Download Video

Downloads a YouTube, Instagram or X link as an MP4 video or an M4A audio file with yt-dlp. Copy a link, open the actions and choose Download video. Progress shows on the job card, and the finished file is handed back to yabbistir.

Video is requested as H.264 with AAC, which QuickTime plays on every Mac. When a site only has VP9 or AV1, or HE-AAC audio, the file is converted with ffmpeg.

Permissions

• network, with youtube.com, youtu.be, instagram.com, x.com and twitter.com: the sites the extension works with, shown before you install it. The list holds the extension's own requests. yt-dlp is a separate program, so the list does not limit it: it reaches these sites and the servers they deliver media from (content networks such as googlevideo.com), as any download of such a link does.
• exec, limited to the tools below. The extension runs only yt-dlp and ffmpeg (and yt-dlp may call deno). It passes a fixed list of arguments and puts the link after --, so the link can never be read as an option.

Tools to install

brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg deno

yt-dlp needs a JavaScript runtime to solve some sites' challenges (YouTube in particular), so deno is listed as a required tool too. If a download fails with a message about updating, run brew upgrade yt-dlp.

Browser cookies (optional)

Some posts ask you to sign in. In the extension's settings, Browser cookies can be set to Safari, Chrome or Firefox. It is off by default and asks you to confirm when you turn it on.

Privacy: the extension reads no cookies itself. It only tells yt-dlp which browser to use (--cookies-from-browser), and the cookies go to yt-dlp and nowhere else. Safari needs Full Disk Access.