YouTube-DL is a command-line program for downloading videos from other video-sharing websites. It is open-source software, meaning it is free to use and can be modified by anyone. YouTube-DL can be used on multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. With YouTube-DL, users can download videos in various formats, including MP4, MKV, and MP3, and also can download subtitles along with the video. YouTube-DL also supports batch downloads so that you can download multiple videos simultaneously. It’s a powerful tool that allows you to download videos from many sites, not just YouTube, making it a versatile option for downloading videos.
From time to time, however, users may encounter various problems with YouTube-DL. Users often complain that the tool works very slowly and takes too long to load the videos they want. There are several reasons for this, the main ones being unstable Internet connection or problems with your computer’s performance and recording speed. Let’s see what fixes there are for this and what you can do to avoid such problems in the future.
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Why your YouTube DL became so slow?
First, look at the most popular reasons YouTube-DL may slow down on your computer. If you are primarily interested in fixes for these problems, you can skip straight to this article’s next section. You’ll find a few fixes to help you solve your YouTube video download speed problems.
Let’s now look at what causes YouTube-DL to slow down video downloads more often than not. It’s worth noting that this is open-source and free software developed by enthusiasts and does not guarantee maximum performance at all times. There are several reasons why YouTube-DL, a command-line program for downloading videos from YouTube, may be slow:
- Slow internet connection: If your internet connection is slow, it will take longer to download videos from YouTube.
- Large video size: If you are trying to download a large video, it will take longer than a smaller one.
- High traffic on the YouTube server: High traffic on the YouTube server may take longer to download videos.
- YouTube DL is rate limited: YouTube DL can be rate-limited by YouTube to prevent excessive usage of their resources.
- Your computer resources could be limited: running multiple programs or having limited memory or processing power could slow down the download process.
- The network administrator may block YouTube-DL.
YouTube DL has been around for years, but YouTube can start blocking this tool and make you unable to download videos from it anytime. It’s also worth noting that YouTube DL is a command line tool, which may have some overhead compared to a GUI-based tool. Let’s move on to a few simple solutions you can take to fix YouTube DL being too slow.
How to fix YouTube-DL so slow
Let’s now look at how you can speed up downloading videos from YouTube DL. Note that the tips I list below are essential tips to make YouTube-DL work better, so you should try them one by one until you find a solution that works in your particular case. Here are some solutions you can apply to solve a YouTube DL that is too slow:
Check your Internet connection
The first thing you should do is check your Internet connection. More often than not, slow downloads are either due to slow video download speeds or interference and delays during downloads. It would be best to try opening other websites or running the Speedtest to ensure you are not experiencing slow internet speeds. If you notice a slow connection, you should contact your ISP.
Install yt-dlp
The reason is that the original version of the YouTube-DL tool is a bit outdated, and a new tool called yt-dlp has been released. You can try it to see if it speeds up your computer’s YouTube video downloads. In this project, the developers fixed many bugs and problems observed in YouTube-DL.
Use VPN
Maybe the problem occurs because YouTube doesn’t work correctly in your region. Using a VPN can help you with this. In this case, you will remotely connect to YouTube from a foreign server. This can help increase the download speed of YouTube and the speed of downloading videos from YouTube.
Clear the cache and cookies in your browser.
Since YouTube DL works with your browser, you might have downloading problems because your browser is overloaded with different temporary files and caches. If that’s the case, clearing your browser of unnecessary garbage can help you. To do this, go to settings and find the Clear Cache tab.
Restart your device
Often, issues with different services or tools like YouTube-DL are caused by software conflicts in your operating system. You should try restarting your computer to see if that helps increase the download speed.
Try another YouTube Download Manager
Remember that YouTube-DL isn’t the only service you can use to save YouTube videos. There are many different services you can use for this purpose. For example, many users speak highly of CleverGet.
