this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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Privacy

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How can I download an entire playlist or channel from YouTube without signing in to get cookies for yt-dlp? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 week ago by barnaclebill@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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I am looking to download entire playlists and/or channels from YouTube. I know I can do this with yt-dlp, but for the content I'm attempting to download, it requires me to pass some cookie settings to yt-dlp, which I believe involves first signing into YouTube, which I don't want to do.

My next thought was to see if I can accomplish the same task through Invidious. I can download individual videos through Invidious, but I don't see a way to download an entire playlist.

Is there any way of downloading an entire playlist (or channel) without signing in, through Invidious or some other tool?

Or if I'm misunderstanding the mechanic of passing a cookie to yt-dlp (like if there's a way of doing this without signing in), please let me know. Thank you!

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[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

for the content I’m attempting to download, it requires me to pass some cookie settings to yt-dlp, which I believe involves first signing into YouTube, which I don’t want to do.

What is the error that you're getting? You may not have the the javascript runtime that yt-dlp requires so you're not passing javascript challenges that youtube requires before you get access to the video stream. More info here: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/EJS

Even with the solver, you won't be able to download any age protected videos without signing in.

[–] barnaclebill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago (1 children) 
ERROR: [youtube] DxFMJMIjtC4: Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot. Use --cookies-from-browser or --cookies for the authentication. See  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ#how-do-i-pass-cookies-to-yt-dlp  for how to manually pass cookies. Also see  https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Extractors#exporting-youtube-cookies  for tips on effectively exporting YouTube cookies

I don't believe the content I'm trying to download is age restricted, but I have not set up the JS challenge solver, so I'll look into that. Thanks!

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

You need to change your IP address.

[–] ttyybb@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I use GrayJay its primary on mobile, not sure how far into development the desktop app is, but you can give it a try. It downloads videos and playlists just fine for me

[–] Sophocles 2 points 1 week ago

Seal on FDroid has a download playlist option. It works on everything I've thrown at it