality=best|worst|<height>|<abr>: Quality (default: best)
  • For video: use a number for resolution (e.g., 720)
  • For audio: use a bitrate (e.g., 128k)

Output

• The downloaded file will be saved in the current directory, named after the video title.

Example

node yt_dld.js https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ --format=mp4
node yt_dld.js https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ --format=mp3

License

MIT