Download is saved as wrong file format by default?

[mcdiarmid1]

Hi there, thanks so much for making this GUI for yt-dlp. I have successfully installed and used the MacYTDL with yt-dlp. I am running into a small issue - even though I have configured the settings to download videos into the mp4 format, every video is saved as a webm file. Each video plays fine but I'd like to have them in the mp4 format by default as I set up in the saved setting dialog (mp4 and 1080 as max resolution). Not sure if there is something else I need or can do?

[section83]

Hello mcdiarmid1, thanks for making contact.

The "File format:" setting controls which format is downloaded from those available on the web site. So, if MP4 is available, it will be downloaded. However, if MP4 is not available, MacYTDL will download the best available format, which is often webm, as is usual with YouTube.

You can set MacYTDL to convert the container from the downloaded format to MP4 using the "Remux format:" setting. When remux is specified, MacYTDL will tell yt-dlp to convert the container to the desired format using FFmpeg.

Note that remuxing does not change the format of the codecs inside the container. So, for example, YouTube videos will usually have the Opus codec for audio and vp09 for video. If you want the resulting file to be playable in Apple software such as Quicktime, you will also need to turn on "QT compatible video" in the "Admin" settings dialog. Again, MacYTDL will tell yt-dlp to use FFmpeg to convert the codecs. Converting codecs takes a long time on older Macs.

Cheers.

Garry

[mcdiarmid1]

Thank you for the detailed reply as that all makes sense. I appreciate the work you have done to make this GUI interface.

[section83]

No worries. Helps keep the little grey cells working.

Cheers.