download-yt-feeds

Download YouTube-feeds as if they are podcasts. Files will be put in <download_dir>/uploader/title.extension.

This should work for all sites youtube-dl supports, but I only tested YouTube.

Features

• Downloads newest videos from a list of channels.

• Creates playlist with newest videos.

• Deletes old videos.

• Passes extra arguments to youtube-dl.

Install

Put download-yt-feeds somewhere in your ${PATH} and make it executable.

Dependencies

• Linux (*BSD and other UNIXes should work, but I haven’t tested)

• Zsh

• youtube-dl

Configuration

The configuration directory is ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/download-yt-feeds or, if ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME} is not set, ${HOME}/.config/download-yt-feeds. You need 2 files in this directory, config and feedlist.

config

Example configuration file

# This file will be source-d.
download_dir="/home/user/Podcasts/youtube"
keep_for_days="14"
ytdl_format="bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]"
max_videos="10"
ytdl_extra_args="--quiet"

download_dir	The directory to which the videos will be downloaded.
keep_for_days	Download only videos newer than this many days and delete older videos.
ytdl_format	Same syntax as youtube-dl --format. Default is "best".
max_videos	Maximum number of videos to consider per feed. Default is to consider all.
ytdl_extra_args	Extra arguments for youtube-dl. Optional.

Warning

All old files in download_dir will be deleted. Don’t put other files in the same directory!

feedlist

A "feed" in this context is a URL to a page that lists YouTube-videos, not an RSS or Atom feed.

Example feed list

# Everything that doesn't start with "http" will be skipped.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyczvB_IvA7V1a5BXXu3CRg/videos # Karakaya Talks
https://www.youtube.com/user/lefticus1/videos # C++ Weekly