Python Download YouTube Video: How to Choose the Best Stream and Resolution
How to Download YouTube Videos Using Python
YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms in the world, with millions of videos in various categories such as education, entertainment, and travel. You can easily watch videos online with a few clicks, but downloading them to your local device is not so straightforward. In this article, you will learn how to use Python, a powerful and versatile programming language, to download YouTube videos with ease. You will also learn how to use pytube, a lightweight and dependency-free Python library, to download single videos or entire playlists from YouTube.
python download youtube video
Introduction
What is YouTube and why download videos?
YouTube is a website that allows users to upload, view, share, and comment on videos. It was founded in 2005 by three former PayPal employees and later acquired by Google in 2006. YouTube hosts a variety of content, ranging from music videos, movie trailers, documentaries, tutorials, vlogs, live streams, and more. According to YouTube's statistics, more than 2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube each month, and over 1 billion hours of video are watched every day.
There are many reasons why you might want to download YouTube videos to your local device. For example, you might want to:
Watch videos offline when you don't have internet access or want to save data.
Keep a backup copy of your favorite videos in case they are removed or deleted from YouTube.
Edit or remix videos for your own projects or purposes.
Share videos with others who don't have access to YouTube or prefer a different format.
What is Python and why use it for downloading videos?
Python is a high-level, interpreted, general-purpose programming language that emphasizes readability, simplicity, and productivity. It was created by Guido van Rossum in 1991 and has since become one of the most popular and widely used languages in the world. Python supports multiple programming paradigms, such as object-oriented, procedural, functional, and imperative. It also has a large and comprehensive standard library that provides built-in modules for various tasks, such as data structures, file handling, networking, database access, web development, and more.
Python is a great choice for downloading YouTube videos for several reasons. For example:
Python is easy to learn and use, especially for beginners. You can write concise and expressive code with minimal syntax and indentation.
Python is cross-platform and portable. You can run Python code on any operating system that supports Python interpreter, such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.
Python is flexible and extensible. You can integrate Python with other languages and tools, such as C/C++, Java, .NET, etc. You can also use third-party libraries and packages that extend Python's functionality and offer specialized features for various domains.
What is pytube and how to install it?
Pytube is a small, dependency-free Python module (and command-line utility) for accessing and downloading videos from YouTube. It was originally developed by Nick Ficano in 2014 and has since been maintained by various contributors on Pytube is a small, dependency-free Python module (and command-line utility) for accessing and downloading videos from YouTube. It was originally developed by Nick Ficano in 2014 and has since been maintained by various contributors on GitHub. Pytube allows you to query and filter video metadata, such as title, description, views, ratings, etc. It also supports downloading videos in various formats and resolutions, including progressive and adaptive streams. Pytube is compatible with Python 3.6+ and requires no external dependencies.
To install pytube, you can use pip, a package manager for Python. Pip allows you to install and manage Python packages from the Python Package Index (PyPI) or other sources. To install pytube using pip, open your terminal or command prompt and type the following command:
python download youtube video using pytube
python download youtube video with subtitles
python download youtube video playlist
python download youtube video in mp4 format
python download youtube video by url
python download youtube video in chunks
python download youtube video with metadata
python download youtube video in 1080p
python download youtube video with audio
python download youtube video without pytube
python download youtube video as mp3
python download youtube video with progress bar
python download youtube video in background
python download youtube video with ffmpeg
python download youtube video from command line
python download youtube video to memory
python download youtube video with proxy
python download youtube video in 4k
python download youtube video with requests
python download youtube video and thumbnail
python download youtube video by id
python download youtube video with captions
python download youtube video in parallel
python download youtube video with tkinter
python download youtube video to google drive
python download youtube video using selenium
python download youtube video with authentication
python download youtube video in 60fps
python download youtube video with urllib
python download youtube video and trim
python download youtube video by quality
python download youtube video with pafy
python download youtube video in slow motion
python download youtube video with beautifulsoup
python download youtube video to s3 bucket
python download youtube video using asyncio
python download youtube video with cookies
python download youtube video in hdmi mode
python download youtube video with pytube3
python download youtube video and convert to gif
python download youtube video by channel name
python download youtube video with ytdl-python
python download youtube video in vr mode
python download youtube video with aiohttp
python download youtube video to azure blob storage
python download youtube video using scrapy
python download youtube video with dash streams
python download youtube video in mpeg format
pip install pytube
This will download and install the latest version of pytube from PyPI. You can also specify a specific version of pytube by adding the version number after the package name, such as:
pip install pytube==11.0.1
This will install pytube version 11.0.1, which is the latest stable release as of writing this article. You can check the available versions of pytube on its PyPI page.
