HOW TO MAKE YOUTUBE CLIPS
a guide
by monke
for fishe

Install AutoHotkey, ffmpeg, youtube-dl, and mpv.

You can use chocolatey to make this easier. Using cmd run as admin:

choco install autohotkey -y
choco install ffmpeg -y
choco install mpv -y (it may be better to install this one manually)
choco install youtube-dl -y
exit

Using cmd run as admin:

youtube-dl -U

Locate mpv.exe, and make a subfolder called scripts.

Put this file in the scripts folder: https://github.com/ekisu/mpv-webm => https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ElegantMonkey/mpv-webm/master/build/webm.lua

mpv 101:

You may want to configure mpv.conf as a hobby. The rendering settings are very machine specific, in my experience.

In your mpv folder, have a file called input.conf This sets keybinds.

I like these:

# adjust volume using mousewheel
AXIS_UP no-osd add volume 3
AXIS_DOWN no-osd add volume -3

# adjust volume using up/down arrow keys
UP no-osd add volume 3
DOWN no-osd add volume -3

# For the purposes of this guide, these are nice to have
# step a frame at a time
Shift+RIGHT frame-step
Shift+LEFT frame-back-step

Now you can use the youtubeclip.ahk script (read/configure/edit it): It will download from a processed youtube stream at a given timestamped url into a clip.mp4 , then open it in mpv.

You can then fine tune the trim. shift+w to initiate webm export interface. You can figure that out, what setings to use.

mpv-webm is not bulletproof where trimming is concerned; You may need to include more than usual, still. i'm not sure if this is due to keyframe problems, audio delay, etc.

At some point you may want to edit the mpv-webm script to output_format = "webm-vp9". idk what other settings to use. CRF = 10 is fairly hq


Save this text file as youtubeclip.ahk