How to Download Skool Videos with yt-dlp

Quick instructions for saving Skool HLS streams using yt-dlp with custom output, referer headers, and format tuning.

Devin Schumacher

October 25, 2025

3 min read

How to Download Skool Videos with yt-dlp

Want the easy way? Try the Skool Downloader.

Skool delivers videos over HLS (.m3u8 playlists) with short-lived signed tokens. These tokens expire, so you must grab a fresh link from DevTools → Network when you want to download.

1. Copy the `.m3u8` Link

From DevTools (Network tab, filter for m3u8), copy the full URL. It will look like this (very long):

https://stream.video.skool.com/DsdzJ4y...Zz00.m3u8?token=eyJhbGciOi...

2. Use yt-dlp with Referer and Safe Output

If you just paste the link, yt-dlp will try to use the full token in the filename → macOS will complain ([Errno 63] File name too long). Fix = supply your own short -o filename.

Example:

yt-dlp -N 16 \
  --referer "https://skool.com" \
  --merge-output-format mp4 \
  --remux-video mp4 \
  --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
  -o "skool_video.mp4" \
  "https://stream.video.skool.com/DsdzJ4yCk3y00EW2MEKubPX01lXnIAw001M86u5q5TzZz00.m3u8?token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."

3. Flags Explained

-N 16 → downloads 16 fragments in parallel (speeds up long videos).
--referer "https://skool.com" → Skool’s CDN requires this header.
--merge-output-format mp4 --remux-video mp4 → final MP4 output, no re-encode.
--postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" → makes the MP4 seekable immediately.
-o "skool_video.mp4" → sets a short safe filename.

4. Using Metadata Titles

If you prefer automatic naming, use:

-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s"

So:

yt-dlp -N 16 \
  --referer "https://skool.com" \
  --merge-output-format mp4 --remux-video mp4 \
  --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
  -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://stream.video.skool.com/DsdzJ4yCk3y00EW2MEKubPX01lXnIAw001M86u5q5TzZz00.m3u8?token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhdWQiOiJ2IiwiZXhwIjoxNzU5MDk5NTcxLCJraWQiOiJPVjIwMHZ6SWZuZFVCNHdXdTAxbDRjb0hrYTVQQUd3TlYwMEtZSkJrQkppVlFrIiwicGxheWJhY2tfcmVzdHJpY3Rpb25faWQiOiIzMDJ2dXNuVG1lbW1QSzllOUpMaWxaUmpnVkJ3T2hTNlVLdGkyWnhJS2V1WSIsInN1YiI6IkRzZHpKNHlDazN5MDBFVzJNRUt1YlBYMDFsWG5JQXcwMDFNODZ1NXE1VHpaejAwIn0.TrTbRTKE5uOkn8KTKftog98Vch_lLQGynPZzU0eNpS9qtYmlBbJA6PwK0Yo-33FGuhFZIuVbYp3574Ki4ccDBVZKvoHRN2XcVjXi5pdXBjv6_0GgYglFGjoUHhakbiQNNLVP6WvnPb14yoDlmIY-3SmoyjHGY3dU9SBtYSSy8Ebxpe0jouei09FIGFY5zqSbxqW0v-nuYNcqIlGTjgUCU8-osYGv14JNAWqTZitcg-7XN4wX2TKNunaR7v8PS90gUt1p6qUARsSJfQl1v3qkDoMVMc77Sm9QrRsXhkofZ2OCRIyOBbBQPb9Y91LGH-fT8zMgYVh-QEk844dMCNOSVA&CMCD=cid%3D%22DsdzJ4yCk3y00EW2MEKubPX01lXnIAw001M86u5q5TzZz00%22%2Csid%3D%22a65b3c3d-1437-4b36-b707-a9a48d3fc02f%22"

This will name the file after the video’s title instead of a random hash.

5. Notes & Gotchas

🔑 Token Expiry: the token=... query string expires. If you get 403 Forbidden, grab a new .m3u8 link.
🎞 Quality: yt-dlp will pick the best quality listed in the .m3u8. You can see all available with:
```
yt-dlp --list-formats "URL"
```
📝 Captions: if captions are available, add --write-subs --embed-subs.

Readable version using subshells (fallback method)

VIDEO_URL='https://stream.video.skool.com/DsdzJ4yCk3y00EW2MEKubPX01lXnIAw001M86u5q5TzZz00.m3u8?token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhdWQiOiJ2IiwiZXhwIjoxNzU5MTAwNTg3LCJraWQiOiJPVjIwMHZ6SWZuZFVCNHdXdTAxbDRjb0hrYTVQQUd3TlYwMEtZSkJrQkppVlFrIiwicGxheWJhY2tfcmVzdHJpY3Rpb25faWQiOiIzMDJ2dXNuVG1lbW1QSzllOUpMaWxaUmpnVkJ3T2hTNlVLdGkyWnhJS2V1WSIsInN1YiI6IkRzZHpKNHlDazN5MDBFVzJNRUt1YlBYMDFsWG5JQXcwMDFNODZ1NXE1VHpaejAwIn0.t3RDhopUU2FwgayBuZ7Y52HUMAcEOM2RcWCF6_Je5W1osyPjgHDFlSAiQOtdlXixUcQ1ZzUnN2Ww2TsSKCN6_wFhPf9RtpgzzzNyr_bNhG_sjaj4hQBQzKsWwN7A7u2a1Af0hSgWQ6_Txcso9KYQgXk5i7rAKUywP5PBqi1NZlnFI6q0EM312l6ebTfp9n-ICzCu0bEIIKfLCFY17Tcm67wEjbBxvznYpaYbOx7LKB9xjguM5BJREyFiwCZDIVKxIuVSahvnmkCErYrYidJzYkHi1Lw0oY6VigW-bPvfhygzwlx3rUxwdpLYOie_HhX26ib1ujrRf4Lwe89pPAM1nA&CMCD=cid%3D%22DsdzJ4yCk3y00EW2MEKubPX01lXnIAw001M86u5q5TzZz00%22%2Csid%3D%22892678fc-4137-4f1c-817a-55a38d4f3bab%22'


( yt-dlp -N 16 -f best --hls-prefer-native \
    --referer 'https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'Origin: https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0' \
    --remux-video mp4 --merge-output-format mp4 \
    --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
    -o "%(title).200B.%(ext)s" "$VIDEO_URL" ) || \


( yt-dlp -N 16 -f best --hls-prefer-native \
    --referer 'https://www.skool.com' \
    --add-header 'Origin: https://www.skool.com' \
    --add-header 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0' \
    --remux-video mp4 --merge-output-format mp4 \
    --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
    -o "%(title).200B.%(ext)s" "$VIDEO_URL" ) || \


( yt-dlp -N 16 -f best --hls-prefer-native \
    --retries 20 --fragment-retries 100 \
    --referer 'https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'Origin: https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0' \
    --remux-video mp4 --merge-output-format mp4 \
    --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
    -o "%(title).200B.%(ext)s" "$VIDEO_URL" ) || \


( yt-dlp -N 16 -f best \
    --downloader aria2c \
    --downloader-args "aria2c:-x 16 -s 16 -k 1M --max-tries=0 --retry-wait=5" \
    --referer 'https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'Origin: https://skool.com' \
    --add-header 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0' \
    --remux-video mp4 --merge-output-format mp4 \
    --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-movflags +faststart" \
    -o "skool_video.mp4" "$VIDEO_URL" )