PowerShell: Download YouTube Video

Components

Folder Layout

These parts are needed to Make Your Own YouTube Downloader:

Interface

Useful to control all components from one place.
The Download-YoutubeVideo.ps1 script also functions as a menu.

yt-dlp

Required to download Video and Audio from YouTube.
"yt-dlp.exe" is an open-source command line application, and can be downloaded from: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe
Needs to be regularly updated (as YouTube keeps changing the system).

FFmpeg

Required to merge Video and Audio, and to convert formats.
"ffmpeg.exe" is an open-source command line application, and can be downloaded from: https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases/download/latest/ffmpeg-master-latest-win64-gpl.zip

Node.js

Required to simulate a JavaScript environment, so YouTube does not think you are a bot.
"node.exe" is an open-source command line application, and can be downloaded from: https://nodejs.org/en/download

Cookies

Sometimes required, as YouTube requires account identification on restricted videos or restricted client IPs.

Script

param([string]$URL, [string]$Cookies, [string]$Quality, [string]$Location)

function Download-YoutubeVideo
{
    if(!$URL)
    {
        Write-Host "`nEnter YouTube URL: " -ForegroundColor Yellow -NoNewline; $URL = Read-Host
    }

    if(!$Cookies)
    {
        Write-Host "`nSelect Cookies" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        Write-Host "[C] for Chrome, [F] for Firefox, [L] for local cookies.txt, empty to skip: " -ForegroundColor Yellow -NoNewline; $Cookies = Read-Host

        if($Cookies -eq "C") { $Args += @('--cookies-from-browser', 'chrome') }
        if($Cookies -eq "F") { $Args += @('--cookies-from-browser', 'firefox') }
        if($Cookies -eq "L") { $Args += @('--cookies', 'cookies.txt') }
    }

    if(!$Quality)
    {
        Write-Host ""
        ./yt-dlp.exe $Args -F $URL

        Write-Host "`nSelect Format ID(s) for Quality" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        Write-Host "'Video ID + Audio ID', empty for best video and audio: " -ForegroundColor Yellow -NoNewline; $Quality = Read-Host

        if(!$Quality)
        {
            $Quality = 'bestvideo+bestaudio'
            $Args += @('--format', "$Quality")
        }
    }

    if(!$Location)
    {
        $Location = $PSScriptRoot + '\Downloads'
        $Args += @('--paths', "$Location")
    }

    Write-Host ""
    ./yt-dlp.exe --js-runtimes "node:$PSScriptRoot\node\node.exe" --ffmpeg-location "$PSScriptRoot'\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe'" --merge-output-format mp4 --output '%(title)s.%(ext)s' $Args $URL

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "`nDone!"

    Remove-Variable * -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue #-Exclude 'Cookies'
    Download-YoutubeVideo
}

Download-YoutubeVideo

Use

Open the Download.ps1 file, and answer the following prompts:

URL

The link of the YouTube video

Cookies

'C' for extract from Chrome
'F' for extract from Firefox
'L' for extract from local file 'cookies.txt'
Leave empty for attempt to download without cookies

Quality

Enter the ID(s) of the format(s) that you want to download from the list.
If you want to download Video and Audio and combine them, enter like: 'Video ID'+'Audio ID'.
Leave empty to automatically choose 'bestvideo+bestaudio'.