Simple Youtube-dl .Bat file for easy download

[WinSpirit]

A Simple command-line batch file i made to download internet video from many sites.
It use the excellent youtube-dl command line utility.

how to use:
1 - Download youtube-dl and the latest version of ffmpeg
2 - Create a folder, put these downloaded files in this folder
3 - Create this .bat file with a text editor
4 - In the .bat file, edit the download path for your preference, and save it in the same folder
5 - Create a Windows shortcut to the batch file
6 - Bdl-click the shortcut... paste the video url , select option ... that's it!

this is the .bat file:

@ECHO OFF

SET DnBest=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f best
SET DnBestAudVid=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata
SET DnBestUnmerge=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo,bestaudio"
SET DnBestMP4_MPA=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
SET DnBestMP4_AAC=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=aac]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
SET DnMP3=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format mp3
SET DnAAC=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format aac
SET DnM4A=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format m4a

SET Destination="D:\Downloads\Video/%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"

if not -%1-==-- SET URL=%*
if -%1-==-- goto fopNew

:top
CLS
ECHO URL: %URL%
ECHO ----------------------
ECHO Available operations:
ECHO ----------------------
ECHO .
::This prints the list of the operations

ECHO 1. Best already on site
ECHO 2. Best Audio and Best Video
ECHO 3. Best (no merge)
ECHO 4. Best MP4 and M4A
ECHO 5. Best MP4 and AAC
ECHO 6. MP3 (Audio)
ECHO 7. AAC (Audio)
ECHO 8. M4A (Audio)
ECHO -
ECHO f. List all possible formats
ECHO u. Auto-update
ECHO n. Process New File
ECHO x. Quit
ECHO -

::Ask the user to choose the operation they want

SET /P operation=Which operation would you like to do?:
if "%operation%"=="n" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="N" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="1" goto fop1
if "%operation%"=="2" goto fop2
if "%operation%"=="3" goto fop3
if "%operation%"=="4" goto fop4
if "%operation%"=="5" goto fop5
if "%operation%"=="6" goto fop6
if "%operation%"=="7" goto fop7
if "%operation%"=="8" goto fop8
if "%operation%"=="f" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="F" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="u" goto fopUpdate
if "%operation%"=="U" goto fopUpdate
goto fopQuit


:fop1
ECHO Best:
youtube-dl %DnBest% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop2
ECHO Best Audio and Best Video:
youtube-dl %DnBestAudVid% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop3
ECHO Best No Merge:
youtube-dl %DnBestUnmerge% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop4
ECHO Best MP4 and MPa:
youtube-dl %DnBestMP4_MPA% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop5
ECHO Best MP4 and AAC:
youtube-dl %DnBestMP4_AAC% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop6
ECHO MP3:
youtube-dl %DnMP3% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop7
ECHO AAC:
youtube-dl %DnAAC% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop8
ECHO M4A:
youtube-dl %DnM4A% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fopFormat
ECHO List of all possible formats:
youtube-dl -F %URL%
pause
goto top

:fopUpdate
ECHO Updates:
youtube-dl -U
pause
goto top

:fopNew
SET /P URL=Please enter the video URL:
goto top

:fopQuit

Have fun!

[bestork]

what do you mean Bdl-click the shortcut... paste the video url , select option ... that's it! ??????????????
What is Bdl-click ??

[stax76]

PowerShell version please.

[ronmaz]

What is Bdl-click ??

He means Dbl click, i.e. Double Click.

[johns0]

WinSpirit-Thanks for the bat file,works just fine.

[hydra3333]

Thanks.

I use these

REM download the BEST regardless of file extension
"%youtube_dl_exe%" --no-call-home --console-title --verbose --ignore-config --prefer-ffmpeg --ffmpeg-location "%ffmpeg_location%" --buffer-size 64k --no-mtime --console-title --force-ipv4 --no-mark-watched --ignore-errors --restrict-filenames --format "bestvideo+bestaudio" %theURL%

"%youtube_dl_exe%" --no-call-home --console-title --verbose --ignore-config --prefer-ffmpeg --ffmpeg-location "%ffmpeg_location%" --buffer-size 64k --no-mtime --console-title --force-ipv4 --no-mark-watched --ignore-errors --restrict-filenames --format "best" %theURL%

So I must look up what your flags do !

