youtube-dl vs yt-dlp
youtube-dl
ytdl-org.github.ioyt-dlp
github.comSide by side
| Figure | youtube-dl | yt-dlp |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Video Downloaders | 8.5 (#27) | 9.0 (#5) |
| Batch downloads | Yes | Yes |
| Device platforms | Windows,macOS,Linux | Windows,macOS,Linux |
| Embedding | The README includes instructions for embedding youtube-dl in other Python programs. | The project documents embedding yt-dlp in Python programs through its YoutubeDL interface. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| License | The project says it is released to the public domain and may be modified, redistributed, or used freely. | The repository is marked Unlicense, while the README explains that some bundled release binaries contain third-party code under other licenses. |
| Output formats | 3gp,aac,flv,m4a,mp3,mp4,ogg,wav,webm | avi,flv,mkv,mov,mp4,webm,aac,aiff,alac,flac,m4a,mka,mp3,ogg,opus,vorbis,wav |
| Playlist downloads | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | youtube-dl is a command-line program for downloading videos from YouTube and other supported sites. | yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for thousands of sites. |
| Subtitle downloads | Yes | Yes |
| Supported sources | YouTube,Vimeo,Dailymotion,Facebook,SoundCloud,and many other listed sites | YouTube,Bilibili,Dailymotion,Facebook,Vimeo,TikTok,Twitch,and many other extractors |
Plans
In their own words
youtube-dl
youtube-dl has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
yt-dlp
yt-dlp is a free command-line tool for downloading audio and video from online sources. It supports thousands of sites, including YouTube, Bilibili, Dailymotion, Facebook, Vimeo, TikTok and Twitch. Downloads can include playlists, subtitles or batches, with output options spanning video formats such as AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, MP4 and WebM, and audio formats such as AAC, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, Ogg, Opus and WAV. It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. Standalone macOS executables require macOS 10.15 or later, while Windows binaries support Windows 8 or later; Linux binaries cover several system and processor variants. The project is a fork of youtube-dl based on the inactive youtube-dlc, and its public repository is licensed under the Unlicense. It supports CPython 3.10+ and PyPy 3.11+, while full YouTube support requires yt-dlp-ejs. Stable releases generally follow a mostly monthly schedule, and versions more than 90 days old display an update warning. Release checksums have SHA-512 and SHA-256 signature files with a GPG public key.