--- title: "VidBee Downloads: Queue, Quality, Playlists" description: "Download video and audio from YouTube, TikTok, and 1000+ sites in VidBee. Choose quality, queue playlists, watch progress, and keep every file on your device." canonical: "https://vidbee.org/docs/download/" --- > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vidbee.org/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # VidBee Downloads: Queue, Quality, Playlists VidBee is a desktop queue for video and audio. Paste a link, pick a format, and the file lands in a folder you control. No account. No cloud copy of the media. ## Core features - **1000+ sites** — paste a video, audio, playlist, or channel link - **Format picker** — quality, codec, fps, audio language, custom folder - **Playlists** — select items or a start–end range - **One-click** — skip the picker and use your default type, quality, and container - **Queue** — progress, cancel, retry, multi-select, open the file - **Details and logs** — source, format, yt-dlp command and output - **Local files** — folder you choose; cookies when a site needs a session ![Download queue with active and finished items](/docs/download/download-queue.png) The home list is both the live queue and history. Filter by **All**, **Active**, **Completed**, or **Error**. Each row shows status, date, quality, and size. Audio items get an **Audio** badge. Items that came from RSS get a **Subscription** badge. ## Add a download 1. Click **Add URL** (or press the paste shortcut when the popover is open). 2. Paste a video, audio, playlist, or channel link. Invalid clipboard text is rejected. 3. Click **Fetch** to load title, duration, and formats. 4. Choose **Video** or **Audio**, pick a quality, and click **Download Video** or **Download Audio**. ![Format picker with 1080p and 720p options](/docs/download/download-formats.png) You can also: - **Drop a URL** onto the home page to start a download. - **Drop an audio or video file** to send it to [transcripts](./transcribe) instead. - Start from the browser with the [vidbee:// protocol](./protocol), including playlists. **One-click download** (the **OFF/ON** control next to Add URL, or **Settings → General**) skips the format picker and uses your default type, quality, and container. Turn it off when you want to choose a specific stream. ## Format picker After **Fetch**, the dialog shows the title, uploader, duration, and thumbnail. - **Video / Audio** tabs switch between picture streams and audio-only extracts (M4A, Opus, MP3, and similar). - Each video row shows resolution (`1080p`, `1080p60`, `1440p`), container, codec, fps, and size. - Audio rows show bitrate and language when the source has more than one track. VidBee can **remember the last audio language** you picked (**Settings → Advanced**). ![Audio tab with bitrate, language, and Download Audio](/docs/download/download-audio.png) - Pick a **custom folder** for this job only. Later jobs still use **Settings → General → Download location**. - Open **Advanced options** for a **start–end time range** (clip a chapter) and **download subtitles** for this job. ![Advanced options: container, codec, frame rate, and time range](/docs/download/download-advanced.png) If the site cannot deliver the stream you picked (common on premium 4K tiers), VidBee falls back to the best available and shows **Selected format unavailable** on the finished row. Merged video defaults to MP4 and falls back to MKV when the codecs cannot sit in MP4. Change the default in [Formats & Containers](./formats), or per one-click download in **Settings → General → Container**. ## Playlists and channels Switch the dialog to **Playlist** (or paste a playlist/channel URL). VidBee loads the entry list so you can: - Select or deselect individual videos. - Set a **start** and **end** index instead of the whole list. - Download the selection as video or audio. ![Playlist picker with six Northwind Studio Season 1 episodes selected](/docs/download/download-playlist.png) On the home list, playlist jobs group under the playlist title with a collapsed progress count (`3 / 12 completed`). Expand the group to manage each item. Right-click the group to **remove the playlist history** (optional file delete). ## Queue, selection, and files While a job runs you see percent, downloaded/total size, speed, and ETA, plus a thin progress bar. **Cancel** stops an active or pending job. On a finished row you can: - **Double-click** to open the file. - **Open folder** next to the file. - **Copy** the file to the clipboard (macOS-friendly for pasting into other apps). - **Retry** a failed or cancelled job. - Jump to the [transcript](./transcribe) when the file is still on disk. Right-click a row for the same actions, plus **Copy URL**, **Show details**, **Delete file**, or **Remove from list**. Removing from the list keeps the file unless you choose delete. ![Download row context menu: open, copy, transcript, details, delete](/docs/download/download-context-menu.png) Select multiple history items with the checkbox on the thumbnail, **Select visible**, or **Ctrl/Cmd+A**. **Remove selected** can leave files on disk or delete them too. ## Details and logs Open **Show details** (or the details tab in the side sheet) for source, playlist position, format, codec, saved filename, timestamps, and tags. ![Details sheet with source, format, codec, saved file, and tags](/docs/download/download-details.png) The **Logs** tab shows the live or saved yt-dlp output and the exact command VidBee ran. Scroll up to pause auto-scroll. ![Logs tab with the yt-dlp command and saved download output](/docs/download/download-logs.png) ## When a download fails - Confirm the link opens in a browser, then retry. - Age-gated, private, or “sign in to confirm you are not a bot” pages need [cookies](./cookies). Failed rows that look like a session problem show **Set up cookies**. - **View logs** and **Report this error** (GitHub or in-app feedback) attach the URL, command, and log. - Slow jobs: lower **Maximum number of active downloads**, check the **proxy**, or avoid starting too many at once. ## Download settings These live in **Settings** and apply to new jobs (including RSS). **General** - Download location - One-click download, default type (video/audio), quality preset (Best ≤4K down to Worst ≤360p), container - Theme and interface language - Launch at startup (macOS/Windows) - Hide Dock icon on close (macOS) ![Settings General: download location, one-click, theme, and language](/docs/download/download-settings-general.png) **Metadata** (written into the saved file when the source provides it) - Filename style (`pretty`, `classic`, `basic`, `nerdy`) and optional **via VidBee** suffix - Save single videos without a channel subfolder - Embed subtitles, write auto-generated captions, embed thumbnail, embed metadata, embed chapters ![Settings Metadata: filename style, via VidBee suffix, and embed options](/docs/download/download-settings-metadata.png) **Cookies** — browser session or a `cookies.txt` file. See [Cookies](./cookies). **Advanced** - Maximum concurrent downloads (1–10) - HTTP/HTTPS proxy - Download source for engines and models (Official, China/ModelScope, or Auto) - Custom yt-dlp configuration file - Download finished notifications - Remember last audio language Source: https://vidbee.org/docs/download/index.md