Video Downloader

Video Downloader

This skill downloads videos from YouTube and other platforms directly to your computer.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+: Required for video download scripts
• yt-dlp or yt-dlp: Video download utility (install via pip)
• FFmpeg: For video format conversion (optional but recommended)

When to Use This Skill

• Downloading YouTube videos for offline viewing
• Saving educational content for reference
• Archiving important videos
• Getting video files for editing or repurposing
• Downloading your own content from platforms
• Saving conference talks or webinars

What This Skill Does

1. Downloads Videos: Fetches videos from YouTube and other platforms
2. Quality Selection: Lets you choose resolution (480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K)
3. Format Options: Downloads in various formats (MP4, WebM, audio-only)
4. Batch Downloads: Can download multiple videos or playlists
5. Metadata Preservation: Saves title, description, and thumbnail

How to Use

Basic Download

Download this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=...

Download this video in 1080p quality

Audio Only

Download the audio from this YouTube video as MP3

Playlist Download

Download all videos from this YouTube playlist: [URL]

Batch Download

Download these 5 YouTube videos:
1. [URL]
2. [URL]
...

Example

User: "Download this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123"

Output:

Downloading from YouTube...

Video: "How to Build Products Users Love"
Channel: Lenny's Podcast
Duration: 45:32
Quality: 1080p

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

✓ Downloaded: how-to-build-products-users-love.mp4
✓ Saved thumbnail: how-to-build-products-users-love.jpg
✓ Size: 342 MB

Saved to: ~/Downloads/

Inspired by: Lenny's workflow from his newsletter

Important Notes

⚠️ Copyright & Fair Use

• Only download videos you have permission to download
• Respect copyright laws and platform terms of service
• Use for personal, educational, or fair use purposes
• Don't redistribute copyrighted content

Tips

• Specify quality if you need lower file size (720p vs 1080p)
• Use audio-only for podcasts or music to save space
• Download to a dedicated folder to stay organized
• Check file size before downloading on slow connections

Common Use Cases

• Education: Save tutorials and courses for offline learning
• Research: Archive videos for reference
• Content Creation: Download your own content from platforms
• Backup: Save important videos before they're removed
• Offline Viewing: Watch videos without internet access

Quick Start

The simplest way to download a video:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

This downloads the video in best available quality as MP4 to /mnt/user-data/outputs/.

Options

Quality Settings

Use -q or --quality to specify video quality:

• best (default): Highest quality available
• 1080p: Full HD
• 720p: HD
• 480p: Standard definition
• 360p: Lower quality
• worst: Lowest quality available

Example:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -q 720p

Format Options

Use -f or --format to specify output format (video downloads only):

• mp4 (default): Most compatible
• webm: Modern format
• mkv: Matroska container

Example:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -f webm

Audio Only

Use -a or --audio-only to download only audio as MP3:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -a

Custom Output Directory

Use -o or --output to specify a different output directory:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -o /path/to/directory

Complete Examples

1. Download video in 1080p as MP4:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 1080p

2. Download audio only as MP3:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -a

3. Download in 720p as WebM to custom directory:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 720p -f webm -o /custom/path

How It Works

The skill uses yt-dlp, a robust YouTube downloader that:

• Automatically installs itself if not present
• Fetches video information before downloading
• Selects the best available streams matching your criteria
• Merges video and audio streams when needed
• Supports a wide range of YouTube video formats