How To Download And Play YouTube And Other Videos On Linux

Who would have thought that a Linux tool is available for downloading YouTube videos? Well, there is and it works for Linux and for other operating systems. So, this tool is especially useful when your internet connection is flaky or if you need to watch some of the available videos or you need to stay offline for a while.

Is called a video download tool youtube-dl. (The “dl” component undoubtedly means “download.”) It is very easy to use and drops webm Or mp4 Files into your system. Both formats provide compressed, high-quality video files that you can watch whenever you like.

The youtube-dl The tool is a Python based command-line tool. On Linux, this requires Python (2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+). The command to install it on Ubuntu and related systems:

$ sudo apt-get install youtube-dl

Once installed, you can use a similar command to download the video after selecting the URL from YouTube or other source:

$ youtube-dl <video URL>

Here is an example that can be used as a quick test:

$ youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0DPdy98e4c

After you have successfully passed the test you can try to download your own selected video. Depending on the file size, the download may take a few minutes or more. If you look at the screen, you will see updates about time elapsed.