Windows 11/10  ·  Full playlists & channels  ·  Copy-paste commands

Download YouTube Playlists & Channels with yt-dlp on Windows

Download entire playlists or specific items, keep playlist order, resume interrupted downloads, and skip already-saved files. Works for channels too.

⬇ Download yt-dlp.exe

Update before large jobs: yt-dlp -U

Commands

yt-dlp playlist download commands for Windows

All commands run in PowerShell from the folder where yt-dlp.exe is saved.

Download entire playlist — best quality
yt-dlp --yes-playlist "PLAYLIST_URL"
Keep playlist order in filenames (recommended)
yt-dlp --yes-playlist -o "%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"
Download specific items only (e.g. 1, 5, 10 through 12)
yt-dlp --playlist-items 1,5,10-12 "PLAYLIST_URL"
Download a range (items 5 to 15)
yt-dlp --playlist-start 5 --playlist-end 15 "PLAYLIST_URL"
Resume + skip already downloaded files
yt-dlp --continue --download-archive downloaded.txt "PLAYLIST_URL"
Download a whole YouTube channel (all videos)
yt-dlp "https://www.youtube.com/@ChannelName/videos" -o "%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s"

Organisation

Folders, filenames and output templates

Use output templates to create tidy folder structures automatically.

One folder per playlist, numbered files
yt-dlp -o "C:/Videos/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"
Channel videos sorted by upload date
yt-dlp -o "C:/Videos/%(channel)s/%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" "CHANNEL_URL"
Incremental channel sync — only new videos
yt-dlp --download-archive archive.txt --dateafter today-30days "CHANNEL_URL"

Advanced options

Speed, order and private playlists

Performance

Parallel fragment downloads (faster)
-N 4
Rate limit (avoid throttling)
--limit-rate 5M
Retry on failures
--retries 10 --fragment-retries 10

Order & date filters

Reverse playlist order
--playlist-reverse
Only videos from 2025 onwards
--dateafter 20250101
Private / age-restricted (use cookies)
--cookies-from-browser chrome

FAQ

Playlist download — common questions

Why are some playlist items skipped?
The video may be private, region-blocked, age-restricted, or already in your --download-archive file. Check the terminal output for the specific reason. For private or age-restricted content, try --cookies-from-browser chrome.
How do I download only 1080p from a playlist?
Add a format filter: -f "bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]". For 4K/8K merges, ensure FFmpeg is in the same folder as yt-dlp.exe.
Files are out of order after downloading — how to fix?
Add -o "%(playlist_index)02d-%(title)s.%(ext)s" to your command. The %(playlist_index)02d prefix zero-pads the track number so files sort correctly in any file manager.
How do I keep only new videos when re-running?
Use --download-archive archive.txt. yt-dlp writes the ID of every downloaded video to that file and skips any IDs already listed on future runs. The file is created automatically if it doesn't exist.
Can I download a private playlist?
Yes, if you are logged in to the account that owns it. Use --cookies-from-browser chrome (or edge/firefox) to pass your login cookies to yt-dlp.