tired of clicking "download" on every single video like some sort of unpaid intern?
this guide shows you how to:
download a whole youtube playlist at once
bulk download youtube videos from links
save everything as mp3 or full video
do it on windows 10 or windows 11, even if you are "not good with computers"
no fancy stuff, just copy, paste, enter, done.
what you will actually get at the end
after following this:
a folder full of normal mp3 songs
or mp4 video files that work on phone, tv, laptop
you can download full playlists at once later with one command
all offline, no buffering, no ads, no "this video is not available in your country" nonsense
we will use 2 programs:
yt-dlp
this is the main youtube downloader. it can
ffmpeg
small helper program used in the background to convert stuff to mp3 and attach thumbnails.
if you install yt-dlp with the command below, you usually dont need to care about ffmpeg, it gets handled.
both are open source, used by millions of nerds already.
step 1 - install windows terminal (if you do not already have it)
we will use windows terminal or powershell to run commands.
this is just a text window, not a hacker movie.
press the windows key
type microsoft store and open it
in search, type: windows terminal
click get or install
after install, you should see an app called windows terminal.
step 2 - install yt dlp with one command
open windows terminal
copy this line completely:
winget install --id yt-dlp.yt-dlp -e --source winget
right click inside the terminal window to paste
press enter
wait a bit until you see something like "successfully installed"
if it asks for any yes or accept, just accept.
yt dlp is now installed system wide.
step 3 - create a simple text file with your youtube links
this is where we store the list of stuff to download in bulk.
press windows key
type notepad and open it
paste your youtube links, one per line
example:
https://youtu.be/ZTmF2v59CtI
https://youtu.be/A04WawrDblo
https://youtu.be/Ly0BU3ZdI0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVhUAaVCVQ
you can put here:
in notepad, click file → save as
choose desktop
file name: my-links.txt (type the .txt part yourself, do not skip)
click save
small mistake many people do: they save it as my-links.txt.txt by accident.
if windows is hiding file extensions, dont overthink it, just name it my-links.
step 4 - open terminal in the right folder
we saved my-links.txt on the desktop, so the terminal must work from there.
option 1 - easiest way
go to your desktop
right click on empty space
if you see open in terminal or open powershell window here, click it
done. terminal is now sitting in the desktop folder.
open windows terminal normally
type this and press enter:
cd Desktop
cd means "change directory". so now it is working inside your desktop folder.
step 5 - bulk download everything in one shot
here is the fun part.
option a - download as mp3 (most people want this)
good for music, podcasts, interviews, playlists.
in the terminal (already in desktop), paste:
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail -a my-links.txt
what each part means, in plain english:
-x extract audio only
--audio-format mp3 convert to mp3
--audio-quality 0 best quality
--embed-thumbnail tries to put the video thumbnail inside the mp3
-a my-links.txt read all links from that file
press enter.
now it will process all the links, one after another. you will see progress bars and file names.
option b - download full videos
if you want video plus audio, use:
yt-dlp -a my-links.txt
that tells yt dlp to use default best video with sound, for everything listed.
when it finishes, files appear right on your desktop, unless you change the folder.
what the downloaded files look like
you will see stuff like:
they behave like normal media files. you can:
double click to open in vlc, windows media player etc
copy to phone via usb
put them on sd card for car
back them up to external drive
no magic, just files.
put downloads in a music folder instead of desktop
desktop gets messy, so you may want a dedicated folder.
- create a folder, for example:
C:\Users\YourName\Music\My YouTube Songs
open windows terminal
go into that folder, replace YourName with your real username:
cd "C:\Users\YourName\Music\My YouTube Songs"
move or copy my-links.txt into this folder
run the same command as before, for example:
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail -a my-links.txt
now everything goes into that music folder.
how to download a full youtube playlist at once
this is what many people search for: download youtube playlist at once or bulk download youtube playlist to mp3.
steps:
open the playlist on youtube
copy the playlist url, looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxxxxxxx
paste that playlist link into my-links.txt on a new line
save the file
run the command you want:
for mp3:
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail -a my-links.txt
for full video:
yt-dlp -a my-links.txt
yt dlp sees that it is a playlist, then:
grabs all videos from that playlist
downloads them one by one
names them with proper titles
you can mix:
single videos
playlists
multiple playlists
all inside the same my-links.txt.
download only part of a big playlist
playlist has 300 videos but you only need the first 40 or 80, no problem.
option 1 - manual selection
just copy only the videos you want into my-links.txt and ignore the rest.
basic but works.
option 2 - playlist start and end
if you want a range, use extra options.
example, download videos 1 to 50 from a playlist into mp3:
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail --playlist-start 1 --playlist-end 50 "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxxxxxxxxx"
here we are giving the playlist url directly instead of via my-links.txt. both ways are fine.
you can totally skip this section first time.
best video quality for all playlists
yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b" -a my-links.txt
that tries best video plus best audio, falls back to best single file if needed.
auto organize by playlist name into folders
nice for downloading many playlists at once.
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail -o "%(playlist_title)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -a my-links.txt
this creates folders named after each playlist and puts its songs inside.
common problems and quick fixes
error: 'yt-dlp' is not recognized
terminal says something like that, usually means the path did not refresh.
if that still fails, reinstall:
winget install --id yt-dlp.yt-dlp -e --source winget
watch for any error lines.
some videos fail, others work
happens when:
usually yt dlp skips that one and continues, you can ignore it or find another source.
cannot open my-links.txt
if it says file not found, you are in the wrong folder.
in terminal, run:
cd Desktop
then run your command again.
or move the text file into the folder where you download stuff and cd there.
is it legal to download youtube videos like this
short boring answer: it depends.
a few basics:
this guide is for technical education. it is not legal advice. check your local laws and use some common sense.
creators spend time making content, so do not just mass rip and reupload.
quick faq for google people and skimmers
how do i bulk download youtube videos on windows 10 or 11
install yt dlp with winget
create my-links.txt with one youtube link per line
go to the folder in terminal and run:
yt-dlp -a my-links.txt
how do i download a youtube playlist at once to mp3
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 --embed-thumbnail -a my-links.txt
can i download multiple playlists at the same time
yes. you can:
closing thought
once yt dlp is installed and you know the basic command, downloading a full youtube playlist at once turns into a 5 second job.
you just update your my-links.txt, run one command, and your music or videos are yours, offline, not at the mercy of random deletions or bad internet.
