# Install yt-dlp with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman, scoop, winget, zypper Feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader. Version 2026.7.4 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-06. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:yt-dlp ``` ## Agent safety answer yt-dlp downloads media and can read cookies or credentials for authenticated sources. - **Credential access:** Reads browser cookies, netrc credentials, config files, and output paths. - **Remote mutation:** Mostly downloads, but may access authenticated services. - **Publish/artifact risk:** Can create large media artifacts and expose private media locally. - **Recommended control:** Gate cookie reads, authenticated downloads, and broad output paths. - **Agent-use guidance:** Allow public metadata queries; require approval for cookie use and private downloads. Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install yt-dlp ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: yt-dlp from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: yt-dlp from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#yt-dlp ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/yt/yt-dlp/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: yt-dlp from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install python313-yt-dlp ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: python313-yt-dlp from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - Chocolatey (92%): ```sh choco install yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Chocolatey community package catalog: yt-dlp from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','wiztree' - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/yt-dlp ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/yt-dlp.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - winget (92%): ```sh winget install --id yt-dlp.yt-dlp -e ``` Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: yt-dlp.yt-dlp from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:yt-dlp - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 2026.7.4 - **Source summary:** Feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** Unlicense - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-06T04:49:29Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - yt-dlp (cli) - yt-dlp (alias) ## Dependencies - certifi - deno - python@3.14 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 2026.7.4 - Package-manager updated: 2026-07-06 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage yt-dlp is the dominant modern fork in the youtube-dl family: a fast-moving command-line downloader for video and audio sites, with package significance far beyond “download a video” because archivists, researchers, automation scripts, and media workflows depend on its extractor maintenance. ### Project history The project’s README states the lineage directly: yt-dlp is a fork of youtube-dl based on the now inactive youtube-dlc. That lineage matters because youtube-dl began in 2006 and became the archetypal site-extractor CLI, but by 2020-2021 community energy had shifted into forks that could merge fixes and features faster. yt-dlp’s GitHub repository dates to October 2020, during the same period in which youtube-dl was at the center of a high-profile RIAA takedown dispute on GitHub. GitHub restored youtube-dl in November 2020 after EFF involvement, but the episode made the fragility and public importance of downloader infrastructure visible to a much wider software audience. By 2021, yt-dlp had become the active fork many users recommended. It accumulated behavior and feature differences from youtube-dl: better default format sorting, SponsorBlock integration, download sections, richer metadata and post-processing options, plugin hooks, browser cookie handling, and active extractor fixes. ### Adoption history Adoption was driven by maintenance velocity. Sites change frequently, and a downloader that cannot keep extractors current becomes useless fast; yt-dlp’s rapid release cadence and compatibility with youtube-dl-style invocations made it a natural replacement in scripts and packaged systems. The adoption path is visible in distributions and institutions. Ubuntu 22.04 included yt-dlp, Debian replaced youtube-dl with a transitional package depending on yt-dlp, and Archive-It documents yt-dlp as the modern fork its crawlers use to collect embedded audio and video during web crawls. ### How it is used Users run yt-dlp with one or more URLs to download media, select formats, extract audio, write subtitles and metadata, authenticate through cookies or netrc, post-process with ffmpeg, archive channels, and embed it as a Python library. Its configuration files let heavy users encode site-specific and workflow-specific defaults. Package users care about the surrounding executable story: releases provide platform-independent Python zipimport binaries, standalone Windows and macOS executables, Linux variants, source tarballs, PyPI packages, and package-manager entries. That breadth lets yt-dlp serve both throwaway shell use and repeatable archival automation. ### Why package nerds care yt-dlp is a package-nerd landmark because it turns an adversarial, constantly changing web surface into a normal command. It is also a case study in fork succession: users followed the maintained implementation, not just the original brand name. It sits at the intersection of packaging, digital preservation, legal controversy, and web reverse engineering. Few CLI packages have such a direct relationship between release freshness and whether the tool works today. ### Timeline - 2006: Ricardo Garcia creates youtube-dl, the original project lineage. - 2020-10-23: The RIAA sends GitHub a takedown request for youtube-dl and forks. - 2020-10-26: The yt-dlp GitHub repository is created. - 2020-11-16: GitHub restores youtube-dl after reviewing EFF arguments. - 2021: yt-dlp emerges publicly as the active youtube-dl/youtube-dlc successor fork. - 2022: Ubuntu 22.04 includes yt-dlp; Debian 12 later points youtube-dl users toward yt-dlp. ### Related projects - Related projects include youtube-dl, youtube-dlc, ffmpeg, SponsorBlock, PyInstaller, Archive-It, gallery-dl, streamlink, and NewPipe. ### Sources - - - - - - - ## Security Notes No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for yt-dlp. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL. ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: ~/.yt-dlp.conf, ~/.config/yt-dlp/config, ~/.config/yt-dlp.conf ## Credential files - Unix: ~/.netrc, ~/.yt-dlp.conf, ~/.config/yt-dlp/config, ~/.config/yt-dlp.conf ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** yt-dlp - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - yt-dlp - 2025.04.30-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: yt-dlp from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | downloader of videos from YouTube and other sites | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - Nix - yt-dlp: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/yt/yt-dlp/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - yt-dlp - 2024.04.09-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: yt-dlp from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | downloader of videos from YouTube and other sites | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Command-line program to download videos from YouTube | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-bash-completion - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-bash-completion from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Bash completions for yt-dlp | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-core - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-core from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Command-line program to download videos from YouTube | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-core-pyc - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-core-pyc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Precompiled Python bytecode for yt-dlp-core | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-doc - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Command-line program to download videos from YouTube (documentation) | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-fish-completion - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-fish-completion from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Fish completions for yt-dlp | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - apk - yt-dlp-zsh-completion - 2026.06.09-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: yt-dlp-zsh-completion from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Zsh completions for yt-dlp | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - dnf - yt-dlp - 2026.03.17-3.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: yt-dlp from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | A command-line program to download videos from online video platforms | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - dnf - yt-dlp+default - 2026.03.17-3.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: yt-dlp+default from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Metapackage for yt-dlp: default extras | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - dnf - yt-dlp+secretstorage - 2026.03.17-3.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: yt-dlp+secretstorage from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Metapackage for yt-dlp: secretstorage extras | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - pacman - yt-dlp - 2026.06.09-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: yt-dlp from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | A youtube-dl fork with additional features and fixes | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - zypper - python313-yt-dlp - 2026.03.17-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: python313-yt-dlp from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | yt-dlp Python library | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp - zypper - yt-dlp - 2026.03.17-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: yt-dlp from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Enhanced fork of youtube-dl, a video site downloader for offline watching | https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Media and graphics packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/media-graphics-tools/) - Matched media, image, audio, video, or graphics metadata. - [deno](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/deno/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [python@3.14](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/python-3-14/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [gallery-dl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gallery-dl/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [mpv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mpv/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [podsync](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/podsync/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [summarize](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/summarize/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [gamdl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gamdl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloader, downloaders, media. - [instaloader](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/instaloader/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloader, downloaders, media. - [instalooter](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/instalooter/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloader, downloaders, media. - [youtubedr](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/youtubedr/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloader, downloaders, media, youtube. - [media-info](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/media-info/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, video. - [movgrab](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/movgrab/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloaders, media, video, youtube. - [you-get](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/you-get/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, downloader, downloaders, media. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/yt-dlp.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/yt-dlp.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph - curated agent safety answer