Alternatively, you can install pytube from its source code on GitHub. To do this, you need to clone or download the repository from GitHub and then run the setup.py file in the root directory of the project. For example:
git clone https://github.com/pytube/pytube.git cd pytube python setup.py install
This will install the latest development version of pytube from GitHub. Note that this version may have some bugs or unfinished features, so use it at your own risk.
How to download a single video using pytube
Importing the pytube module
To use pytube in your Python code, you need to import it first. You can import the whole module using the following statement:
import pytube
This will make all the classes and functions of pytube available in your namespace. Alternatively, you can import only the classes or functions that you need using the from-import syntax. For example:
from pytube import YouTube
This will import only the YouTube class from pytube, which is the main class for interacting with YouTube videos.
Creating a YouTube object with the video URL
To download a video from YouTube using pytube, you need to create a YouTube object with the video URL as an argument. The video URL is the web address that you see in your browser when you watch a video on YouTube. For example:
video_url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" video = YouTube(video_url)
This will create a YouTube object named video with the URL of Gangnam Style, one of the most viewed videos on YouTube. The YouTube object contains various attributes and methods that allow you to access and manipulate the video metadata and streams.
Getting the highest resolution stream available
A stream is a representation of a video or audio file that can be downloaded from YouTube. Each stream has different properties, such as format, resolution, bitrate, codec, etc. Pytube allows you to get all the available streams for a given video using the streams attribute of the YouTube object. For example:
video_url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" video = YouTube(video_url)
This will create a YouTube object named video with the URL of Gangnam Style, one of the most viewed videos on YouTube. The YouTube object contains various attributes and methods that allow you to access and manipulate the video metadata and streams.
Getting the highest resolution stream available
A stream is a representation of a video or audio file that can be downloaded from YouTube. Each stream has different properties, such as format, resolution, bitrate, codec, etc. Pytube allows you to get all the available streams for a given video using the streams attribute of the YouTube object. For example:
streams = video.streams print(streams)
This will print a list of Stream objects, each representing a different stream for the video. You can also filter the streams by various criteria, such as type, format, resolution, etc. using the filter method. For example:
video_streams = video.streams.filter(type="video") mp4_streams = video.streams.filter(file_extension="mp4") hd_streams = video.streams.filter(res="1080p")
This will create three lists of Stream objects, each containing only video streams, mp4 streams, or HD streams respectively. You can also chain multiple filters together to get more specific results. For example:
mp4_hd_streams = video.streams.filter(file_extension="mp4", res="1080p")
This will create a list of Stream objects that are both mp4 and HD.
To download a video using pytube, you need to select one of the available streams and call the download method on it. The download method takes an optional argument that specifies the directory where you want to save the downloaded file. If you don't provide any argument, it will save the file in the current working directory. For example:
stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution() stream.download("C:/Users/Downloads")
This will download the highest resolution stream available for the video and save it in the Downloads folder. The get_highest_resolution method is a shortcut for getting the stream with the highest resolution and bitrate among all the streams.
Handling errors and exceptions
Sometimes, you may encounter errors or exceptions when downloading videos from YouTube using pytube. For example, you may get a PytubeError if the video URL is invalid or not accessible, or a HTTPError if there is a problem with the network connection or the server response. To handle these errors and exceptions gracefully, you can use a try-except block in your code. For example:
try: stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution() stream.download("C:/Users/Downloads") except PytubeError as e: print("PytubeError:", e) except HTTPError as e: print("HTTPError:", e)
This will try to download the highest resolution stream for the video and save it in the Downloads folder. If there is any PytubeError or HTTPError, it will catch them and print their messages.
How to download a playlist of videos using pytube
Importing the Playlist class from pytube
To download a playlist of videos from YouTube using pytube, you need to import the Playlist class from pytube. The Playlist class is a subclass of YouTube that allows you to access and download videos from a YouTube playlist. A playlist is a collection of videos that are grouped together by a user or by YouTube based on some criteria, such as theme, genre, mood, etc. You can find playlists on YouTube by browsing different categories or searching for keywords.
