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Purpose

The DOWNLOAD section uses yt-dlp from the program folder (Tools\yt-dlp; for YouTube, Deno is needed next to it, and it is installed together with yt-dlp). The modes of the section are format profiles: BEST MP4, SAFE MP4, OWN VIDEO, FOR UPLOAD, OWN AUDIO, SUBTITLES. What is downloaded goes into output\Download (or into Download of the selected Target); the progress of the download is shown as [download] lines in the journal. A file is named <uploader>\<date> - <title> [<id>].<ext>, in a playlist <number> - <title> [<id>].<ext>; at the end the journal names every file written in an [OK] line, and the outcome of the console command lists them in downloaded.

Sources

The Source field of the section:

• Single URL - the URL field. The PASTE button on the right takes the link from the clipboard; ⓘ shows in the journal which formats the link offers (resolution, codecs, size), without downloading anything. A link to a video inside a playlist takes this one video.
• input\urls.txt - a list of links, one per line. Another file can be chosen (Batch file, with the same PASTE button for the path).
• Playlist - the whole playlist by the link; Playlist items takes a part of it, for example 1-10 or 3,5,7.

Section downloads a piece by time, not the whole video.

Format profiles

The presets above the fields (Download profile) are ready combinations: Best MP4 video, 1080p AVC MP4, Safe Safari, AV1 if available, Audio MP3, Batch from urls.txt.

Video and sound

Fields:

• Resolution: Best, 2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p.
• Video codec: Auto, AVC/H.264, AV1, VP9.
• Audio format: Source / native, M4A, Opus, MP3.
• Container: MP4, MKV, WEBM.

Recommendations:

• For maximum compatibility: FOR UPLOAD or the 1080p AVC MP4 preset.
• For an ordinary download without strict requirements: BEST MP4.
• Sound only: OWN AUDIO (for example, Audio format = M4A) or the Audio MP3 preset.
• Subtitles without media: SUBTITLES.

Download tuning

Ticks:

• Retries - useful on an unstable network.
• IPv4 - sometimes helps if the IPv6 route breaks the download.
• Metadata + thumbnail - embeds the metadata and the cover where possible.
• No playlist - for links from input\urls.txt: a playlist is not expanded by accident. A single link never expands a playlist.

Parallel - how many fragments are downloaded at once; Client - which client yt-dlp presents itself as to YouTube (Default, Safari, Android).

Subtitles

Fields:

• Manual;
• Auto;
• Embed;
• Subtitle languages.

It is better to give the languages explicitly, for example:

ru,en

or:

en.*,ru.*

depending on the yt-dlp format and the source.

Cookies

Links where yt-dlp must see a sign-in to an account need cookies. The Cookies field:

• None;
• Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave - the cookies of the browser are taken at the moment of the download;
• File - a cookies file (Cookies file, by default config\cookies.txt; the PASTE button takes a path from the clipboard).

The shield next to the file seals it with DPAPI for this Windows account into config\cookies.dpapi: a download with File takes this copy, and the open file is no longer needed; it can be deleted.

File is the default: the sealed copy, or without it the file of the field, goes with every download when there is one. A public link needs no cookies - choose None for it.

Rules:

• do not keep cookies in a public repository;
• do not send cookies together with reports;
• on errors, first check the path and the format of the cookies file.

Download archive

Use download archive turns on the yt-dlp archive (config\download-archive.txt). It is off by default, so that the user decides explicitly whether links that were already downloaded are skipped.

Turn the archive on if a batch repeats regularly and it matters not to download the same thing twice.

Dry run

Dry run and the COMMAND button show the real yt-dlp call before the run.

Check it when you change:

• the client;
• the cookies;
• the subtitles;
• the container;
• the source of the links;
• the download archive.

Typical errors

A playlist was downloaded instead of one video

These are links from input\urls.txt: turn on No playlist.

The link works in the browser but not in yt-dlp

Try:

1. SAFE MP4 or the Safe Safari preset;
2. IPv4;
3. the browser cookies;
4. update yt-dlp: SETTINGS → COMPONENTS → UPDATE, or SERVICE → «Install yt-dlp».

Wrong subtitles

Check Subtitle languages and separate the manual and the automatic ones. Some sources have only automatic ones.

MP4 did not come out

Reasons:

• the source gives only VP9/AV1/WebM;
• an incompatible combination of codec and container is selected;
• yt-dlp cannot merge the streams without re-encoding.

For compatibility choose FOR UPLOAD.