# How to Build a YouTube Video Downloader in Python: A Beginner's Guide

### **Usecase:**

Online websites for downloading YouTube videos are often full of ads and complicated to use. For educational purposes, here’s a simple, ad-free way to create your own YouTube video downloader using Python.

### Result:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1716523996982/8ba3506c-ddb1-44dc-9643-0dc2cbba418d.png align="center")

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1716524040498/779c981d-ec5a-47f9-ab3a-9e7088625bd0.png align="center")

### Lets get started!

Let me show you the essential script.

```python
#pip install pytube (if module not installed yet)
from pytube import YouTube

#insert the link you want to download
yt = YouTube("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9tOnIJyvRw")
#streams object able to use multiple method to call
yt.streams.get_highest_resolution().download()
print(f"Video downloaded successfully: '{yt.title}'")
```

That's all you need.

* `yt.streams`: This gets all available video streams for the YouTube video.
    
* `get_highest_resolution()`: This method selects the stream with the highest resolution.
    
* `download()`: This method downloads the selected video stream.
    

From the test, it seems that unable to call method directly but need to call method from object `streams` which is `get_highest_resolution()`

Full explanation:

You cannot call the `download` method directly on the `YouTube` object because the `download` method is a part of the `Stream` object, not the `YouTube` object. Here’s a more detailed explanation:

1. `YouTube` **Object**:
    
    * When you create a `YouTube` object, it represents a specific YouTube video. This object contains various attributes and methods to interact with the video.
        
2. `Stream` **Object**:
    
    * The `YouTube` object has a `streams` attribute, which is a list of `Stream` objects. Each `Stream` object represents a different format or quality option for downloading the video (e.g., 360p, 720p, audio-only, etc.).
        
3. `download` **Method**:
    
    * The `download` method is a method of the `Stream` class, not the `YouTube` class. Therefore, you need to first select a specific `Stream` object from the `streams` attribute of the `YouTube` object before you can call the `download` method.
        

We want to make it better by stating the path to save downloaded video and also URL for video.

```python
#pip install pytube (if module not installed yet)
from pytube import YouTube
```

Importing Youtube class from pytube library which will be used to interacting with Youtube videos

```python
# Create function to download a YouTube video
def download_video(video_url, output_path):
    try:
        video = YouTube(video_url)
        stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution()
        stream.download(output_path=output_path)
        print(f"Video downloaded successfully: '{video.title}'")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Failed to download video. Error: {e}")
```

`def download_video(video_url, output_path)` is defining a function name as download video that takes two arguments which is video url and output path

* `video_url`: The URL of the YouTube video to be downloaded.
    
* `output_path`: The directory where the downloaded video will be saved.
    

`video = YouTube(video_url)` create 'Youtube' object for specified video URL that will called later as variable video

`stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution()` Selects the highest resolution stream available for the video.

`stream.download(output_path=output_path)` Downloads the selected stream to the specified directory.

`print(f"Video downloaded successfully: '{video.title}'")` output if the video downloaded successfully

`except Exception as e: print(f"Failed to download video. Error: {e}")` when the download not able to process, this output will trigger

```python
video_url = input('Enter URL of YouTube video: ') 
output_path = input('Enter the directory to save the video: ')
```

input means that user will need to fill the URL and also the path which will be stored to the variable video\_url and output\_path

```python
download_video(video_url, output_path)
```

This last script will call `download_video` function with the argument that has been given by user.

### **FULL CODE**

```python
# pip install pytube (if module not installed yet)
from pytube import YouTube

# Function to download a YouTube video
def download_video(video_url, output_path):
    try:
        video = YouTube(video_url)
        stream = video.streams.get_highest_resolution()
        stream.download(output_path=output_path)
        print(f"Video downloaded successfully: '{video.title}'")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Failed to download video. Error: {e}")

# Request URL of YouTube Video
video_url = input('Enter URL of YouTube video: ')
output_path = input('Enter the directory to save the video: ')

# Download the video
download_video(video_url, output_path)
```

Let me know if you have any comment.