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Tutorial: Private videos & playlists

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Jelle Glebbeek edited this page Feb 21, 2026 · 9 revisions

This tutorial explains how to download private or ratelimited (Sign in to confirm you're not a bot) videos & playlists, or rather: videos you need to be logged in for. I can't guarantee this will work for every service out there, but it for sure works with YouTube.

  1. First we need to extract cookies from the service e.g. YouTube. This can be done using an extension for Chrome or Firefox. You can install it using the Chrome webstore or Firefox addon store.
  1. After you have installed the extension go ahead and navigate to the service. Make sure you are logged into the service for this step. Now export the cookies using the extension you just installed.

screenshot depicting step 2

  1. Now go to youtube-dl-gui and press the key icon to setup authentication using cookies.

screenshot depicting step 3

  1. Click on 'Click to select cookies.txt' and select the cookies.txt file you just exported from the service.

screenshot depicting step 4

  1. Click on Ok to apply the changes. If you every wish to remove the cookies just open this window and press 'Remove cookies'.

screenshot depicting step 5

  1. Try downloading a video that you need to be logged in for, it should now work!

Still not working? Create a new issue and I will take a look at it.

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