To import the Playlist class from pytube, you can use the following statement:
from pytube import Playlist
This will import only the Playlist class from pytube, which is the main class for interacting with YouTube playlists. Creating a Playlist object with the playlist URL
To download a playlist of videos from YouTube using pytube, you need to create a Playlist object with the playlist URL as an argument. The playlist URL is the web address that you see in your browser when you watch a playlist on YouTube. For example:
playlist_url = "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-osiE80TeTt2d9bfVyTiXJA-UTHn6WwU" playlist = Playlist(playlist_url)
This will create a Playlist object named playlist with the URL of a playlist of Python tutorials by Corey Schafer, one of the most popular Python instructors on YouTube. The Playlist object inherits all the attributes and methods of the YouTube object, and also has some additional attributes and methods that allow you to access and manipulate the playlist metadata and videos.
Looping through the videos in the playlist
To download all the videos in a playlist using pytube, you need to loop through the videos in the playlist using a for loop. You can access the videos in the playlist using the videos attribute of the Playlist object, which returns a list of YouTube objects, one for each video in the playlist. For example:
for video in playlist.videos: print(video.title)
This will print the title of each video in the playlist. You can also access other video metadata, such as description, views, ratings, etc. using the corresponding attributes of the YouTube object.
Downloading each video to a specified directory
To download each video in a playlist using pytube, you need to select a stream for each video and call the download method on it. You can also specify a directory where you want to save the downloaded files using an argument for the download method. For example:
for video in playlist.videos: stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution() stream.download("C:/Users/Downloads/Python Tutorials")
This will download the highest resolution stream available for each video in the playlist and save them in the Python Tutorials folder inside the Downloads folder. You can also use other filters or methods to select different streams for each video, such as get_lowest_resolution, get_audio_only, filter_by_resolution, etc.
Handling errors and exceptions
As with downloading a single video, you may encounter errors or exceptions when downloading a playlist of videos from YouTube using pytube. To handle these errors and exceptions gracefully, you can use a try-except block inside your for loop. For example:
for video in playlist.videos: try: stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution() stream.download("C:/Users/Downloads/Python Tutorials") except PytubeError as e: print("PytubeError:", e) except HTTPError as e: print("HTTPError:", e)
This will try to download the highest resolution stream available for each video in the playlist and save them in the Python Tutorials folder inside the Downloads folder. If there is any PytubeError or HTTPError for any video, it will catch them and print their messages.
Conclusion
Summary of the main points
In this article, you learned how to download YouTube videos using Python and pytube. You learned how to:
Install pytube using pip or from source code.
Download a single video using pytube by creating a YouTube object with the video URL and selecting a stream to download.
Download a playlist of videos using pytube by creating a Playlist object with the playlist URL and looping through the videos in the playlist.
Handle errors and exceptions when downloading videos using pytube by using try-except blocks.
Benefits and limitations of using pytube
Pytube is a simple and lightweight Python module that allows you to download YouTube videos with ease. Some of the benefits of using pytube are:
It is dependency-free and compatible with Python 3.6+.
It supports downloading videos in various formats and resolutions, including progressive and adaptive streams.
It allows you to query and filter video metadata, such as title, description, views, ratings, etc.
It supports downloading playlists of videos as well as single videos.
It has a command-line utility that allows you to download videos without writing any code.
However, pytube also has some limitations that you should be aware of. Some of them are:
It does not support downloading captions or subtitles It does not support downloading captions or subtitles for the videos.
It may not work for some videos that are restricted, private, or encrypted.
It may not be updated frequently or maintained well by the developers.
It may violate YouTube's terms of service or policies, which prohibit downloading videos without permission from the content owners.
Suggestions for further learning and improvement
If you want to learn more about pytube and how to use it for downloading YouTube videos, you can check out the following resources:
The official documentation of pytube, which provides a detailed overview of the module and its features, as well as examples and tutorials.
The source code of pytube on GitHub, which allows you to see how the module is implemented and contribute to its development.
The YouTube channel of Nick Ficano, the original creator of pytube, which has some videos explaining how to use pytube and demonstrating its capabilities.
The PyPI page of pytube, which shows the la