youtube-downloader

$npx skills add composiohq/awesome-claude-skills --skill youtube-downloader
SKILL.md

Youtube Downloader

Download YouTube videos with full control over quality and format settings. The simplest way to download a video: ```

YouTube Video Downloader

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

Quick Start

The simplest way to download a video:
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:
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:
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -f webm

Audio Only

Use -a or --audio-only to download only audio as MP3:
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -a

Custom Output Directory

Use -o or --output to specify a different output directory:
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -o /path/to/directory

Complete Examples

  1. Download video in 1080p as MP4:
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -q 1080p
  1. Download audio only as MP3:
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" -a
  1. Download in 720p as WebM to custom directory:
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