yt-dlp Operations

Operational expertise for yt-dlp as the acquisition layer: get the right bytes onto disk in the right codec, politely, resumably — then hand off. Anything that re-encodes, cuts precisely, grades, or packages after download is ffmpeg-ops territory; AI-driven editing of what you acquired (transcript → EDL → final cut) is cutcraft — the full chain is acquire → process → edit.

Doctrine: version first, formats second

yt-dlp vs the platforms is an arms race. Releases land near-monthly and extractors break between them — the majority of "yt-dlp is broken" reports are a stale binary. Before debugging anything, check staleness:

bash skills/ytdlp-ops/scripts/check-ytdlp-version.sh --live          # vs latest GitHub release
bash skills/ytdlp-ops/scripts/check-ytdlp-version.sh --live --json | jq '.data.days_behind'

Exit 10 = installed build is >60 days behind latest, a documented flag vanished from yt-dlp --help, or the smoke extraction hit an extractor-internal error → update before any other triage. Exit 7 is advisory: the check ran but could not verify extraction (YouTube bot-gated our IP, no JS runtime, or an unrecognised failure) — common from datacenter IPs such as CI runners:

uv tool upgrade yt-dlp        # pip/uv-managed install (preferred)
yt-dlp -U                     # standalone binary self-update only

Second rule: pick codecs at download time. The default "best" on YouTube is VP9/AV1 + Opus in WebM/MKV. If the destination needs H.264 MP4, stating that in -S costs nothing — discovering it after download costs a full transcode.

Cookbook

Format selection (-S over -f)

# Declarative sort (-S) — PREFER this. States preferences in priority order and
# always degrades gracefully to the nearest available. h264 + m4a merges
# natively into mp4: zero post-download transcode.
yt-dlp -S "res:1080,vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a" --merge-output-format mp4 URL

# Hard filter (-f) — exact control, but FAILS ("Requested format is not
# available") when nothing matches. Use only for genuine hard requirements,
# always with a / fallback chain:
yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=1080][vcodec^=avc1]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[height<=1080]/b" URL

# Survey what the extractor actually offers before arguing with selectors:
yt-dlp -F URL

# Smallest acceptable file (bandwidth/storage constrained; + prefix = ascending):
yt-dlp -S "res:480,+size,+br" URL

# Best quality regardless of codec (archival source for later ffmpeg-ops work):
yt-dlp -S "res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec,acodec" --merge-output-format mkv URL

Sort-field reference, filter grammar, per-destination presets: references/format-selection.md + assets/format-presets.json.

Clip at download (--download-sections)

# Download ONLY 10:00-12:30 — ranged requests, not a full download + trim:
yt-dlp --download-sections "*10:00-12:30" -S "res:1080,vcodec:h264" URL

# Frame-accurate cut points (re-encodes around the cuts only):
yt-dlp --download-sections "*10:00-12:30" --force-keyframes-at-cuts URL

# Last 5 minutes / by chapter-title regex / multiple sections:
yt-dlp --download-sections "*-5:00-inf" URL
yt-dlp --download-sections "Intro" --download-sections "Outro" URL

Same physics as ffmpeg copy-cuts: without --force-keyframes-at-cuts the section boundaries snap to keyframes (can be seconds off). Need many precise cuts from one source? Download once, then use the ffmpeg-ops EDL workflow.

Audio-only extraction (STT pipelines)

# THE STT acquisition command. YouTube's best audio IS Opus — asking for opus
# means -x COPIES the stream out (no transcode, no quality loss):
yt-dlp -x --audio-format opus -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s" URL

# Zero-processing alternative — native container, no ffmpeg step at all:
yt-dlp -f "ba" -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s" URL

# Whole channel's audio for a transcription pipeline (archive = resumable):
yt-dlp -x --audio-format opus --download-archive stt-archive.txt \
  -o "%(channel)s/%(id)s.%(ext)s" CHANNEL_URL

Do NOT --audio-format mp3 for STT — that's a lossy→lossy transcode that helps nothing. Whisper-prep (16 kHz mono PCM) is the next stage: ffmpeg-ops stt-whisper.

Playlists, channels, incremental sync

# Playlist with ID-correlated filenames + archive file (resumable, dedup-safe):
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt \
  -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)03d - %(title).100B [%(id)s].%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# Incremental channel sync (cron-friendly): stop at the first already-archived
# video instead of re-walking the entire channel every run:
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt --break-on-existing --lazy-playlist \
  -S "res:1080,vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a" CHANNEL_URL

# Subset selection / list without downloading:
yt-dlp -I 1:10 PLAYLIST_URL
yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(id)s %(title)s" PLAYLIST_URL

# DRY-RUN any batch before committing to it — preview every output filename
# (--print implies --simulate; nothing downloads):
yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(playlist_index)03d - %(title).100B [%(id)s].%(ext)s" PLAYLIST_URL

Archive format, sync-job patterns, when --break-on-existing misfires (non-chronological playlists): references/playlists-archives.md.

