When comparing youtube-dl vs Airy YouTube Downloader, the Slant community recommends youtube-dl for most people. In the question“What are the best vimeo video downloaders?” youtube-dl is ranked 1st while Airy YouTube Downloader is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose youtube-dl is:
It's released to the public domain. Modify at will.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Open-source
It's released to the public domain. Modify at will.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, Mac OS X and other Unix systems like Linux for example.
Pro Ability to download different formats and meta-info
Pro Frequently updated
The developers keep up with YouTube-s meta changes. If the download of a video fails, just update to a new version and it should work.
Pro Works in other places too
Can download from different sources, not just YouTube. Link for supported sites can be found here.
Pro Command-line, and light weight
Pro Pause and resume downloads
Pro Download videos in batch
With Airy it's possible to download multiple videos at once.
Pro Download private, age restricted videos
In Airy menu you can log into your YouTube account (and save your login and password for future, if you'd like) and download age-restricted videos.
Pro Download playlists and channels from YouTube
To download YouTube playlist or channels you just need to paste the URL.
Pro Download music straight from the site
Besides video formats, you can download MP3 files.
Cons
Con No GUI
Command Line driven only. That's what makes it powerful, but less accessible.
Con Was taken down from Github
The RIAA sent a DMCA takedown notice to Github to remove youtube-dl., stating that this is illegal software. Takedown notice has been dissolved since.
Con Slow on Windows
Con Works only with YouTube
Con Too slow
Sometimes it takes about 30 minutes to parse a playlist with 1500 videos on 400 Mbit connection.