YouTube Video Downloader

Download YouTube videos using yt-dlp and receive a public download URL for every downloaded video.

This Actor downloads videos in MP4 format, uploads them to the Actor's default Key-Value Store, and returns a direct public URL that can be shared or downloaded.

Get your first video

HTML Demo

Open Interactive Demo

With cURL

curl -s -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/danng~youtube-to-mp4-youtube-downloader-with-yt-dlp/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"url\":\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ\"}"

Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your api token apify_api_asdfg...etc

On Windows

Run in Powershell

Install Apify

irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex

Login

apify login

Open the .mp4 in browser

Start-Process ((echo '{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"}' | apify call danng/youtube-to-mp4-youtube-downloader-with-yt-dlp --silent --output-dataset | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].downloadUrl)

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Features

• Download one or multiple YouTube videos
• Supports public and age-restricted videos
• Optional cookies support
• Outputs MP4 files
• Returns public download URLs
• Simple JSON input
• Open source

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Input

Basic example

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Object format

{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

With cookies

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "cookies": "# Netscape HTTP Cookie File\n.youtube.com\tTRUE\t/\tTRUE\t2147483647\tSID\t..."
}

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Input fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
url	String	Yes	YouTube URL
cookies	String	No	Contents of a Netscape cookie file. Useful for age-restricted, private, members-only, or region-restricted videos.

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Output

Successful download:

{
  "success": true,
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/video.mp4",
  "filename": "video.mp4"
}

Failed download:

{
  "success": false,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...",
  "error": "Video unavailable"
}

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How it works

1. Reads one or more YouTube URLs.
2. Optionally loads the provided cookies.
3. Downloads the video using yt-dlp.
4. Uploads the resulting MP4 file to the Actor's default Key-Value Store.
5. Returns a public download URL.

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Supported URLs

• Standard YouTube videos
• youtu.be short links
• YouTube Shorts
• Individual playlist video URLs

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API Example

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/danng~youtube-to-mp4-youtube-downloader-with-yt-dlp/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  }'

1 line

$curl -s -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/danng~youtube-to-mp4-youtube-downloader-with-yt-dlp/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"url\":\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ\"}"

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Notes

• Videos are downloaded using yt-dlp.
• The Actor processes multiple URLs sequentially.
• Each downloaded file is uploaded to the Actor's Key-Value Store.
• The returned downloadUrl is a public URL to the uploaded file.
• Some videos may require valid cookies for access.

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Limitations

• Download availability depends on YouTube and yt-dlp.
• Private, members-only, age-restricted, or region-restricted videos require appropriate cookies.
• Network speed and source availability affect download time.

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Disclaimer

Use this Actor only to download content that you have permission to access. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's Terms of Service and all applicable copyright laws.