video-downloader_skill

Overview

This skill downloads videos from 1000+ websites (YouTube, Bilibili, Twitter/X, TikTok, Vimeo, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) using yt-dlp. It supports selecting quality (including 1080p and 4K), extracting audio (MP3), downloading playlists, and saving subtitles. Use the bundled script or direct yt-dlp commands for flexible, reproducible downloads.

How this skill works

When given a video or playlist URL, the skill runs yt-dlp with sensible defaults or user-specified flags to fetch media, choose formats, and write output to a target folder (default: ~/Downloads/Videos). It can query available formats, merge video and audio streams, extract audio, save subtitles, and use browser cookies or proxies for authenticated or region-restricted content. A lightweight Python wrapper provides easy CLI options for common workflows.

When to use it

• You have a video or playlist URL and want to download the file locally.
• You need audio-only extraction (MP3) from an online video.
• You want to download a specific quality (720p, 1080p, 4K) or the best available.
• A video requires authentication or region access—use cookies or a proxy.
• You need subtitles saved alongside the downloaded video.

Best practices

• Install or update yt-dlp via package manager or pip before downloading.
• Use yt-dlp -F to inspect available formats before choosing a specific quality.
• Provide browser cookies (--cookies-from-browser) for sign-in or age-restricted content.
• Use the bundled script for defaults and the yt-dlp CLI for advanced format strings.
• Set a clear output template ( -o ) and destination folder to organize downloads.

Example use cases

• Download a YouTube lecture at 1080p using the bundled script: python3 scripts/download.py "VIDEO_URL" -f 1080
• Extract audio as MP3 from a talk: yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 -P ~/Downloads/Videos "VIDEO_URL"
• Save subtitles in English and Chinese: yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-lang en,zh -P ~/Downloads/Videos "VIDEO_URL"
• Download a private or region-locked Bilibili video using browser cookies: yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser chrome "VIDEO_URL"
• Download an entire playlist to a folder: yt-dlp -P ~/Downloads/Videos "PLAYLIST_URL"