Alternatives to yt-dlp
Command-line video and audio downloader forked from youtube-dl, supports 1000+ sites
yt-dlp ranks #5 of 11 in Download managers, with an Alt Score of 75. It is licensed under Unlicense, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 7 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
yt-dlp is an open-source command-line tool for downloading video and audio from YouTube and over a thousand other sites, with format selection, playlist handling, and post-processing via ffmpeg. It is used by developers, sysadmins, and power users who script or automate downloads rather than click through a GUI. It distinguishes itself in this category as the CLI-native, actively maintained successor to youtube-dl, with faster releases and more site support.
yt-dlp is for people who want to save audio or video from websites to their own machine from the command line, rather than through a browser-based downloader or GUI app. It targets users comfortable with a terminal, including those scripting or embedding downloads into other Python programs.
A free, public-domain command-line tool that downloads from thousands of supported sites, with options for concurrent/segmented fragment downloads, resuming interrupted downloads, rate-limiting bandwidth, extracting authentication cookies from installed browsers, format selection/sorting, subtitle and metadata handling, and SponsorBlock integration. It ships as standalone binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux, or installable via pip.
yt-dlp is invoked as a shell command (or imported as a Python library) against one or more URLs; it extracts available media formats from the target site and downloads the selected format directly, optionally using ffmpeg to merge separate video/audio streams and perform post-processing such as format conversion or thumbnail embedding. It can also be run programmatically via its Python API for use inside other applications.
Where yt-dlp stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave yt-dlp
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Download Master, developed by WestByte, is a free Windows download manager that accelerates transfers via multi-threaded file segmentation, resumes broken downloads over HTTP/HTTPS/FTP, and grabs stre.
Xtreme Download Manager (XDM) is a free, open-source download accelerator for Windows, macOS, and Linux that splits files into segments for multi-threaded downloading and captures video/audio links fr.
Folx is a paid macOS-native download manager and BitTorrent client from Electronic Team (formerly Eltima) that splits downloads into up to 10 threads, schedules tasks, and includes browser integration.
Persepolis is a free, open-source download manager built as a graphical front-end for the aria2 download engine, available on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
4K Video Downloader is a commercial desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that downloads videos, full playlists, channels, and subtitles from YouTube and other sites in up to 8K resolution.
Feature comparison
How yt-dlp compares with its alternatives, feature by feature.
| Download managers checklist | yt-dlp | Download Master | Internet Download Manager | Xtreme Download Manager (XDM) | Free Download Manager | aria2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Segmented downloading | ||||||
| Browser integration | ||||||
| Video grabbing | ||||||
| Scheduler | ||||||
| Resume support | ||||||
| Open source | ||||||
| No bundled adware | ||||||
| Speed limits | ||||||
| CLI |
Every fact and feature listed for yt-dlp is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License Unlicense verified 2026-07-30
This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/LICENSE -
Starts at Free verified 2026-07-30
Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or distribute this software... for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/LICENSE -
Status active verified 2026-07-30
GitHub repo page (title fetched) also shows ongoing commit-activity badge; monthly stable release cadence plus nightly builds confirm active development.
stable is the default channel, which offers releases published on a (mostly) monthly schedule.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-30
No pricing/tiers exist anywhere in the README or repo; it is a free, public-domain CLI tool with no paid version.
yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for thousands of sites.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux verified 2026-07-30
Release Files table lists official standalone binaries for these three OSes plus pip/PyPI install; no iOS/Android/Web build is offered.
yt-dlp.exe|Windows (Win8+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for Windows) ... yt-dlp_macos|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for MacOS) ... yt-dlp_linux|Linux (glibc 2.17+)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
Segmented downloading Yes verified 2026-07-30
Multi-threaded fragment downloads: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use --concurrent-fragments (-N) option to set the number of threads used
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md#new-features -
Browser integration Partial verified 2026-07-30
yt-dlp can pull authentication cookies from installed browsers, but the README documents no companion browser extension or one-click capture; integration is limited to cookie import.
Cookies from browser: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md#new-features -
Video grabbing Yes verified 2026-07-30
yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for thousands of sites.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
Resume support Yes verified 2026-07-30
-c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments (default)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
Open source Yes verified 2026-07-30
This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/LICENSE -
Speed limits Yes verified 2026-07-30
-r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second, e.g. 50K or 4.2M
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md -
CLI Yes verified 2026-07-30
yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for thousands of sites.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/README.md
FAQ
Yes. Xtreme Download Manager (XDM), Free Download Manager and aria2 have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Xtreme Download Manager (XDM), aria2 and JDownloader — every license claim links its source.