Livestreams and premieres

# Capture a livestream from its BEGINNING, not from "now" (YouTube keeps a
# rolling live buffer; without this you get the moment you pressed enter):
yt-dlp --live-from-start URL

# Scheduled premiere/stream: poll (1-10 min between retries) and start when live:
yt-dlp --wait-for-video 60-600 URL

Live capture caveats: a crashed live download is not resumable like a VOD (fragments expire) — write to fast local disk (-P temp:), not a network share. For archival quality, prefer re-downloading the VOD after the stream ends; the live manifest often caps below the post-processed VOD.

Subtitles

# Manual subs, English variants, skip live-chat pseudo-subs, as SRT:
yt-dlp --write-subs --sub-langs "en.*,-live_chat" --convert-subs srt --skip-download URL

# Auto-generated (ASR) captions — exist for most videos when manual subs don't:
yt-dlp --write-auto-subs --sub-langs en --convert-subs srt --skip-download URL

# Embed into the media file instead of a sidecar:
yt-dlp --embed-subs --sub-langs en URL

Sub formats, language matching, transcript-only workflows (subs as cheap STT): references/subtitles-metadata.md.

SponsorBlock

# Mark segments as chapters — LOSSLESS and reversible. Prefer this:
yt-dlp --sponsorblock-mark all URL

# Cut segments out of the media — modifies the file, re-encodes at boundaries:
yt-dlp --sponsorblock-remove sponsor,selfpromo URL

Category list, mark-vs-remove trade-offs, interaction with --download-sections: references/sponsorblock.md.

Cookies and auth

# Pull cookies from a browser profile (private/members/age-gated content):
yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser firefox URL

# Chrome 127+ on Windows uses app-bound cookie encryption — extraction usually
# FAILS. Use Firefox, or export a Netscape cookies.txt and pass it directly:
yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt URL

Account-ban warning: authenticated bulk downloading is the fastest way to get an account flagged. Use a throwaway account, always pair cookies with the politeness flags below. Details + browser matrix: references/auth-cookies.md.

Rate limiting and politeness

# The polite-bulk baseline — cap bandwidth, space out requests, retry patiently:
yt-dlp --limit-rate 4M --sleep-requests 1 \
  --sleep-interval 5 --max-sleep-interval 15 \
  --retries 10 --fragment-retries 10 URL

# Speed (single video, host not throttling you): parallel fragment download:
yt-dlp --concurrent-fragments 4 URL

Politeness is self-interest: 429s and IP flags cost more time than sleeps do.

Remux vs recode

# Remux: container change only — lossless, near-instant. yt-dlp's job:
yt-dlp -S "vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a" --remux-video mp4 URL

# Recode: a FULL TRANSCODE. Almost never yt-dlp's job — you give up ffmpeg-ops'
# CRF/preset/pix_fmt control for a blind default encode. If codecs must change:
yt-dlp -S "res,vcodec,acodec" URL        # 1. acquire best-native
# 2. then transcode with the ffmpeg-ops web-compatible H.264 recipe.

Rule: --remux-video whenever the codecs already fit the target container; --recode-video only for throwaway one-offs where quality control doesn't matter.

Output templates

# ID-in-brackets convention — survives renames, correlates with archive files:
yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title).100B [%(id)s].%(ext)s" URL

# Cross-filesystem safety (strips spaces/unicode to ASCII-safe names):
yt-dlp --restrict-filenames -o "%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s" URL

# Split destination and scratch space (-P): fragments go to temp, final to home:
yt-dlp -P "D:/media" -P "temp:C:/tmp/ytdlp" URL

%(title).100B truncates at 100 bytes (UTF-8 safe — CJK titles break char-based truncation). Full field catalog and per-type templates: references/output-templates.md.

Metadata embedding

# Self-describing files — metadata, thumbnail and chapters travel with the media:
yt-dlp --embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail --embed-chapters URL

Beyond YouTube

yt-dlp ships ~1,800 extractors (yt-dlp --list-extractors); everything in this skill except the YouTube-specific parts (nsig, player clients) applies unchanged to Twitch, Vimeo, SoundCloud, TikTok, and the rest. yt-dlp -v URL names the extractor in use. For sites with no dedicated extractor, the generic extractor sniffs direct media/HLS URLs out of the page. When a non-YouTube site returns 403 to yt-dlp but plays fine in a browser, it's usually TLS-fingerprint blocking — --impersonate fixes it (see failure-triage).

