The All-Purpose Open-Source Download Tool: yt-dlp

I've thoroughly experimented with yt-dlp from start to finish. Below is the "effective configuration" I settled on after hitting plenty of pitfalls.

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1. Install ffmpeg first, otherwise yt-dlp is as good as not installed

If you only install yt-dlp without ffmpeg, when you encounter cases where video and audio are separated (nearly all high-definition YouTube videos are separated), the downloaded file will either have no sound or only audio without video. ffmpeg is the tool that stitches them together for you.

Installation commands for each platform (no need to dig through the official website's download page):

• Windows: scoop install ffmpeg or choco install ffmpeg
• macOS: brew install ffmpeg
• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian): sudo apt install ffmpeg