Is there a GUI for youtube-dl?

You can use Youtube-dlG, a multi-platform GUI for youtube-dl. The GUI lets you download multiple videos at once, can automatically convert downloaded videos to audio, lets you select the video quality and more.

To install it in Ubuntu, you can use the main WebUpd8 PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install youtube-dlg

For more information, see the article on WebUpd8: Multi-Platform youtube-dl GUI: YouTube dlG

I know this is not really the answer for a GUI however, I couldn't help but notice how the specific characteristics mentioned are already available with youtube-dl if you add a few extra options to your command.

First, to control the quality of a youtube-dl download you can use the helpful -F option to list all the available formats even showing which format is "best".

youtube-dl -F http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY

Here is the output:

[youtube] Setting language
[youtube] P9pzm5b6FFY: Downloading webpage
[youtube] P9pzm5b6FFY: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] P9pzm5b6FFY: Extracting video information
[info] Available formats for P9pzm5b6FFY:
format code extension resolution  note 
140         m4a       audio only  DASH audio , audio@128k (worst)
160         mp4       144p        DASH video , video only
133         mp4       240p        DASH video , video only
134         mp4       360p        DASH video , video only
135         mp4       480p        DASH video , video only
136         mp4       720p        DASH video , video only
17          3gp       176x144     
36          3gp       320x240     
5           flv       400x240     
43          webm      640x360     
18          mp4       640x360     
22          mp4       1280x720    (best)

The best quality here is option 22 so . . . change the -F to -f 22 like this:

youtube-dl -f 22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pzm5b6FFY

If you do this in an open terminal it shows progress in % until completion. Finally, if you want to download multiple videos at once . . .

Just use CTRL+SHIFT+T to open a new tab in the existing terminal. Use CTRL+PGDN or CTRL+PGUP to navigate open tabs.

It can't hurt to know.

There is GUI for youtube-dl

Download the dpkg file and you can install it the normal way.

Please note the message under the download button

The window will freeze while the file is being downloaded, it is working just fine, do not force quit me!