Basic Downloads¶

Single Video¶

Download a video with the best available quality:

ytdl-go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc

Specific Quality¶

# 720p video
ytdl-go -quality 720p URL

# Lowest quality (smallest file)
ytdl-go -quality worst URL

Specific Container Format¶

# Prefer MP4
ytdl-go -format mp4 URL

# Prefer WebM
ytdl-go -format webm URL

Specific Itag¶

Use -list-formats to find the itag number, then download it directly:

ytdl-go -itag 137 URL

Multiple URLs¶

Download several videos at once:

ytdl-go URL1 URL2 URL3

Use -jobs to download in parallel:

ytdl-go -jobs 4 URL1 URL2 URL3 URL4

Network Options¶

# Custom timeout
ytdl-go -timeout 5m URL

# Resume downloads (automatic .part file detection)
ytdl-go URL

Scripting¶

# JSON output for machine parsing
ytdl-go -json URL

# Quiet mode (no progress bars, errors still shown)
ytdl-go -quiet URL

# Combine for pipelines
ytdl-go -json URL | jq -r 'select(.type=="item" and .status=="ok") | .output'