youtube-dl Video Downloader

youtube-dl is a free and open-source command-line program to download videos from YouTube and over 1,000 other video platforms. Originally created by Ricardo Garcia in 2006 and maintained by the youtube-dl community on GitHub with over 130,000 stars, youtube-dl has become the standard tool for video extraction and archiving. Key features: multi-platform support (YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, SoundCloud, BBC iPlayer, and over 1,000 other video and audio platforms via extractors). Format selection (list and select from available video formats and quality levels including 4K, 1080p, 720p, audio-only, and specific codecs like H.264, VP9, and AV1). Playlist support (download entire playlists, channels, and user uploads with configurable numbering and metadata). Subtitle support (download and embed subtitles in multiple languages including auto-generated captions, with format conversion to SRT, VTT, and ASS). Metadata extraction (extract video title, description, upload date, duration, view count, and thumbnails without downloading video). Audio extraction (extract audio tracks from videos and convert to MP3, M4A, Opus, or WAV). Proxy support (HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS proxy support for geo-restricted content and anonymous downloading). Rate limiting (configurable download rate limiting and concurrent fragment downloads). Authentication (username and password login, cookie file support for age-restricted and members-only content). Output templates (configurable output filename templates with metadata variables for organized file naming). JSON output (structured JSON metadata output for programmatic processing and scripting). Embed metadata (embed thumbnails, metadata, chapter markers, and subtitles into downloaded video files). Config files (per-user and per-directory configuration files for default options). Python-based (pure Python implementation requiring no compilation, running on any system with Python 3).