How to Convert YouTube Videos to iPod Format

Before anything else: only download YouTube videos that you own, that are licensed under Creative Commons, or that you have explicit permission to copy. YouTube's terms of service restrict downloading copyrighted content. With that out of the way, the conversion process itself is straightforward.

Step 1: Download the source

The standard tool is yt-dlp, an open-source command-line downloader. After installing it, grab the best-quality MP4 with:

yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4]" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."

That command pulls the best video and audio streams available and muxes them into a single MP4.

Step 2: Check the codec

YouTube often serves VP9 or AV1 video. Both are unreadable by iPods. Even when YouTube serves H.264, it's typically High Profile, which iPods also reject. Assume you need to re-encode.

Step 3: Convert to iPod-compatible MP4

ffmpeg -i youtube.mp4 \
  -c:v libx264 -profile:v baseline -level 3.0 -crf 22 \
  -vf "scale=640:-2" \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 \
  -movflags +faststart \
  ipod.mp4

One-step download and convert

yt-dlp can hand the stream directly to FFmpeg, saving a disk write:

yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba" --recode-video mp4 \
  --postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-c:v libx264 -profile:v baseline -level 3.0 -crf 22 -vf scale=640:-2 -c:a aac -b:a 128k" \
  "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."

Batch downloading a playlist

Add the playlist URL instead of a single video URL, and yt-dlp will process every video in turn. Useful for educational playlists or your own channel's back catalogue.

Sync to the iPod

Open iTunes (or Apple Devices / Finder), drag the new .mp4 into the library, then drag it onto your iPod's icon. The iTunes sync guide covers this in detail if you hit a snag.