Hi-res Youtube downloads

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nic007
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Hi-res Youtube downloads

#1 Post by nic007 »

I've noticed that youtube has made it a bit more difficult to download high quality videos, the reason being that most videos' video and audio tracks are split. If you use these youtube download sites you can clearly see that the only option where you can still download it as one mp4 file, is in the 640x360 resolution (well almost exclusively there are rare exceptions). So if a higher resolution video is available, the tracks will most likely be split. Luckily most of these sites also provide the download links for the video and audio tracks seperately. So download the video track as .mp4 and the audio track as m4a and merge them as one .mp4 file with FFConvert multimedia converter in the menu. I've tried it and it was very easy, just keep the conversion settings same as the source files as far as possible. Works fast and very well.

ITSMERSH

#2 Post by ITSMERSH »

I'm using Firefox and Companion App.
It can download all sizes (19xx, 1280, 864, 480, 320, whatever is present in the download list).
Formats are usually .webm or .mp4.
It can also download e.g. .webm and convert to e.g. .mp4 after download.

Just saying...

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nic007
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#3 Post by nic007 »

Mmm. I wonder. Most videos are low resolution and were originally uploaded as so. Did you download recently because this new way from youtube of doing things is quite new? Are you sure that your downloads are direct downloads from the google server and not actually conversions of the original file?

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fabrice_035
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#4 Post by fabrice_035 »

Hello,

I also notice that youtube has changed things.

But it's always possible with youtube-dl to download only one file (video + audio)

Before :

Code: Select all

youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nz3xxxxxx
Now that same command download separate files :cry:

Then try:

Code: Select all

youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nz3xxxxxx

[youtube] -nz3xxxxxx: Downloading webpage
[youtube] -nz3xxxxxx: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] -nz3xxxxxx: Downloading js player vflATXXzL
[info] Available formats for -nz3xxxxxx:
format code  extension  resolution note
249          webm       audio only DASH audio   68k , opus @ 50k, 35.95MiB
250          webm       audio only DASH audio   86k , opus @ 70k, 41.61MiB
140          m4a        audio only DASH audio  133k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k, 90.91MiB
171          webm       audio only DASH audio  149k , vorbis@128k, 60.33MiB
251          webm       audio only DASH audio  161k , opus @160k, 76.49MiB
160          mp4        256x144    144p  112k , avc1.4d400c, 30fps, video only, 35.29MiB
278          webm       256x144    144p  128k , webm container, vp9, 30fps, video only, 64.28MiB
242          webm       426x240    240p  223k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 83.30MiB
133          mp4        426x240    240p  339k , avc1.4d4015, 30fps, video only, 75.53MiB
243          webm       640x360    360p  420k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 172.07MiB
134          mp4        640x360    360p  705k , avc1.4d401e, 30fps, video only, 160.17MiB
244          webm       854x480    480p  778k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 282.04MiB
135          mp4        854x480    480p 1273k , avc1.4d401f, 30fps, video only, 265.80MiB
247          webm       1280x720   720p 1510k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 489.49MiB
136          mp4        1280x720   720p 2394k , avc1.4d401f, 30fps, video only, 445.04MiB
17           3gp        176x144    small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2@ 24k, 57.63MiB
36           3gp        320x180    small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2, 167.98MiB
18           mp4        640x360    medium , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k, 322.16MiB
43           webm       640x360    medium , vp8.0, vorbis@128k, 427.79MiB
22           mp4        1280x720   hd720 , avc1.64001F, mp4a.40.2@192k (best)

And next is simply, choose code

Code: Select all

youtube-dl -f 22  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nz3xxxxxx

++
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nic007
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#5 Post by nic007 »

Hi, I don't have youtube-dl but looking at your example it seems as if you came across a video that still has an option to download in one file (video and audio) in 720P resolution. Please try the following videos with your method and report back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8WnxgV8Os ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkzuSaIj9hY ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuB_e2QYb8

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fabrice_035
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#6 Post by fabrice_035 »

about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8WnxgV8Os
The "high" video is

