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home / skills / microck / ordinary-claude-skills / video-downloader

video-downloader skill

/skills_all/video-downloader

This skill downloads videos from YouTube and other platforms in various formats and qualities for offline viewing and editing.

This is most likely a fork of the video-downloader skill from yousufjoyian
npx playbooks add skill microck/ordinary-claude-skills --skill video-downloader

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (2)
SKILL.md
2.6 KB
---
name: video-downloader
description: Downloads videos from YouTube and other platforms for offline viewing, editing, or archival. Handles various formats and quality options.
---

# Video Downloader

This skill downloads videos from YouTube and other platforms directly to your computer.

## When to Use This Skill

- Downloading YouTube videos for offline viewing
- Saving educational content for reference
- Archiving important videos
- Getting video files for editing or repurposing
- Downloading your own content from platforms
- Saving conference talks or webinars

## What This Skill Does

1. **Downloads Videos**: Fetches videos from YouTube and other platforms
2. **Quality Selection**: Lets you choose resolution (480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K)
3. **Format Options**: Downloads in various formats (MP4, WebM, audio-only)
4. **Batch Downloads**: Can download multiple videos or playlists
5. **Metadata Preservation**: Saves title, description, and thumbnail

## How to Use

### Basic Download

```
Download this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=...
```

```
Download this video in 1080p quality
```

### Audio Only

```
Download the audio from this YouTube video as MP3
```

### Playlist Download

```
Download all videos from this YouTube playlist: [URL]
```

### Batch Download

```
Download these 5 YouTube videos:
1. [URL]
2. [URL]
...
```

## Example

**User**: "Download this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123"

**Output**:
```
Downloading from YouTube...

Video: "How to Build Products Users Love"
Channel: Lenny's Podcast
Duration: 45:32
Quality: 1080p

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

✓ Downloaded: how-to-build-products-users-love.mp4
✓ Saved thumbnail: how-to-build-products-users-love.jpg
✓ Size: 342 MB

Saved to: ~/Downloads/
```

**Inspired by:** Lenny's workflow from his newsletter

## Important Notes

⚠️ **Copyright & Fair Use**
- Only download videos you have permission to download
- Respect copyright laws and platform terms of service
- Use for personal, educational, or fair use purposes
- Don't redistribute copyrighted content

## Tips

- Specify quality if you need lower file size (720p vs 1080p)
- Use audio-only for podcasts or music to save space
- Download to a dedicated folder to stay organized
- Check file size before downloading on slow connections

## Common Use Cases

- **Education**: Save tutorials and courses for offline learning
- **Research**: Archive videos for reference
- **Content Creation**: Download your own content from platforms
- **Backup**: Save important videos before they're removed
- **Offline Viewing**: Watch videos without internet access

Overview

This skill downloads videos from YouTube and many other platforms for offline viewing, editing, or archival. It supports multiple formats, quality options, batch and playlist downloads, and preserves basic metadata like title and thumbnail. Use it to fetch single videos, whole playlists, or audio-only tracks for later use.

How this skill works

Given one or more video URLs, the skill fetches the source media and offers selectable outputs (MP4, WebM, MP3, etc.) and resolutions (480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K when available). It can process playlists or lists of URLs in a single job, download files to a specified folder, and save metadata such as title, description, and thumbnail alongside the media. The tool reports progress and final file size and name so you can verify successful downloads.

When to use it

  • Save YouTube tutorials, conference talks, or webinars for offline study or travel.
  • Archive important or time-limited videos before they are removed from a platform.
  • Fetch source files for video editing or repurposing (your own content or permitted material).
  • Download audio-only versions of lectures, podcasts, or music to save space.
  • Batch-download playlists or multiple links for research or course preparation.

Best practices

  • Only download content you own or have explicit permission to use; respect copyright and platform terms.
  • Specify the minimum acceptable quality up front to control file size and download time.
  • Use audio-only exports for spoken-word content to save bandwidth and storage.
  • Download to a dedicated folder and include metadata files to keep assets organized.
  • Check estimated file sizes on slow or metered connections before starting large batches.

Example use cases

  • Download a single YouTube tutorial in 1080p for offline learning on a tablet.
  • Export a webinar playlist to local storage for team review and archiving.
  • Batch-download five conference talks and preserve thumbnails and descriptions for notes.
  • Extract MP3 audio from lecture videos to listen while commuting.

FAQ

Is it legal to download videos?

Downloading is subject to copyright and the platform's terms of service; only download content you own or have permission to use and follow fair use guidelines.

Can I choose video resolution and format?

Yes. The skill lets you select available resolutions (480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K when offered) and output formats such as MP4, WebM, or audio-only MP3.