# ytdl-org/youtube-dl

Command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites

Repository: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/youtube-dl
Homepage: http://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/
Language: Python
License: Unlicense
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-02-19T16:45:25+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 53/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 68, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5785, "days_push": 195, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 141040, forks 10670 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:24.305787+00:00)

## What it is
youtube-dl is a Python-based command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and many other video platforms. It is released to the public domain and works on Unix, Windows, and macOS.

## Use cases
- download youtube videos from the command line
- save videos from various sites for offline viewing
- extract audio from youtube videos
- batch download playlists
- script automated video downloads

## When to choose
- you need a mature, widely-supported command-line video downloader
- you want a public-domain tool with no license restrictions
- you need to embed video downloading in Python scripts

## When to avoid
- you want the actively developed fork with better site support (yt-dlp)
- you need a GUI downloader
- you only target sites yt-dlp supports better

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, video-processing, http-client
- domain: media, developer-tools
- platform: windows, python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: video-downloader, youtube, media-download, public-domain, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- ytdl-org/youtube-dl (main) score 53

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:24.305787+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:11:06.925216+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:24.305787+00:00, sha a567f88e9f66)
  - homepage: http://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/ (fetched 2026-08-28T17:26:11.152171+00:00, sha 61642646489c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.