Code: Select all

18           mp4        480x360    medium , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k, 26.56MiB (best)
and

Code: Select all

137          mp4        1440x1080  1080p 2187k , avc1.640028, 25fps, video only, 58.74MiB
it's a upscalling, not real true high res. Same for others.
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nic007
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#7 Post by nic007 »

No, you are wrong. It's not upscaling. There is in fact a higher resolution video available on the server but it's a seperate video only stream. All videos can be downloaded as one stream (video+audio) in the 360P resolution. Some 720P videos can also be downloaded in one stream. However many (most) videos that also have higher resolutions are now split in two streams and you will have to download the seperate files (video and audio seperately) because the higher resolution is video only. In the latter case your method won't work, you will have to download the two streams to be merged later by another application like ffmpeg. Maybe there is a command for youtube-dl to merge the seperate streams but you will need an application like ffmpeg installed. I just download the two streams and use FFconvert to merge it.

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#8 Post by fabrice_035 »

Compare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8WnxgV8Os = mp4 = 480x360

with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKB_MOEhIgM -> auto choose select is HD

And i think you can download the HD stream video with sound in one file (i can't try youtube-dl at this moment ... I am not at home right now)

First it's "fake HD" (upscale) and youtube separate video and sound if you choose HD download
Second it's real HD upload vidéo

Regard
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#9 Post by nic007 »

Okay I gave a bad example, that video wasn't good quality for starters. Youtube does not upscale but does downscale videos on their servers for more download/playing options. It depends on the original upload, if the upload is in high resolution, the higher resolution should also be available. You will see that if it's a low resolution upload, no high resolutions will be available. Youtube will never upscale an uploaded video to a higher resolution as the original upload. It is of course possible that the uploader may convert a poor quality video to a higher resolution (in which case the quality of the video stays poor).

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#10 Post by fabrice_035 »

I Understand ( or not :shock: ?) . I think about this exemple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKB_MOEhIgM the uploader have send a vidéo [1920x1080] with sound . After youtube separate the sound and purpose differents quality, sound and video are not merged but played synchronously in real time in HD . Possible ?

The only formats with sound that can be loaded are of medium or poor quality.

Your solution is good, take HD vidéo / take HD audio / - > merge .
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norgo
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#11 Post by norgo »

did the test using smtube/smplayer (only for confirmation ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKB_MOEhIgM
is available in full HD resolution
Attachments
Screenshot.jpg
youtube video in full hd
(39.4 KiB) Downloaded 182 times

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#12 Post by fabrice_035 »

@norgo, HD ok but video only :

Image
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#13 Post by norgo »

@fabrice_035

of course with sound !

without sound the video would be useless
video watching in 1080p or more is no problem

unfortunately video download is still limited to 720p
but I'm quite sure Ricardo Villalba will found a solution :-)
'=========================================================================='
'Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family'
'libavcodec version 57.24.102 (internal)'
'Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)'
'=========================================================================='
'ID_VIDEO_CODEC=ffh264'
'ID_FILENAME=https://r5---sn-h0jeenl7.googlevideo.co ... bypass=yes'
'ID_DEMUXER='
'ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=H264'
'ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=40600'
'ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=1920'
md.video_width set to 1920
'ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=1080'
md.video_height set to 1080
'ID_VIDEO_FPS=25.000'
'ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=0.0000'
md.video_aspect set to 1.777778
'ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=MP4A'
'ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=3400'
'ID_AUDIO_RATE=44100'
'ID_AUDIO_NCH=2'
'ID_START_TIME=0.00'
'ID_LENGTH=369.64'
md.duration set to 369.640000
'ID_SEEKABLE=1'
'ID_CHAPTERS=0'
'=========================================================================='
'Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders'
'AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 3.4 kbit/0.12% (ratio: 425->352800)'
'ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=3400'
'ID_AUDIO_RATE=44100'
'ID_AUDIO_NCH=2'
'Selected audio codec: [ffaac] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))'
'=========================================================================='
'AO: [alsa] 48000Hz 2ch floatle (4 bytes per sample)'
the shown bit rates are often not correct, I guess because of usage of variable bit rates

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