Quick tutorial: Installing youtube-dl on macOS

How to install youtube-dl on mac? (quick guide).

YouTube-dl is a powerful command line tool that allows you to download videos and audio from various websites, including the popular YouTube service. Installing youtube-dl on macOS may seem like a daunting task for some users, so in this quick guide, we’ll go over the basic steps needed to install and start using this tool.

Step 1: Open a terminal on your Mac. You can do this by going to the Programs -> Utilities folder and selecting the Terminal program.

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Step 2: Install Homebrew if you don’t already have it. Homebrew is a handy package manager for macOS. To install Homebrew, copy and paste the following command into Terminal and press Enter:

ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Step 3: Install youtube-dl with Homebrew using the following command:

brew install youtube-dl

Step 4: Wait for the installation to complete. After successful installation, you will be able to use youtube-dl from the terminal.

Now you are ready to use youtube-dl on your Mac! Don’t forget to check the official documentation on how to use this tool to learn about the available options and commands.

Installing Homebrew on macOS

Homebrew is a popular package manager for macOS. It allows you to install and update software that is not included in the standard macOS toolkit.

To install Homebrew on macOS, follow the instructions below:

Open Terminal. It can be found in the Utilities folder in the Programs folder.
Copy and paste the following command into Terminal and press Enter:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" Homebrew will now be installed on your computer.

To verify that Homebrew is installed correctly, run the command:

brew doctor If Homebrew is installed correctly, you should see the message “Your system is ready to brew”.

You can now use Homebrew to install various software on your macOS.

Installing Xcode Command Line Tools

Before you can install youtube-dl on your macOS device, you need to install Xcode Command Line Tools. These tools allow you to work with the Xcode development environment without having to install Xcode itself.

To install Xcode Command Line Tools, follow these steps:

Open Terminal, macOS’s built-in terminal.
Type the following command and press Enter:

*Note: You may be prompted to enter your administrator password to confirm the installation.

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After entering the command, Terminal will automatically begin downloading and installing Xcode Command Line Tools. This may take a few minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Once the installation of Xcode Command Line Tools is complete, you will be ready to install youtube-dl and use it to download videos from YouTube and other platforms.

Installing youtube-dl via Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for macOS that allows you to install various programs and utilities from the command line.

To install youtube-dl via Homebrew, follow these steps:

Open Terminal on your computer. You can find it in the Applications folder or use Spotlight search.
In Terminal, type the command:


xcode-select –install

This command will install the necessary Xcode developer tools if they have not already been installed.

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Next, enter the command:


/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh ) “

This command will install Homebrew on your computer, following the on-screen instructions. You may be required to enter your administrator password.

After the Homebrew installation is complete, enter the command:


brew install youtube-dl

This command will install youtube-dl using Homebrew. The process may take some time, depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Once the installation is complete, you can use youtube-dl from the command line to download videos from YouTube and other supported sites.

Open Terminal

Terminal is a built-in application in macOS that allows the user to work with the command line. To open Terminal, follow these steps:

Open the Applications folder.
Navigate to the “Utilities” folder.
Locate and open the Terminal application.

You can also use the Spotlight search bar to find and open Terminal. Simply press Command + Spacebar, type “Terminal” in the search box, and select the application in the search results.

Once Terminal opens, you will see a black window with a command line where you can type commands to perform various tasks.

Checking the installation of youtube-dl on macOS

After installing youtube-dl on macOS, you can verify that the program is successfully installed and ready to use. Here are some simple commands to verify that youtube-dl is installed and running:

Open Terminal on your Mac. You can find it in your Utilities folder through a Spotlight search.
Type youtube-dl --version and press Enter.
This will show you the installed version of youtube-dl. It should output something like “2021.08.28”. This means that youtube-dl has been successfully installed and is ready to use.

Now that you have verified that youtube-dl is installed, you can use it to download videos from YouTube and other supported sites.

Note: If you see the message “command not found” after entering the youtube-dl --version command, it means that youtube-dl was not installed correctly or its path was not added to your system’s environment variables. In this case, try reinstalling youtube-dl or clarify the path to its executable file.

FAQ:

How to install youtube-dl on macOS?

To install youtube-dl on macOS, you can use Homebrew or install it directly from source. To install using Homebrew, you need to open Terminal and run the command “brew install youtube-dl”. If you prefer to install it from source, you need to install Python first, and then you can download the source code from the youtube-dl repository on GitHub and follow the instructions in the README file.

What is youtube-dl?

youtube-dl is a free and open source command line for downloading videos from various video platforms, including YouTube. It supports many sites and provides many options for downloading videos in different formats and resolutions.

What are the main features that youtube-dl provides?

youtube-dl provides many features, including the ability to download videos in different formats and resolutions, extract audio from videos, download entire playlists, select only part of a video to download, automatically download subtitles, and more.

How do I use youtube-dl to download videos?

To use youtube-dl, you need to open Terminal and run the command “youtube-dl” with the URL of the video you want to download. For example, “youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=video_id" . You can also use different options to specify the format or permission to upload.

How do I update youtube-dl to the latest version?

To upgrade youtube-dl to the latest version, you need to open Terminal and run the command “brew upgrade youtube-dl” if you installed it from Homebrew. If you installed it from source, you can download the latest version from the youtube-dl repository on GitHub and replace the previous version with the new version file.