youtube-dl
ytdl-org/youtube-dlReviewed by AI
Radar found strong risk signals in this project. It stays visible so you can read the evidence, but it is left out of rankings and recommendations.
What it does
youtube-dl is a command-line program that downloads videos from YouTube and many other video sites. You type a command with the video link, and it saves the file; it can also download whole playlists, pick a quality or keep only the audio. It has no windows or buttons, so it suits people comfortable with a terminal. On Windows there is a single .exe file; converting or merging formats needs ffmpeg. The last GitHub release is from December 2021, so it may not work with sites that changed since then.
How easy it is to install
C · install 1 or 2 tools · Windows
- Windows C
- macOS C
- Linux C
Windows is the shortest path and sets the grade: the release is a single 8 MB youtube-dl.exe that you place in a folder on your PATH and then drive by typing commands. Mac (brew install youtube-dl) and Linux (a sudo curl command into /usr/local/bin) take one terminal step more. On every system you also need ffmpeg to pull out audio or merge video and sound.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 141,442on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- 125,141,9273,812 this week
- Growth
- +44stars in 6 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- FFmpeg
- To build from source
- Python, FFmpeg
- Disk space
- 8 MB–23 MB · from the installer
- Accounts or keys
- None
- Cost
- Free · Released to the public domain (Unlicense).
- License
- Unlicense (Permissive)
- Can replace
- 4K Video Downloader
- Last update
- Oct 30, 2026
Risk signals (7)
- HighInvolves another company's protection, license or terms
The program works around the video sites' own restrictions. README OPTIONS, Geo Restriction: "--geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header" and "--geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code". README --cache-dir: "At the moment, only YouTube player files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are cached", so it handles YouTube's scrambled video addresses. README Adobe Pass Options: "--ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV provider) identifier", "--ap-username USERNAME" and "--ap-password PASSWORD", which sign in with a pay-TV account to reach its video. Video sites' terms usually do not allow keeping a copy, and several countries restrict getting around a technical restriction by law.
AI review
- Attentionstale releases
Last release on 2021-12-16 (1778 days ago)
automatic check
- Attentionbypasses site restrictions
README OPTIONS: "--geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header" and "--geo-bypass-country CODE". The cache section says "only YouTube player files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are cached", so the program works around YouTube's scrambled video addresses, and the Adobe Pass options ("--ap-mso MSO", "--ap-username", "--ap-password") sign in with a pay-TV provider account to reach its video. Saving video this way goes against the terms of most video sites, and in some countries getting around a technical restriction like this is against the law on its own.
AI review
- Attentionno release since 2021
The latest GitHub release is 2021.12.17 (published 2021-12-16) and the last commit was 2025-11-26, 337 days before this check. Video sites change often, so the released youtube-dl.exe may no longer work with them.
AI review
- Infodownloads installed from vendor site not github
README INSTALLATION tells UNIX users to run "sudo curl -L https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl" and Windows users to fetch https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe, so the file comes from yt-dl.org rather than from this repository's releases. The program also has a built-in "-U, --update Update this program to latest version".
AI review
- Infocan run commands on downloaded files
README post-processing options: "--exec CMD Execute a command on the file after downloading and post-processing", and settings can come from a configuration file (~/.config/youtube-dl/config or %APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt) that youtube-dl reads automatically unless you pass --ignore-config.
AI review
- Infostores account passwords in a file
README: credentials for sites can be kept in a .netrc file in your home folder in plain text, in the form "machine youtube login [email protected] password my_youtube_password".
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- Whether it still downloads from YouTube and other major sites today.
- Whether the yt-dl.org download links in the README still work and are still run by the project.
- Whether the 2021 Windows .exe runs on current Windows without extra system files.
- Whether downloading a given video is allowed by that site's terms or by the law where you live.
- Whether the built-in --update command still finds a newer version.