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[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 208 points 1 month ago
[-] DudeDudenson@lemmings.world 53 points 1 month ago

I was surprised at how well it works but anything command line is not for normies

[-] Saithe 47 points 1 month ago

Anyone who’s done “/gamemode creative” is smart enough to figure out “yt-dlp ”. Seriously people need to stop acting like typing the most basic commands that you can find tutorials about is some kinda level 9 magic

[-] essell@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

I think you've defined the problem rather well there..

It's not that Normies couldn't use it, it's that Normies won't use it.

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

Which generally helps it fly under the radar so us nerds can have nice things for longer.

I’m not for gate keeping, but I kinda like having tricky things if it means they don’t get ruined/stopped as fast.

[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago

It's not that peoplecan't figure it out, it's that they won't. As soon as you mention the terminal they stop listening or thinking

/gamemode creative doesn't have that problem because it's not a terminal, it's a chat window

[-] Saithe 3 points 1 month ago

I think saying “anything command line isn’t for normies” would only worsen the problem

[-] Honeybee@sh.itjust.works 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Thats why I run it in docker with a web ui (On my server behind a reverse proxy, so I could get HTTPS working)

Shut up, im not a nerd

[-] stewi1914@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nah I'm sorry. There is a point where it's unreasonable to expect someone to learn something, but that isn't it.

Using yt-dlp is extremely straightforward.

Being ignorant and proud of it is a horrid personality trait. The average person knows how to drive a car, how to call others using their phone and how to use an ATM.

Typing 7 characters and copy-pasting a link is well within their abilities.

[-] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

simply downloading a video? sure, but literally anything else is insanely complicated for an average person.
If they want the music from a video they would have to look through all of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp and probably still wouldn't find what they're looking for

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[-] savedbythezsh@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

The average person learns how to drive a car, which is akin to operating it. The average person does not know how to muck about in the engine of their car, and should not, because if they do the wrong thing they could break it. For that matter, I wouldn't even recommend someone OPERATES the car without training.

The terminal is considered for advanced users for the same reason. Learning to copy/paste into the terminal without understanding how to use it could mean I say "oh yeah the fix for that issue is doing rm -rf / --no-preserve-root.

[-] ddash@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 month ago

If you are on an android phone you should check the F-Droid pages for Seal. No commandline, a nice GUI, works great.

[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

+1 for Seal, Newpipe and Tubular both work fine too

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[-] stom@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can use the OpenWith extensions to add it as a right click option.

I have this setup for my non-technical family members, so they just right click on the page choose open with -> ytdlp and it saves it to their downloads folder.

You can set up different options for example video or audio only.


  • In Firefox install: https://webextension.org/listing/external-application-button.html
  • In the Extension options, add an application
  • Name it something like "Open in YT-DLP: mp4"
  • Set the exe name to the path of a local copy of yt-dlp
  • Set the arguments to be -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 [HREF]
  • Under the Placement options -> Context Menu -> select "All Contexts"

You should now be able to right click on a YouTube page and choose "External Application launcher -> Open in YT-DLP: mp4"

If you want audio only, add another application in the extension settings and use the arguments -f ba[ext=m4a] [HREF] for m4a files.

[-] BehindTheBarrier@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

There's GUIs for it though. Obviously not for everyone, but I made my own.

That it can download virtually from any site is pretty useful, assuming you know what to give it.

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[-] stom@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

You can add it as a right-click option to Firefox:

  • Install: https://webextension.org/listing/external-application-button.html
  • In the Extension options, add an application
  • Name it something like “Open in YT-DLP: mp4”
  • Set the exe name to the path of a local copy of yt-dlp
  • Set the arguments to be -S res,ext:mp4:m4a --recode mp4 [HREF]
  • Under the Placement options -> Context Menu -> select “All Contexts”

You should now be able to right click on a YouTube page and choose “External Application launcher -> Open in YT-DLP: mp4”

If you want audio only, add another application in the extension settings and use the arguments -f ba[ext=m4a] [HREF] for m4a files.

[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago
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[-] grue@lemmy.world 107 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Pro tip to teach people to fish instead of giving them a fish:

Whenever you're looking for a new software tool to do something, especially something "sketchy" like this, add something like "GPL" or "open source" to the end of your search string. It might not be quite enough to raise the official site of the best tool all the way to the first search result, but it cuts way, way down on the scam sites.

Or perhaps even better yet, go straight to checking AlternativeTo.net.

[-] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 29 points 1 month ago

Or add "reddit" and check what people recommend Though you would have to use Google or perhaps Startpage

[-] grue@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

Yes, but eww.

[-] FunkyElectro@pawb.social 21 points 1 month ago

This worked a few years ago, but half of reddit is just bots and guerilla marketers now :(

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago

Hence why reading comprehension is important. You need to assume that people are out to screw you on the internet, so look for their motivations. Someone pushing a paid service could be getting a kickback, whereas someone pushing a FOSS service probably just wants it to get attention so it sticks around.

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

How dare you.

[-] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

May as well walk into an AA meeting and tell people they can just keep drinking

[-] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 3 points 1 month ago
[-] Muaddib@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 month ago

Reddit is bad and we shouldn't use it.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

But it's not bad in anywhere near the same way as alcohol is bad for alcoholics. It's a terrible analogy.

[-] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Hyperbole is dead. Everything is 1:1. Please label your jokes.

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[-] blackjam_alex@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[-] UntouchedWagons@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 month ago

Jdownloader 2 is the most straightforward.

[-] pero@lemm.ee 23 points 1 month ago

This was legit me untill I learnt about yt-dlp. I remember I used some random ass website for downloading yt vids, since I didn't have mobile data back then, and I wanted to listen to some tunes while I was going to school. The site would completely mess up file names every single time. Yt-dlp is the reason that pushed me to use cli apps more.

Yt-dlp my beloved

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[-] cantankerous_cashew@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

If you’re technically inclined, you can selfhost metube for your friends/family

[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

Is that just a yt-dlp front end? Was hoping it would also do the streaming which is what I currently have been thinking of setting up. Probably yt-dlp to download all latest videos and then stream that over UPNP so any device with VLC can watch over the LAN.

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[-] jonesy@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago

This is a really nice front end, thanks.for the recommendation.

[-] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The fundamental issue is that he's looking for someone to provide a free service instead of for someone to provide free software.

The latter happens so much more often because it doesn't create ongoing costs for the developer.

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[-] penguin202124@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago
[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 13 points 1 month ago
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[-] NastyNative@mander.xyz 12 points 1 month ago

Cobalt.tools

[-] kugel7c@feddit.org 11 points 1 month ago

jdownloader includes yt-dlp and is generally good if you want to download things that you might or might not be supposed to download

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 1 month ago

The screenshot is an old version of MacOS. Either install yt-dlp (at the command line) or, and this is better by far, get the Downie app. I've been downloading videos all morning.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com has a list ;)

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[-] CombatWombat1212@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago
[-] Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

If on Android, use Seal, a FOSS app that uses yt-dlp and allows you to download the video in a shit ton of format and stuff. Apparently can even embed subtitles and metadata into the files, although I never do that.

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[-] 0ops@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago

I haven't had to do this in awhile so I can't recommend the best downloader for this job... But I will say that this is the sort of thing where you absolutely need to have a good adblocker

[-] Saithe 3 points 1 month ago

yt-dlp. Works right from the command line, no sketchy sites, on linux you can probably install it from your package manager

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[-] Overshoot2648@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

If you are into docker use tubearchivist as it lets you host the videos as well.

[-] RejZoR@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

Actually one of the steps is always offering downlaoder EXE to get the fucking video...

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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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