YouTube Downloader - MP4 & MP3 Direct URLs (4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p, Audio)

Get direct download URLs for any YouTube video — 4K MP4, 1080p, 720p, 480p, plus MP3 audio. Works on regular videos, YouTube Shorts, live streams, and Music URLs. No login. No API key. No watermark.

What this YouTube Downloader does

Pass in any YouTube URL and the actor returns:

• Best combined download URL (video + audio in one MP4)
• Best video-only URL (for the highest possible resolution — 4K, 1440p, 1080p)
• Best audio URL (M4A / Opus) — perfect for MP3 conversion
• Full format list with every resolution / bitrate available, file size, and codec

Why use this YouTube Downloader?

• No API key, no login — start downloading immediately
• All qualities included — from 144p up to 4K (when available)
• Audio-only mode — extract MP3-ready audio without re-downloading the video
• Bulk URLs — pass an array, get back every download link
• Shorts and live VODs supported
• No watermark — direct CDN URLs from YouTube itself

Use cases

• Offline viewing — download videos for travel, low-bandwidth use
• Audio extraction — convert YouTube to MP3 for podcasts, music, lectures
• Content archival — back up your own uploads or favourites
• Compliance / legal review — download videos for editorial or court records
• Captioning / transcription — feed audio into Whisper, AssemblyAI, etc.
• Research — bulk-download videos for AI/ML training data

Input

{
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0",
        "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123"
    ]
}

Output

Each dataset record contains the video's metadata and a list of every available format URL, plus pre-resolved best-video / best-audio / best-combined URLs.

{
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video)",
    "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg",
    "duration": 213,
    "duration_string": "3:33",
    "uploader": "Rick Astley",
    "platform": "Youtube",
    "audio_url": "https://… (best audio direct URL)",
    "formats": [
        {
            "format_id": "313",
            "type": "video",
            "ext": "webm",
            "height": 2160,
            "quality": "2160p",
            "filesize": 312456789,
            "has_audio": false,
            "url": "https://…"
        },
        {
            "format_id": "137",
            "type": "video",
            "ext": "mp4",
            "height": 1080,
            "quality": "1080p",
            "filesize": 31456789,
            "has_audio": false,
            "url": "https://…"
        }
    ]
}

How it works

The actor uses yt-dlp — the open-source standard for YouTube extraction. The same code powers tens of thousands of production downloaders. Format URLs are extracted from YouTube's player JSON exactly the way the YouTube web app does it.

Cost & speed

Format URLs resolve in 2–4 seconds per video. Memory stays under 256 MB. You only pay for compute time used.

Related actors

• YouTube Video Info Scraper — extract metadata only (no format URLs)
• YouTube Channel Scraper — get a channel's full video list
• YouTube Competitor Analyzer — compare up to 5 channels
• Universal Video Downloader — same engine, every supported site

FAQ

Q: Why does my download URL stop working after a few hours? YouTube signs all CDN URLs with a time-limited token (typically 6 hours). Re-run the actor to get fresh URLs.

Q: Does the actor download the actual MP4 file? No. It returns the direct URL. You download with curl, wget, ffmpeg, or any HTTP client. This keeps the actor cheap, fast, and avoids Apify storage costs.

Q: Can I get a single MP4 with both video and audio? Yes — the formats list includes every "combined" stream YouTube offers (typically up to 720p). For higher resolutions, YouTube serves video and audio separately; merge with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i audio.m4a -c copy out.mp4.

Q: Does it work for age-restricted videos? Some age-gated videos require login and won't resolve. Public, non-restricted videos always work.

Q: Is downloading legal? For your own videos and creative-commons content, yes. For copyrighted material, you must comply with YouTube's Terms of Service and your local copyright law (fair use, personal-use exceptions, etc).