I want to make a backup of all the videos on my own YouTube channel. I've heard that yt-dlp can do this, but I'm new to the tool and don't know what command or URL format to use. What's the simplest way to download the entire channel or a playlist from the command line?
3 Answers
yt-dlp can download a whole channel or playlist. Install it first, then run it with the URL of your channel or playlist, for example: yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@YourChannel/videos". If you put all the videos into a playlist, using the playlist URL is often more predictable. You can also add options such as -o "%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" to give the files useful names.
If yt-dlp says “Requested format is not available,” the format selector you used doesn’t exist for that particular video. Run yt-dlp --list-formats "VIDEO_OR_PLAYLIST_URL" to see the formats that are actually available. For a simple download, leave out the format option, or use a broadly compatible selector such as -f "bestvideo*+bestaudio/best".
Be careful with the command syntax: yt-dlp is the program name, not the URL. The command should look like yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...". An error saying that it tried to download the URL “yt-dlp” usually means the program name was accidentally entered where the URL should have gone, or a configuration file contains an extra yt-dlp argument.
That explains the error—I was treating the program name as part of the URL. I’ll try the channel or playlist URL directly and check the available formats if needed.