--hls-prefer-native 
--add-metadata
--write-all-thumbnails
--embed-thumbnail

edit: it's at https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#options

[creakndale]

Hi WinSpirit,
Did you ever update your helpful YouTube-dl batch file to use YouTube-dlp? If so, would you please post the .bat file update? I don't understand programming enough to modify your original .bat file gem.

Regards,
creakndale

[[ss]vegeta]

Hi WinSpirit,
Did you ever update your helpful YouTube-dl batch file to use YouTube-dlp? If so, would you please post the .bat file update? I don't understand programming enough to modify your original .bat file gem.

Regards,
creakndale

Just find and replace youtube-dl with yt-dlp.exe
I tried, and it works, at least for the 4th option that I tried.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6csW0D2eS0
----------------------
Available operations:
----------------------
.
1. Best already on site
2. Best Audio and Best Video
3. Best (no merge)
4. Best MP4 and M4A
5. Best MP4 and AAC
6. MP3 (Audio)
7. AAC (Audio)
8. M4A (Audio)
-
f. List all possible formats
u. Auto-update
n. Process New File
x. Quit
-
Which operation would you like to do?:4
Best MP4 and MPa:
[youtube] o6csW0D2eS0: Downloading webpage
[youtube] o6csW0D2eS0: Downloading android player API JSON
[info] o6csW0D2eS0: Downloading 1 format(s): 137+140
[download] Destination: D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.f137.mp4
[download] 100% of 182.10MiB in 00:13
[download] Destination: D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.f140.m4a
[download] 100% of 6.30MiB in 00:00
[Merger] Merging formats into "D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.mp4"
Deleting original file D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.f140.m4a (pass -k to keep)
Deleting original file D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.f137.mp4 (pass -k to keep)
[Metadata] Adding metadata to "D:\Downloads\Video\THE METAVERSE WILL UNLEASH IMAGINATION.mp4"

Here's the code

@ECHO OFF

SET DnBest=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f best
SET DnBestAudVid=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata
SET DnBestUnmerge=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo,bestaudio"
SET DnBestMP4_MPA=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
SET DnBestMP4_AAC=--hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=aac]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
SET DnMP3=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format mp3
SET DnAAC=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format aac
SET DnM4A=--write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format m4a

SET Destination="D:\Downloads\Video/%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"

if not -%1-==-- SET URL=%*
if -%1-==-- goto fopNew

:top
CLS
ECHO URL: %URL%
ECHO ----------------------
ECHO Available operations:
ECHO ----------------------
ECHO .
::This prints the list of the operations

ECHO 1. Best already on site
ECHO 2. Best Audio and Best Video
ECHO 3. Best (no merge)
ECHO 4. Best MP4 and M4A
ECHO 5. Best MP4 and AAC
ECHO 6. MP3 (Audio)
ECHO 7. AAC (Audio)
ECHO 8. M4A (Audio)
ECHO -
ECHO f. List all possible formats
ECHO u. Auto-update
ECHO n. Process New File
ECHO x. Quit
ECHO -

::Ask the user to choose the operation they want

SET /P operation=Which operation would you like to do?:
if "%operation%"=="n" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="N" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="1" goto fop1
if "%operation%"=="2" goto fop2
if "%operation%"=="3" goto fop3
if "%operation%"=="4" goto fop4
if "%operation%"=="5" goto fop5
if "%operation%"=="6" goto fop6
if "%operation%"=="7" goto fop7
if "%operation%"=="8" goto fop8
if "%operation%"=="f" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="F" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="u" goto fopUpdate
if "%operation%"=="U" goto fopUpdate
goto fopQuit


:fop1
ECHO Best:
ytdlp.exe %DnBest% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop2
ECHO Best Audio and Best Video:
ytdlp.exe %DnBestAudVid% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop3
ECHO Best No Merge:
ytdlp.exe %DnBestUnmerge% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop4
ECHO Best MP4 and MPa:
ytdlp.exe %DnBestMP4_MPA% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop5
ECHO Best MP4 and AAC:
ytdlp.exe %DnBestMP4_AAC% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop6
ECHO MP3:
ytdlp.exe %DnMP3% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop7
ECHO AAC:
ytdlp.exe %DnAAC% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fop8
ECHO M4A:
ytdlp.exe %DnM4A% -o %Destination% %URL%
pause
goto top

:fopFormat
ECHO List of all possible formats:
ytdlp.exe -F %URL%
pause
goto top

:fopUpdate
ECHO Updates:
ytdlp.exe -U
pause
goto top

:fopNew
SET /P URL=Please enter the video URL:
goto top

:fopQuit

[creakndale]

