---
title: youtube-dl tips & tricks
date:  2024-11-08
---

Everyone knows `youtube-dl` doesn't really work these days. What **does** work is
the successor, `yt-dlp`[1]. I install it via brew[2]:

```sh
brew install yt-dlp
```

Here's the contents of my `~/.config/yt-dlp/config` (it automatically titles
videos I download):

```plain
--format-sort "ext"
-o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
```

Finally, here's what's in my `~/.zshrc` (I use zsh[3]):

```sh
alias yt="yt-dlp"

ig() {
  yt $1 -f mp4
}
```

Downloading YouTube videos is as easy as:

```sh
yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5zwYVh8i5w
```

And Instagram videos:

```sh
# this is an hour-long video and Instagram pauses playback if you dare multitask
ig https://www.instagram.com/p/DCDRaRoxJYW/
```

---

[1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
[2]: https://brew.sh
[3]: https://ohmyz.sh