Downloading Playlists

Download entire playlists, channels, and manage large collections

Overview

yt-dlp can download entire playlists, channels, user uploads, and other collections from supported sites. This guide covers best practices for handling playlists efficiently.

Basic Playlist Download

Download all videos from a playlist:

# Download entire playlist
yt-dlp PLAYLIST_URL

# YouTube playlist example
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf"

By default, yt-dlp downloads all videos in a playlist sequentially.

YouTube Channels

Download from YouTube channels:

All Uploads

# Channel URL downloads all uploads
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName"
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/c/ChannelName"
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC..."

# Videos tab
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos"

# Shorts tab
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/shorts"

# Live tab
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/streams"

# Playlists
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/playlists"

# Watch later
yt-dlp ":ytwatchlater:"

# Liked videos  
yt-dlp ":ytfav:"

# Subscriptions feed
yt-dlp ":ytsubs:"

# History
yt-dlp ":ythistory:"

# Recommendations
yt-dlp ":ytrec:"

Accessing private playlists (liked videos, watch later, etc.) requires authentication with --cookies-from-browser or --username/--password.

Selective Download

Download specific videos from playlist

1. By index

   # Download first 5 videos
   yt-dlp -I 1:5 PLAYLIST_URL
   
   # Download videos 3, 5, and 7
   yt-dlp -I 3,5,7 PLAYLIST_URL
   
   # Download from 10 to end
   yt-dlp -I 10: PLAYLIST_URL
   
2. By range with step

   # Every other video
   yt-dlp -I ::2 PLAYLIST_URL
   
   # Every 3rd video from 1 to 30
   yt-dlp -I 1:30:3 PLAYLIST_URL
   
3. Reverse order

   # Download last 10 videos
   yt-dlp -I -10: PLAYLIST_URL
   
   # Download in reverse order
   yt-dlp -I ::-1 PLAYLIST_URL
   

Filter by date

# Videos from last week
yt-dlp --dateafter today-1week PLAYLIST_URL

# Videos from 2024
yt-dlp --dateafter 20240101 --datebefore 20241231 PLAYLIST_URL

# Videos older than 1 year
yt-dlp --datebefore today-1year PLAYLIST_URL

Filter by criteria

# Videos longer than 10 minutes
yt-dlp --match-filters "duration > 600" PLAYLIST_URL

# Videos with more than 10k views
yt-dlp --match-filters "view_count > 10000" PLAYLIST_URL

# Not live streams
yt-dlp --match-filters "!is_live" PLAYLIST_URL

# Multiple conditions
yt-dlp --match-filters "duration > 600 & view_count > 1000" PLAYLIST_URL

Organizing Playlist Downloads

Create folder structure

By Playlist

# Each playlist in its own folder
yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# Organize by channel/uploader
yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# Organize by upload date
yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(upload_date>%Y-%m)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# Keep playlist order with zero-padded numbers
yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)03d - %(title)s.%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

Download Archive

Avoid re-downloading videos you already have:

1. Create download archive

   # Track downloaded videos
   yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
   
2. Update playlist

   # Only download new videos
   yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL
   

   Videos in archive.txt will be skipped.

3. Multiple playlists

   # Share archive across playlists
   yt-dlp --download-archive ~/youtube-archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL_1
   yt-dlp --download-archive ~/youtube-archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL_2
   

The download archive is a simple text file containing video IDs. You can manually edit it if needed.

Handling Large Playlists

Rate limiting and delays

# Be respectful to servers
yt-dlp \
  --sleep-interval 5 \
  --max-sleep-interval 15 \
  --sleep-requests 1 \
  PLAYLIST_URL

Ignore errors

# Continue on errors (deleted/private videos)
yt-dlp --ignore-errors PLAYLIST_URL

# Skip after N errors
yt-dlp --abort-on-error --skip-playlist-after-errors 10 PLAYLIST_URL

Limit downloads

# Download only first 50 videos
yt-dlp --max-downloads 50 PLAYLIST_URL

# Stop when encountering existing video
yt-dlp --break-on-existing --download-archive archive.txt PLAYLIST_URL

Playlist Processing Options

Reverse order

# Download newest first
yt-dlp --playlist-reverse PLAYLIST_URL

# Or using -I
yt-dlp -I ::-1 PLAYLIST_URL

Random order

# Download in random order
yt-dlp --playlist-random PLAYLIST_URL

Lazy playlist

# Process entries as they arrive (for large playlists)
yt-dlp --lazy-playlist PLAYLIST_URL

--lazy-playlist is useful for very large playlists as it doesn’t wait to load all entries before starting downloads.