[ss]vegeta,

Works great. Thank you so much !!

creakndale

[creakndale]

Hi. Back again hoping for some help with WinSpirit's .bat file with later versions of yt-dlp.
Per [SS]vegeta's post... when a new version of yt-dlp.exe is released, I've been replacing the older version with the later version. This has worked great through the 2023-12-30 version of yt-dlp. Starting with yt-dlp version release 2024-03-10 through the current 2024-07-09 version, when running the .bat file and paste the url the program just hangs. I've continued using the old 2023-12-30 version but now when it runs it gives error messages and aborts.
Has anyone run into this and know of a solution?

creakndale

[lomero]

try this tool from github https://github.com/ErrorFlynn/ytdlp-interface

[Gromyko]

First, the link suggested by lomero is recommended more than this script.

I have implemented some very minor changes as the original script mostly still works. Challenge for the operator may be the usage of ytdlp as opposed to the correct name of yt-dlp.

@echo off
echo+

title %cd%\%0 

rem set DnBest=--no-warnings --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f best
set DnBest=--no-warnings
set DnBestAudVid=--no-warnings --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata
set DnBestUnmerge=--no-warnings --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo,bestaudio"
set DnBestMP4_MPA=--no-warnings --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
set DnBestMP4_AAC=--no-warnings --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=aac]/best[ext=mp4]/best"
set DnMP3=--no-warnings --write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format mp3
set DnAAC=--no-warnings --write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format aac
set DnM4A=--no-warnings --write-all-thumbnails --hls-prefer-native --add-metadata --embed-thumbnail -f bestaudio/best -x --audio-quality 1 --audio-format m4a

set Destination=%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\Video/%%(title)s.%%(ext)s

rem https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/388113-Simple-Youtube-dl-Bat-file-for-easy-download

if not -%1-==-- set url=%*
if -%1-==-- goto fopNew

:top

cls

echo+
echo File Name : %~n0


echo+
echo url : %url%
echo+

echo ----------------------
echo Available operations:
echo ----------------------
echo .

::This prints the list of the operations

echo 1. Best already on site
echo 2. Best Audio and Best Video
echo 3. Best (no merge)
echo 4. Best MP4 and M4A
echo 5. Best MP4 and AAC
echo 6. MP3 (Audio)
echo 7. AAC (Audio)
echo 8. M4A (Audio)
echo -
echo f. List all possible formats
echo u. Auto-update
echo n. Process New File
echo x. Quit
echo -

rem goto end

::Ask the user to choose the operation they want

set /p operation=Which operation would you like to do?
if "%operation%"=="n" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="N" goto fopNew
if "%operation%"=="1" goto fop1
if "%operation%"=="2" goto fop2
if "%operation%"=="3" goto fop3
if "%operation%"=="4" goto fop4
if "%operation%"=="5" goto fop5
if "%operation%"=="6" goto fop6
if "%operation%"=="7" goto fop7
if "%operation%"=="8" goto fop8
if "%operation%"=="f" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="F" goto fopFormat
if "%operation%"=="u" goto fopUpdate
if "%operation%"=="U" goto fopUpdate
goto fopQuit

:fop1
echo+
echo Best:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnBest% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop2
echo+
echo Best Audio and Best Video:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnBestAudVid% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop3
echo+
echo Best No Merge:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnBestUnmerge% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop4
echo+
echo Best MP4 and MPa:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnBestMP4_MPA% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop5
echo+
echo Best MP4 and AAC:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnBestMP4_AAC% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop6
echo+
echo MP3:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnMP3% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop7
echo+
echo AAC:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnAAC% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fop8
echo+
echo M4A:
echo+
yt-dlp %DnM4A% -o %Destination% %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fopFormat
echo+
echo List of all possible formats:
echo+
yt-dlp --no-warnings --quiet -F %url%
echo+
pause
goto top

:fopUpdate
echo+
echo Updates:
echo+
yt-dlp -U
pause
goto top

:fopNew
set /p url=Please enter the video url:
goto top

:fopQuit

:end
echo+
echo Program Complete
echo+

pause

[Kadio]

I have another simple script for downloading free materials from YouTube.

@echo off
set /p "url=Enter the URL of the video: "
yt-dlp -F %url%
set /p "video_id=Enter the video format ID: "
set /p "audio_id=Enter the audio format ID: "
yt-dlp -f %video_id%+%audio_id% %url%
echo Download complete.
pause