YouTube Video Downloader

What this skill does

• •Download single YouTube videos with selectable resolutions from 360p to 1080p
• •Convert video streams into mp4, webm, or mkv formats automatically
• •Extract audio-only content and save as high-quality MP3 files
• •Specify custom output directories for better project organization
• •Auto-handles yt-dlp dependency installation upon first execution

When to use it

• ✓Fetching instructional video content for offline analysis
• ✓Creating audio transcripts from video lectures using local speech-to-text tools
• ✓Archiving demonstration videos for local project documentation
• ✓Gathering source media for generative AI training or data processing pipelines

When not to use it

• ✕Downloading YouTube playlists or entire channels in bulk
• ✕Downloading age-restricted, private, or geo-blocked content that requires authentication

How to invoke it

Example prompts that trigger this skill:

• “Save the video at this URL as an MP4 file”
• “Download the video from https://youtube.com/watch?v=xyz as a 720p file”
• “Get just the audio from this video and save it to my downloads folder”
• “Download the video at this link in webm format”
• “Pull the 1080p version of this YouTube video into my assets directory”

Example workflow

1. Identify a technical tutorial video URL for your project
2. Ask the agent to download the video in 720p format
3. Specify the target output directory in the command parameters
4. The agent installs necessary dependencies if missing
5. The agent processes the stream and verifies the file exists in the directory

Prerequisites

• –Python 3.x installed in the environment
• –Active internet connection for media fetching

Pitfalls & limitations

• !Does not support batch processing of playlists
• !High-resolution downloads consume significant disk space and bandwidth
• !Performance depends on host machine network stability and YouTube's throttling policies

FAQ

How it compares

Unlike manual browser downloads, this tool allows for programmatic resolution and format enforcement, ensuring consistent file types for downstream media processing.

Source & trust

From the source: “# YouTube Video Downloader Download YouTube videos with full control over quality and format settings. ## Quick Start The simplest way to download a video: ```bash python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" ``` This downloads the video in best available quality as MP…”

# YouTube Video Downloader

Download YouTube videos with full control over quality and format settings.

## Quick Start

The simplest way to download a video:

```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
```

This downloads the video in best available quality as MP4 to `/mnt/user-data/outputs/`.

## Options

### Quality Settings

Use `-q` or `--quality` to specify video quality:

- `best` (default): Highest quality available
- `1080p`: Full HD
- `720p`: HD
- `480p`: Standard definition
- `360p`: Lower quality
- `worst`: Lowest quality available

Example:
```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -q 720p
```

### Format Options

Use `-f` or `--format` to specify output format (video downloads only):

- `mp4` (default): Most compatible
- `webm`: Modern format
- `mkv`: Matroska container

Example:
```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -f webm
```

### Audio Only

Use `-a` or `--audio-only` to download only audio as MP3:

```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -a
```

### Custom Output Directory

Use `-o` or `--output` to specify a different output directory:

```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -o /path/to/directory
```

## Complete Examples

1. Download video in 1080p as MP4:
```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 1080p
```

2. Download audio only as MP3:
```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -a
```

3. Download in 720p as WebM to custom directory:
```bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 720p -f webm -o /custom/path
```

## How It Works

The skill uses `yt-dlp`, a robust YouTube downloader that:
- Automatically installs itself if not present
- Fetches video information before downloading
- Selects the best available streams matching your criteria
- Merges video and audio streams when needed
- Supports a wide range of YouTube video formats

## Important Notes

- Downloads are saved to `/mnt/user-data/outputs/` by default
- Video filename is automatically generated from the video title
- The script handles installation of yt-dlp automatically
- Only single videos are downloaded (playlists are skipped by default)
- Higher quality videos may take longer to download and use more disk space

Quoted from ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills for reference — see the original for the authoritative, latest version.

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