How to download a YouTube playlist

Start with a public playlist link

1. Open the playlist on YouTube and copy its URL. Playlist links contain playlist?list=; a video URL containing a playlist identifier also works.
2. Paste the link into BLADE's YouTube link field. Choose Audio / MP3 or Video / 1080p.
3. Select Download. The queue shows the playlist entries, their thumbnails, and progress while the backend prepares the files.
4. When the job finishes, select Download ZIP to save the completed files together. Individual file links are available too.

You do not need to register or install anything to use the public website. You can also paste a single public YouTube video link. Only download content you own or have permission to save.

Download a YouTube playlist as MP3

Audio / MP3 is selected by default. The backend downloads the available audio stream and converts it to MP3. Each completed track carries metadata, including the playlist name as its album and its original playlist position as its track number where available.

Cover art uses the standard 480 × 360 YouTube thumbnail. Choosing a known image avoids requests for larger thumbnail variants that may not exist. Converting audio and adding metadata take time after the media transfer finishes.

An MP3 conversion does not improve the original audio's quality. BLADE uses the audio YouTube makes available; it does not manufacture a higher-quality source.

Save playlist videos up to 1080p

Choose Video / 1080p to save video instead of audio. BLADE prefers H.264 and MP4-compatible audio where available and merges separate video and audio streams into an MP4 container.

The maximum requested resolution is 1080p. A source uploaded at a lower resolution stays at that resolution. Final codec availability depends on the formats YouTube supplies for that video.

Large playlists and ZIP downloads

BLADE has no application cap on playlist item count, file size, ZIP size, or total download duration. ZIP64 archives support large files and more than 65,535 entries. Your archive contains the files that completed successfully.

The backend reads the playlist once, distributes the remaining entries across workers, and starts longer videos early to balance the work. The current public configuration allows up to 16 simultaneous video downloads with eight concurrent fragments per fragmented stream.

Available storage, processing power, network bandwidth, and YouTube throttling still affect completion and speed. More concurrent requests do not guarantee a faster download on every connection.

Private, deleted, and unavailable entries

Known private and deleted placeholders are skipped as soon as the playlist listing identifies them, before they reach the download workers. BLADE does not access private videos or bypass access restrictions.

If a video becomes unavailable after the playlist is read, the extractor moves on without retrying extraction. Temporary media transfer errors receive one retry; a stalled connection has a 10-second socket timeout. The remaining playlist entries continue.

A partial download can still have a usable ZIP. Inspect the queue and download details to see which files completed. If every entry is private, deleted, or otherwise unavailable, no media archive can be produced.

If the downloader is busy or offline

The public backend processes one playlist at a time and runs on the owner's computer. It needs that computer and its network connection to stay online. A busy message means another playlist is still being processed; try again after it finishes.

Download starts are limited to one per client IP per minute. If you just started or cancelled a job, wait a minute before trying again. You can cancel an active download using the Cancel download button.

Save completed files promptly. They expire one hour after the job finishes and are removed when the server restarts. An old download link cannot recover an expired file.

Run your own open-source downloader

The GitHub repository contains the C++17 backend, a command-line downloader, and the plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript website. Media extraction uses yt-dlp; MP3 conversion and media merging use ffmpeg.

For local browser use, clone the repository and run docker compose up --build -d. Then open http://localhost:8080. The README documents dependencies, worker settings, and deployment.

Running your own copy gives you a backend on your connection rather than waiting for the shared public instance. BLADE is an independent project and is not affiliated with YouTube.