Playlist Metadata

Save playlist info

# Write playlist metadata files
yt-dlp --write-playlist-metafiles PLAYLIST_URL

# This creates:
# - playlist.info.json
# - playlist.description
# - Individual video .info.json files

Skip playlist metadata

# Only write video metadata
yt-dlp --no-write-playlist-metafiles PLAYLIST_URL

Common Playlist Scenarios

Subscribe to a channel

# Daily cron job to download new videos
yt-dlp \
  --download-archive ~/Videos/channel-archive.txt \
  --dateafter today-1week \
  -o "~/Videos/%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos"

Music playlist

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 \
  --download-archive music-archive.txt \
  --embed-metadata \
  --embed-thumbnail \
  --parse-metadata "%(playlist_title|)s:%(meta_album)s" \
  --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" \
  --parse-metadata "%(playlist_index|)s:%(meta_track)s" \
  -o "%(artist,uploader)s/%(album,playlist)s/%(track)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  PLAYLIST_URL

Educational course

yt-dlp \
  -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number|)s%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  --write-subs \
  --embed-subs \
  --embed-metadata \
  PLAYLIST_URL

Podcast archive

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 \
  --download-archive podcast-archive.txt \
  --embed-metadata \
  --embed-thumbnail \
  -o "Podcasts/%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  CHANNEL_URL

Flat Playlist Mode

Extract playlist information without downloading:

# List all video URLs without downloading
yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print url PLAYLIST_URL

# Get video IDs
yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print id PLAYLIST_URL

# Get full metadata without downloading
yt-dlp --flat-playlist --dump-json PLAYLIST_URL

Use --flat-playlist to quickly check playlist contents or create custom processing workflows.

Concatenating Playlists

Merge playlist videos into single file:

# Concatenate multi-part videos (default)
yt-dlp --concat-playlist multi_video PLAYLIST_URL

# Always concatenate all videos
yt-dlp --concat-playlist always \
  -o "pl_video:%(playlist)s.%(ext)s" \
  PLAYLIST_URL

# Never concatenate
yt-dlp --concat-playlist never PLAYLIST_URL

All videos must have the same codecs and number of streams to be concatenated.

Batch Downloading Multiple Playlists

Create a file with multiple playlist URLs:

playlists.txt

# Music playlists
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxx
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyyyyyyy

# Educational
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzzzzzzz

Download all:

yt-dlp -a playlists.txt \
  --download-archive archive.txt \
  -o "%(playlist)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s"

Performance Optimization

Parallel fragment downloads

# Download fragments in parallel (faster for HLS/DASH)
yt-dlp -N 4 PLAYLIST_URL

External downloader

# Use aria2c for faster downloads
yt-dlp --downloader aria2c \
  --downloader-args "aria2c:-x 16 -s 16 -k 1M" \
  PLAYLIST_URL

Monitoring Progress

Track download progress:

# Show progress bar
yt-dlp --progress PLAYLIST_URL

# Console title (terminal window title)
yt-dlp --console-title PLAYLIST_URL

# Custom progress template
yt-dlp --progress-template "download:%(info.title)s %(progress.percent)s" PLAYLIST_URL

Troubleshooting

Playlist not loading completely

# Use lazy playlist for large playlists
yt-dlp --lazy-playlist PLAYLIST_URL

# Increase timeout
yt-dlp --socket-timeout 30 PLAYLIST_URL

Private or deleted videos

# Skip unavailable videos
yt-dlp --ignore-errors PLAYLIST_URL

# See which videos are unavailable (YouTube)
yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(title)s [%(id)s] %(availability)s" PLAYLIST_URL

Geo-restricted content

# Use proxy for restricted videos
yt-dlp --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:1080 PLAYLIST_URL

# Fake location
yt-dlp --xff "US" PLAYLIST_URL

Authentication required

# Use browser cookies
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox PLAYLIST_URL

# Or login credentials
yt-dlp --username USERNAME --password PASSWORD PLAYLIST_URL

Next Steps

Downloading Videos

Basic video download workflows

Audio Extraction

Extract audio from playlist videos

Post-Processing

Process downloaded videos

Output Templates

Customize file naming and organization