How to download playlist to mp3 format with youtube-dl?

Question

I'm trying to download some videos in mp3 format. It's a playlist. How do I download the whole playlist using one command?

Solution 1

Both parts of this question (downloading in mp3 and downloading a playlist) are supported by youtube-dl:

youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" <url to playlist>

Some notes from me and the comments:

• Older versions of youtube-dl struggle with modern playlists. You might need to replace the repo version with the latest.

• cmo: You can ignore missing ("unavailable in your country", or removed) videos with an -i flag.

• frans: If your playlist isn't working and the URL contains a v=<ID> element, remove it so there's just the ?list=... item in the querystring.

Solution 2

Note:- Old version of youtube-dl is not able to download play-list. first you know what is your youtube-dl version. To check version of Youtube-dl use command

youtube-dl --version

version 2014.02.17 and older version not able to download play-list. If you use older version then update it by

sudo youtube-dl -U

after successful update use command

youtube-dl -cit https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLttJ4RON7sleuL8wDpxbKHbSJ7BH4vvCk

Also you can create URL list in a simple text file and use following command.

 youtube-dl -cit -a file_name_in_which_you_paste_URL_list

For MP3 format Audio can saved. But audio saves as .m4a format on my machine.

youtube-dl -cit --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLttJ4RON7sleuL8wDpxbKHbSJ7BH4vvCk

NOTE :- If you install youtube-dl from Ubuntu software center. You can't update it from terminal.
Go Software center and update from it.
I test this commands on Wine because my youtube-dl also old. And I am unable to Update it.
If you can update your youtube-dl you can download play-list by using above commands.
I hope it helps...

Solution 3

There are a lot of instructions you can find using your favorite search engine. E.g.:

• www.xmodulu.com/...

For this Playlist it would be: youtube-dl -t https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYH8WvNV1YEnNVnJb5ZXxDCE2HDAVVo4M

I hope I could help you!

Solution 4

If you installed using pip, run the following to update:

 sudo pip install youtube-dl --upgrade

Enjoy...

Solution 5

an additon to Oli 's answer. If you have the playlist (in separate lines) with all URLs in it in a text file to download:

youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 --batch-file="/full/path/to/playlist"

View more solutions

Comments

[Paul Rougieux]

To get the URL for a mix, right click on a song in the mix in the right column. "Copy link location" will give a url ending with &index=7. This is the kind of link which will cause [youtube:playlist] Downloading playlist ....

[IndexOutOfBoundsException]

And you should add the parameters by @Oli, too. youtube-dl -t --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYH8WvNV1YEnNVnJb5ZXx‌​DCE2HDAVVo4M

[user267628]

nope it only downloaded the first video

[Oli]

@user267628 I've tested this with a playlist URL and it works for me. I had to upgrade youtube-dl (see link at the end) but it sounds like your problem is you're not giving it a playlist URL.

[user267628]

nope only one song loads

[tshepang]

works for me (version 2015.02.28)

[Madhav Nikam]

see also

[Madhav Nikam]

python base installation

[penta]

it works perfectly for me

[Stephen Angelico]

Don't use the Windows version in Wine, just install it with PIP (the Python package manager). You may need to install PIP (sudo apt install pip3), but then sudo pip3 install youtube-dl to install, and sudo pip3 install youtube-dl --upgrade to get the latest version. I recommend upgrading every time before you use youtube-dl. Oh, and yes, use the Python 3 PIP instead of Python 2.

[frans]

Sometimes you copy s.th. like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<VIDEO_ID>&list=<LIST_ID>. I had to remove the v=<ID> part from the URL.

[Wilf]

Easier to just get the script (using curl and chmod as suggested here) than use a package manager (pip, apt etc)

[Stígandr]

Wilf, you get the latest version too, which you need to build sometimes depending on distro. but chmod +x yes

[Stígandr]

Sometimes you need the updated source, just git it and compile it.

[Stígandr]

Damn just noticed this command only downloads the 51st songs in a playlist due to well youtube.... just so you are aware, must make some workaround of sorts here

[cmo]

works perfectly, after updating youtube-dl (i.e. after executing youtube-dl -U). very elegant answer

[cmo]

I recommend you include the -i argument in the command. it will skip any videos in the playlist that have been removed from youtube

[undersound]

@cmo thanks for this tip. Works also to skip blocked content based on country.

[Jack]

Thanks for that! @frans thanks you too the tip! Worked fine after removing the v=ID part from the URL :)

[ssi-anik]

github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/698#issuecomment-212984683 to skip errors

[Paul Rougieux]

Thanks for this suggestion. What does the 251 stand for? Is this a particular format?

[Goddard]

It is the format type you want to use. You don't have to use the cryptic numbers. If you just want the best and do not care about the format then you can use nothing. It will automatically download the best format it can get, but if you specifically want audio you can target a certain type. github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/…

[Paul Rougieux]

Thanks, that link says "youtube-dl uses -f bestvideo+bestaudio/best as the default format selection ", I guess it makes sens to use -f 'worstvideo,bestaudio' to download sound files.

[cfx]

I wanted the padded track numbers as a prefix so I changed this to youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 -o "%(autonumber)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" <url to playlist> (added %(autonumber)02d-)