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URLs#

This document describes how Tube Archivist identifies and treats links from YouTube.

Note

Application logic of Tube Archivist is tied only to the IDs, not the names.

Video#

A video ID is 11 characters long, e.g. 2tdiKTSdE9Y.

Urls can have several forms:

  • Watch URL: Regular URLs so will see while browsing YouTube, with the path /watch and a v parameter, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tdiKTSdE9Y
  • Share URL: Link you will get when you click on share on a video, e.g. https://youtu.be/2tdiKTSdE9Y
  • Shorts URL: e.g. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/U80grnZJm_8

Channel#

A channel ID is 24 characters long, e.g. UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A.

Channel URLs can have these forms, all will get translated to the ID:

  • ID URL: With a channel path, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A
  • Channel Handle: Starting with a @ this handle is personal and unique, e.g. @TomScottGo
  • Alias URL: Based off the channel handle, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@TomScottGo

Channel sub pages#

Tube archivist can separate between different subpages:

  • Videos only: https://www.youtube.com/@IBRACORP/videos
  • Shorts only: https://www.youtube.com/@IBRACORP/shorts
  • Streams only: https://www.youtube.com/@IBRACORP/streams
  • Every other channel sub page will default to download all, for example https://www.youtube.com/@IBRACORP/featured will download videos and shorts and streams.

Playlist#

A playlist ID can be 34, 26 or 18 characters long, e.g. PL96C35uN7xGLLeET0dOWaKHkAlPsrkcha

  • Playlist URLs start with a playlist path and has a list parameter, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C35uN7xGLLeET0dOWaKHkAlPsrkcha

Playlist vs Video URLs#

While browsing YouTube videos in Playlists, you might encounter URLs looking like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPZ0pIK_wsc&list=PL96C35uN7xGLLeET0dOWaKHkAlPsrkcha. As established above, based on the /watch path and the v parameter, Tube Archivist will treat this as a video with the ID QPZ0pIK_wsc and not as a playlist. If you mean the playlist, you can easily grab the correct ID from the URL, e.g. PL96C35uN7xGLLeET0dOWaKHkAlPsrkcha.