Install
- Double-click YouTubeDownloader-Setup-1.1.0.exe.
- Windows asks for permission to make changes. Click Yes. The program goes into C:\Program Files\YouTube Downloader, like any other program.
- Click through Setup. Near the end a separate window shows each step while it sets up the program's own Python and download engine.
- Open YouTube Downloader from the desktop icon or the Start menu.
Setup always makes the desktop icon and a Start menu folder with the program, the Read me and Uninstall. It takes a minute or two the first time. It uses winget, which comes with Windows 10 and 11, to add FFmpeg, Deno and uv if your PC does not already have them. Nothing opens by itself: the last page has an unticked box if you want the program to start right away. Setup never deletes anything, and running it again repairs or updates the install.
Your settings live in %APPDATA%\YouTube Downloader. If you used version 1.0, the program copies your saved folder and quality from it the first time it opens and leaves the 1.0 folder alone. Windows may warn that the installer is from an unknown publisher; click More info, then Run anyway.
Use
- Copy a video's address from YouTube. Click Paste, then Look Up. The title, channel, length and thumbnail appear.
- Pick a quality. Each choice says what it plays in and roughly how big the file will be.
- Choose the folder to save to. It is remembered next time.
- Click Download. When it finishes, Play opens the video and Show in Folder opens the folder.
A download never replaces a file you already have. A second copy is saved as Title (2).mp4. Stop works at any time, and clicking Download again with the same quality picks up where it stopped. When the Download button is grey, the line beside it says why.
Which quality to pick
| H.264, up to 1080p | Opens in every player and editor, phones included. The safe choice for editing or sharing. |
| VP9 or AV1, above 1080p | What YouTube sends at 1440p and 4K. Plays in current browsers, VLC and recent editors. Older software may show a black picture. |
Either way the file is an MP4. For most qualities YouTube sends the picture and the sound separately, and the program joins them into one file. It removes the two separate pieces after joining unless you tick the box that keeps them.
When downloads stop working
YouTube changes its site often. Click Update Engine, close the program, open it again and try once more. That fixes most failures. Show Details displays the engine's own messages if it still fails. Update Engine needs no administrator prompt: the update goes into your own %LOCALAPPDATA%\YouTube Downloader folder, and the bottom line says updated copy while the program uses it.
The bottom line of the window says whether FFmpeg and Deno were found. If either says NOT FOUND, run the Setup again.
What it does not do
- One video at a time. Playlists and channels are turned away with a message.
- Video only. No audio-only files or captions.
- Age-restricted and members-only videos need a signed-in account, and this program does not sign in.
- Windows only.
Use it for what you have a right to
Your own uploads, Creative Commons material, public-domain footage, and anything you have permission to use. Downloading a video doesn't change who owns it, and YouTube's terms limit downloading to what it allows. That judgment is yours.
What is inside
| app.py | The program (Python with the built-in Tk window toolkit). |
| .venv and python | Its own Python 3.11, the download engine and Pillow, built by Setup inside C:\Program Files\YouTube Downloader. |
| setup-runtime.ps1 | The step Setup runs to add FFmpeg, Deno and uv and build the Python environment. It writes install-log.txt and tools.json. |
| README.txt | These instructions. Read it here. |
| config.json | Your folder, last quality and window size, in %APPDATA%\YouTube Downloader. |
The download engine is yt-dlp, an open-source project. Setup fetches the current version so you always start with the latest fixes.
To remove it, use Uninstall in the Start menu folder or Settings > Apps. Uninstall takes out the program files and icons. It leaves the Python environment in C:\Program Files\YouTube Downloader and your settings in %APPDATA%, so you decide when those go. FFmpeg, Deno and uv stay installed.