[TUTORIAL] yt-dlp (CLI YouTube Downloader) - .mp4 instead of WebM

General system Applications
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For those who use yt-dlp to download YouTube videos

  • yt-dlp defaults to .webm when downloading. Here’s how to get .mp4.
  • In addition to yt-dlp, make sure you have ffmpeg installed. It’s available in the Arch Extra Repo

  1. Example YouTube Video Link: The standard, default for using yt-dlp would be…
    yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY
    This provides a .webm file.

  2. I researched how to get an .mp4 instead. If you would like to have an .mp4 instead, add -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 to the download command. So the full command for the example video above would be…
    yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4
    This downloads mp4/m4a if available, and if not, will download the best available format(s) and recode/merge to mp4.

  3. I’ve tried 7 YouTube videos using this and, so far, it’s worked 100% of the time.

  4. As with any tutorial, your mileage may vary.

RELEVANT EDITS -

  • EDIT: If you’re using the fish shell, you’ll need a single ' and the beginning and end of the desired YouTube video link in the command. Like this…
    yt-dlp 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY' -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4

  • EDIT 2: These also work well (using the example video above).

  1. From @pebcak -
    yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY

  2. From @thefrog -
    yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' -o storepath'%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY

9 Likes
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How about yt-dlp --format mp4 <URL> ?

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Yes, yt-dlp --format mp4 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY' works. But it downloads either 360p or 480p, not the best available quality as yt-dlp 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6uCrpzbPY' -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 does.

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Perhaps I misunderstood

So if mp4/m4a is available, will the download default to 360p or 480p?

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If 360 or 480 is the best available quality for the video in question, then yes.

I’m up to 11 test downloads using the method I showed. All have been best quality available. Two were at 4k (3840x2160), one was at 2k (2560x1440) seven were at 1080p and one at 720p.

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yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' -o $storepath'%(title)s.%(ext)s' $url

the above has always given me the best downloads

2 Likes
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Alright.

Were these available as mp4 already or they were converted to mp4 from other formats?

For best video and audio for mp4 (if available) the following should work as well:

yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]' <URL>

1 Like
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Not sure, though from my OP if .mp4 isn’t available, it recodes to .mp4. Adding -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 downloads mp4/m4a if available, and if not, will download the best available format(s) and recode/merge to mp4.

1 Like
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@pebcak, this does work well:
yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]' 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWB6PhByJ2s'

@thefrog, this also worked well:
yt-dlp -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best' -o storepath'%(title)s.%(ext)s' 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWB6PhByJ2s'

2 Likes
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Yes. I have actually tried your command and what I had was a low bitrate video.

1 Like