youtube-downloader_skill

Overview

This skill downloads YouTube videos with simple quality presets optimized for sharing and storage. It provides ready-made profiles (whatsapp, standard, high, best) to control resolution and file size. The tool also supports audio-only extraction and listing available formats before downloading.

How this skill works

The script calls yt-dlp and ffmpeg under the hood to fetch and optionally transcode video or audio. You select a quality preset or an explicit format; the tool chooses appropriate stream options and saves the resulting file to the chosen output folder. There is also a listing mode to show available formats without downloading.

When to use it

• Share short videos to messaging apps where file size matters (use whatsapp preset).
• Download episodes or clips for offline viewing with predictable size and quality.
• Extract MP3 audio from music tracks or podcasts using audio-only mode.
• Prepare files for platforms with upload limits by choosing lower presets.
• Quickly inspect available formats before committing bandwidth with the list option.

Best practices

• Install Python 3.9+, yt-dlp, and ffmpeg before running the scripts.
• Use the whatsapp preset for sub-16MB targets to ensure direct messaging compatibility.
• Choose the output directory explicitly to keep downloads organized.
• Use --list to preview formats and file sizes if bandwidth or limits are a concern.
• Respect copyright and only download content you are allowed to store or share.

Example use cases

• Download a short clip at 144p for direct WhatsApp sharing using the whatsapp preset.
• Save a lecture at 480p for offline study with the standard preset.
• Fetch a concert video at 720p for personal viewing using the high preset.
• Extract podcast audio as MP3 with the audio-only option for listening on the go.
• List available formats for a long video to decide whether to send as document or lower quality.