Downloading Playlists

Want to download an entire YouTube series, a course playlist, or your favorite creator's channel? Fetchii makes it easy to grab multiple videos at once, saving you the hassle of downloading them one by one.

How Playlist Downloads Work

When you give Fetchii a playlist URL, it scans the entire playlist and shows you what's available. You can download everything, or pick just the videos you want.

This works with YouTube playlists, Vimeo albums, SoundCloud sets, and many other platforms.

Starting a Playlist Download

There are two ways to kick things off:

Using a playlist URL directly: Copy the playlist URL (something like youtube.com/playlist?list=...), paste it into the link field at the top of the Fetchii window, and press Return. Want to choose quality or format first? Use File > New Download… (Cmd + N) or the options button at the right end of the link field instead. Fetchii recognizes the link as a playlist and opens the Playlist Detected sheet.

From a video that's part of a playlist: If you copy a video URL that includes playlist info (like youtube.com/watch?v=abc123&list=PLxyz...), Fetchii usually treats it as the playlist and shows the same sheet — tick just that one video, or as many as you like.

Very large playlists can take a while to scan. If it drags on, Fetchii offers to keep waiting, download only the first video, or download the entire playlist without picking.

Choosing What to Download

The Playlist Detected sheet lists every video in the playlist with its number, thumbnail, title and duration, so you know what you're getting.

You can:

• Click a video (or its checkbox) to include or skip it
• Use the checkbox next to N selected at the bottom to select or deselect everything shown
• Type in Search entries to find videos in a long list
• If you've downloaded some of these before, they're tagged Downloaded — switch between All, New and Downloaded, or tick Auto-exclude downloaded to skip them

Under Download as, choose how the videos are fetched:

• Separate downloads (the default): each video becomes its own download that you can retry or remove individually
• Combined download: one download for the whole selection, gentler on the source — best for many items

Then click Download N Videos.

Videos that aren't available (maybe they were deleted or made private) are dimmed and tagged Deleted or Private — Fetchii can't download those, but it'll still grab everything else.

Organizing Your Downloads

Folder Options

With Combined download, Fetchii creates a folder named after the playlist and puts all the videos inside:

Downloads/Playlist Name/
  - Video 1.mp4
  - Video 2.mp4
  - Video 3.mp4

If you prefer everything in one folder without subfolders, turn off Create playlist folders in Settings > Downloads > File Names & Folders. Separate downloads are saved like single videos, straight into your download folder.

Adding Numbers

To keep videos in order, add Playlist number ({playlist_index}) to the Download naming pattern in Settings > Downloads > File Names & Folders. For example, {playlist_index} - {title} adds a number to the beginning of each filename:

01 - First Video.mp4
02 - Second Video.mp4
03 - Third Video.mp4

Handy for course playlists or series where order matters. The number (and Playlist title, {playlist_title}) is filled in for combined playlist downloads.

Tracking Progress

A combined playlist download appears as one row in the Active section at the top of the window, showing which video it's on (for example, "Video 3 of 12") and the current progress. With separate downloads, each video gets its own row.

Select the playlist row and open the inspector (Cmd + I) to see its individual videos and how each one went.

When Downloads Get Interrupted

Life happens — your internet drops, your Mac restarts, or you accidentally quit Fetchii. No problem.

When you reopen Fetchii, your playlist is right where you left it, marked as paused. Click Resume and it picks up from the last incomplete video, skipping over anything that already finished. You won't have to re-download what you already have.

If individual videos fail (maybe they got deleted, or there was a temporary server issue), Fetchii keeps going with the rest. The row then reads something like "6 saved · 2 failed" and keeps a Retry button visible, and the inspector lists the videos that weren't saved.

Tips for Large Playlists

Downloading a 100-video playlist? A few things to keep in mind:

Check your storage first. 1080p videos average 1-2 GB each. A big playlist can fill up your drive fast.

Consider lower quality for speed. If you don't need full HD, 720p downloads faster and takes less space.

Download in batches if needed. For really huge playlists, downloading 20-30 at a time is often more reliable than trying to grab everything at once. Combined download is also gentler on the site.

Private Playlists

If the playlist requires login (like your own private playlists or member-exclusive content), make sure you're logged into the site in your browser first. Then use the browser extension to download — it syncs your cookies automatically.

Check out the Cookie Authentication guide for more details on accessing restricted content.