How to Bulk Download YouTube Videos on Windows with yt-dlp

Why yt-dlp?

A modern, actively maintained successor to youtube‑dl & youtube‑dl‑c, yt‑dlp is robust, script-friendly, and supports thousands of sites.

1. 📥 Install yt-dlp (and ffmpeg)

• Manual download:
  Grab the latest yt-dlp.exe from the GitHub releases page.
• Optional: Download ffmpeg.exe and place it in the same folder as yt‑dlp—or anywhere in your PATH (github.com).

2. 🗂️ Prepare your download folder

Choose or create a folder like:

C:\YTbulk

Place yt-dlp.exe (and optionally ffmpeg.exe) in it.

3. 📝 Create a batch file

In C:\YTbulk, make a file named links.txt, listing one URL per line:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=…
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=…
…

4. 💻 Create the download script

Also in that folder, create download.bat with these contents:

@echo off
REM Ensure downloads go into this folder
pushd "%~dp0"

REM Download all links at best quality
yt-dlp.exe --batch-file=links.txt -f best

REM Optional: structure output into subfolders by playlist
REM yt-dlp.exe --batch-file=links.txt -f best -o "Downloads\%(playlist_title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"

REM Return to original location
popd
pause

5. ▶️ Run the script

Double-click download.bat.
A console window will launch and sequentially download each link from links.txt.

6. 🔄 Update yt-dlp when needed

Keep it current by re‑running the install or using:

yt-dlp.exe -U

This ensures compatibility with YouTube’s latest formats and bug fixes

7. ⚙️ Pro Tips

Final Thoughts

With this setup, anyone can bulk-download video or audio content on Windows—quickly, safely, and with full control. Feel free to share and customize!