Footguns

Footgun	The trap	The rule
Default format selection	YouTube "best" = VP9/AV1+Opus in WebM/MKV; downstream tooling expecting MP4 forces a transcode you could have avoided	State codecs at download: -S "vcodec:h264,acodec:m4a" --merge-output-format mp4
-f best	Selects best single pre-merged file — caps at ~720p on YouTube; modern high-res is always video+audio merged	Drop the -f entirely or use -S; b only as the tail of a / fallback chain
-f hard filters	"Requested format is not available" the moment an extractor stops offering that exact combo	Prefer -S (degrades gracefully); always end -f chains with /b
--recode-video casually	Full blind transcode — no CRF/preset/pix_fmt control, big quality/time cost	--remux-video when codecs fit; real transcodes via ffmpeg-ops
--download-sections w/o --force-keyframes-at-cuts	Clip boundaries snap to keyframes — seconds of slop	Add the flag when cuts must be exact (re-encodes at cuts only)
Channel sync w/o --break-on-existing	Every cron run re-walks the entire channel (thousands of metadata requests)	--download-archive + --break-on-existing --lazy-playlist
No %(id)s in filename	Title changes/dupes make files impossible to correlate with the archive	Always [%(id)s] in the template
--cookies-from-browser chrome on Windows	Chrome 127+ app-bound encryption — extraction fails	Use firefox, or export cookies.txt
Authenticated bulk runs, no sleeps	Account flagged/banned; IP rate-limited	Throwaway account + --sleep-requests/--sleep-interval always
Throttled to ~50-100 KB/s	Looks like a network problem; it's the nsig arms race	Update yt-dlp FIRST (check-ytdlp-version.sh --live)
"nsig extraction failed" / "unable to extract"	Debugging the command/network when the binary is stale	Same — update first; these errors mean outdated, not broken usage
Raw %(title)s filenames	Emoji/colons/slashes break on Windows and some CI filesystems	--restrict-filenames or .100B-truncated fields + [%(id)s]
Thin format list on a fresh machine	No JS runtime — YouTube player JS now needs one (EJS); runtime-less extraction is deprecated and may offer only low-res premuxed	Install deno, or --js-runtimes node; see failure-triage
git-bash (MSYS) path mangling	/tmp/...-style args convert per-arg — templates containing %(...)s skip conversion while plain paths convert, scattering outputs	Use Windows-style paths (X:/dir/...) for -o/-P/--download-archive under git-bash
pip-installed yt-dlp -U	Self-update doesn't work for pip/uv installs (silently a no-op with a warning)	uv tool upgrade yt-dlp; -U is for the standalone binary only

Failure triage

The ladder — run in order, stop at the first fix:

1. Stale binary? check-ytdlp-version.sh --live → exit 10 → update. This closes most "nsig extraction failed", missing-format, and throttling cases.
2. Reproduce verbosely: yt-dlp -v URL — read the actual extractor error, don't guess from the summary line.
3. 403 / "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" → identity problem: --cookies-from-browser firefox, or a different network/IP.
4. 429 / sudden slowdowns mid-run → rate limited: add the politeness flags, reduce --concurrent-fragments, back off and resume later (archive files make every run resumable).
5. Geo block ("not available in your country") → --proxy URL through an allowed region; the old --geo-bypass header tricks rarely work anymore.

Full decision tree with error-message → cause mapping, --extractor-args escape hatches, and when to file upstream: references/failure-triage.md.

Scripts

Follows the Skill Resource Protocol: --help with examples, stdout = data only, --json envelope (claude-mods.ytdlp-ops.version-check/v1), semantic exit codes (0 clean, 2 usage, 7 network/yt-dlp unavailable — advisory, 10 drift finding).

Script	Job	Worked invocation
check-ytdlp-version.sh	Staleness verifier: --offline structural (CI gate), --live = installed-version age vs latest GitHub release + documented-flag existence in yt-dlp --help + metadata-only smoke extraction	check-ytdlp-version.sh --live --json | jq '.data.days_behind' — exit 10 = >60 days behind, a documented flag vanished, or an extractor-internal smoke failure; 7 = advisory (network/API unreachable, or the smoke test was blocked/unverifiable — normal on a bot-gated datacenter IP)

References

Load on demand — one concept per file:

Reference	Load when
format-selection.md	Any -f/-S decision, codec targeting, filter grammar, avoiding transcodes
playlists-archives.md	Playlists, channels, --download-archive, incremental sync jobs
auth-cookies.md	Private/members/age-gated content, browser cookie matrix, ban avoidance
output-templates.md	-o field catalog, paths, sanitization, per-type routing
subtitles-metadata.md	Sub download/convert/embed, transcript workflows, metadata/thumbnail embedding
sponsorblock.md	SponsorBlock categories, mark vs remove, chapter workflows
failure-triage.md	Any download failure — 403/429/geo/nsig/throttling decision tree

Assets: format-presets.json — canonical, date-stamped -S/flag presets per destination (web MP4, STT audio, archival, clip, mobile-small).

Self-test

bash skills/ytdlp-ops/tests/run.sh   # fully offline; no network, no yt-dlp needed

Structural assertions plus the verifier's 60-day age logic exercised through its CM_YTDLP_INSTALLED/CM_YTDLP_LATEST test seams. Real --live runs happen only in the scheduled freshness workflow — a network blip must never fail a PR.