How to install yt-dlp on a Mac

The fastest way to install yt-dlp on an Apple Silicon Mac is through Homebrew by opening Terminal and running brew install yt-dlp. This single command installs the latest version of the popular media downloader and links it directly into your command path.

yt-dlp is a free, open-source command-line utility that extracts audio and video streams from YouTube and thousands of other video hosting websites. Below is a complete guide to installing yt-dlp, connecting it with FFmpeg to unlock 1080p and 4K downloads, keeping it updated, and integrating it with desktop video players.

How do you install yt-dlp on macOS using Homebrew?

Homebrew is the recommended installation method for macOS because it manages updates automatically and ensures that dependencies like Python and FFmpeg stay in sync.

To install yt-dlp using Homebrew on an Apple Silicon Mac:

1. Open the Terminal app from your Applications › Utilities folder (or press ⌘ Space, type Terminal, and press Return).
2. If you do not already have Homebrew installed on your Mac, run the official installer:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Configure your shell environment so your terminal can locate Homebrew binaries in /opt/homebrew/bin:

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

4. Install yt-dlp by running:

brew install yt-dlp

Homebrew will download the universal Apple Silicon package and install the executable to /opt/homebrew/bin/yt-dlp. Confirm the installation by checking its version:

yt-dlp --version

If Terminal outputs a release timestamp such as 2026.10.26, yt-dlp is installed and ready to use.

How do you install yt-dlp using the official standalone binary?

If you prefer not to use Homebrew, you can install the official standalone binary distributed by the yt-dlp maintainers on GitHub. The standalone binary bundles its own lightweight Python runtime, meaning it runs on macOS without configuring external packages.

To install the standalone binary:

1. Open Terminal and download the latest universal macOS release into /usr/local/bin:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

2. Make the file executable:

sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

3. Test the binary by running:

yt-dlp --version

When installed as a standalone binary, yt-dlp includes a built-in auto-updater. You can update it anytime by running:

sudo yt-dlp -U

Why does yt-dlp require FFmpeg to download 1080p and 4K video?

Many Mac users install yt-dlp, download their first video, and wonder why the resolution is capped at 720p or why Terminal prints a warning about missing post-processors.

Modern video hosting platforms, including YouTube, do not store high-definition video as a single pre-combined file. Instead, to support adaptive bitrate streaming across varying network conditions (using standards like DASH and HLS), the platform stores the high-resolution video track (1080p, 1440p, or 4K) separately from the audio soundtrack.

When you download a 4K video:

1. yt-dlp downloads the standalone high-bitrate video stream (often encoded in VP9 or AV1) as a temporary file.
2. yt-dlp downloads the standalone audio stream (encoded in Opus or AAC) as a second temporary file.
3. yt-dlp launches ffmpeg in the background to remux the two streams together into a single, unified MP4 or MKV container.
4. yt-dlp deletes the temporary files, leaving you with one complete file.

Without FFmpeg installed on your Mac, yt-dlp cannot merge the two tracks. To prevent leaving you with an unplayable video file without sound, yt-dlp automatically falls back to downloading legacy pre-muxed streams, which are permanently limited to 720p at 30 frames per second.

To unlock full 1080p, 4K, 8K, and 60 fps downloads, install FFmpeg alongside yt-dlp:

brew install ffmpeg

To learn more about how FFmpeg multiplexes streams together, read our guide on how to install FFmpeg on Mac and our explainer on what is FFmpeg.

How do you update yt-dlp when video downloads fail?

Streaming websites alter their player scripts, streaming APIs, and encryption handshakes on a weekly basis to prevent automated scraping. When YouTube modifies its internal backend, older versions of yt-dlp may fail with errors like:

ERROR: Unable to extract uploader id
ERROR: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden
ERROR: Sign in to confirm you're not a bot

The yt-dlp developer community releases updates constantly—often several times a month—to counteract these platform changes. Whenever a download fails, your first troubleshooting step should always be updating yt-dlp.

Updating via Homebrew:

brew update && brew upgrade yt-dlp

Updating the standalone binary:

sudo yt-dlp -U

Keeping yt-dlp updated resolves more than 90% of extraction and download failures.

Is using yt-dlp legal on a Mac?

Understanding the legal standing of yt-dlp requires separating the software tool from the content being downloaded and the terms of service of the hosting platform.

From a software perspective, yt-dlp is open-source software distributed under The Unlicense, placing it in the public domain. It does not contain decryption keys, and it does not circumvent Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems such as Apple FairPlay, Google Widevine, or Microsoft PlayReady. You cannot use yt-dlp to download encrypted movies from subscription services like Netflix, Disney+, or Apple TV+.

From a platform perspective, downloading content from YouTube directly violates YouTube’s Terms of Service (“Permissions and Restrictions”), which state that users may not access, reproduce, download, or distribute content without prior written permission from YouTube or respective rights holders.

From a copyright law perspective, courts in Europe (including landmark decisions in Germany and Switzerland) have consistently held that creating local copies of publicly accessible, unencrypted streaming media for personal, non-commercial archiving falls under statutory private copying exceptions.

yt-dlp is widely used for undisputed legal purposes, such as:

• Downloading your own uploaded content and channel archives.
• Saving open-access creative works, such as the open-source films produced by the Blender Foundation.
• Archiving Creative Commons, public domain, and educational lecture material for offline study.

Note: This section describes the technical and legal context for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.

Animation

A link in MacLC: from web URL to screen

1. Paste LinkFile › Open Web Video (⌘U)
2. yt-dlp resolves streamsExtracts direct video & audio URLs
3. Media EngineHardware decode via VideoToolbox
4. Instant PlaybackFull HDR & custom sound modes

How desktop players use yt-dlp for streaming

While downloading video files to your hard drive is convenient for offline travel, running terminal commands just to watch a quick tutorial or documentary can feel cumbersome. Furthermore, browser playback in Chrome or Safari is often cluttered with interface overlays, lacks advanced audio equalization, and cannot apply specialized HDR enhancement.

Desktop players can solve this by integrating directly with yt-dlp for desktop streaming. Once you have yt-dlp installed via Homebrew (brew install yt-dlp), the player uses the utility as a background stream resolver.

In addition to opening individual pasted URLs, MacLC features a dedicated YouTube section built right into its sidebar:

• Browse without browser bloat: Explore YouTube Home, Subscriptions, History, Watch Later, and Liked Videos directly inside a clean macOS AppKit interface.
• Search and channels: Search for creators, browse playlists, and launch videos with a single click.
• Privacy and account control: Signing in with your Google account is optional and strictly private; no tracking cookies or telemetry leave your Mac.
• Sound modes: Enjoy web soundtracks through a 10-band equalizer and Voice Boost dialogue engine (+7.4 dB center channel advantage on 5.1 tracks).

Learn more about enjoying web streams on macOS in our dedicated guide to YouTube in a Mac video player.

What to do next

Installing yt-dlp takes less than two minutes with Homebrew and gives your Mac a versatile media retrieval tool. Start by installing both yt-dlp and ffmpeg in Terminal, and keep them updated whenever streaming platforms adjust their backends.

If you want the power of yt-dlp without spending your day managing terminal scripts, download MacLC. With yt-dlp installed, you can press ⌘U to stream any web link with hardware acceleration, picture-in-picture, and custom sound modes, making web video feel like a native Mac experience.