How to Organize Downloaded YouTube Clips

Why does a download folder structure matter?#

A download folder structure matters because a YouTube clip is only reusable while you can still trace it to its source. B-ROLL saves to %USERPROFILE%\Downloads until you choose another folder, and a shared Downloads folder mixes every project, every format and every creator in one list.

The cost shows up late. A client asks where a shot came from, a clip needs a longer handle, or a credit line is due at delivery. Each of those jobs needs three answers: which video, which part of it, and under which license. A folder per project plus a clear file name answers the first two on sight, and a credits file answers the third.

Rights come before any of this. The sourcing side of the job, from license checks to codecs, is covered in b-roll from YouTube: rights, clips, codecs and credits, and every other workflow sits in the guides for YouTube footage from download to timeline.

What folder structure works for YouTube footage?#

The folder structure that works is one project folder, a footage folder and an audio folder inside it, and a YouTube subfolder in each, so downloaded material never mixes with your own camera files. B-ROLL keeps video and audio downloads in separate folders once Save audio to a different folder is on, and names clips by time range, so the tree fills itself when the SAVE TO folders point at it.

The example tree lists each folder of a project called Harbor Doc, what ends up inside it, and who creates it.

Point the main SAVE TO folder at 01 Footage\YouTube\ and switch on Save audio to a different folder for 02 Audio\YouTube\. Where both rows live, and what B-ROLL remembers between sessions, is explained in B-ROLL settings and advanced options explained.

Channel and playlist downloads follow their own rules. Videos picked in the Download from channel dialog, opened from a playlist page or a channel link, always go into a subfolder of the main folder named after the channel, even in Audio mode, so they skip the separate audio folder. Channel links work only after you set Download channels in Advanced options to Ask or Yes; the default is No.

A whole playlist started from a single video link goes into the main folder with no subfolder. Set the SAVE TO folder first when you start a batch download from a list or bookmarks, because every link in the queue lands in the same place.

How should downloaded YouTube clips be named?#

A downloaded YouTube clip should be named after its source title plus its position in that source. B-ROLL writes that name for you: a full video is saved as Title.ext with the YouTube title, and a clip as Title [mm-ss to mm-ss].ext, for example Interview [02-10 to 02-38].mov.

The bracketed range does three jobs. The name shows which part of the video you have without opening the file, the hyphens keep it valid in Windows file names, and several parts of one video sort next to each other in Explorer or a bin. Marking several parts of one video in a single pass is covered in YouTube clip downloader with preview and in/out points.

The clip name has one blind spot: it carries minutes and seconds, not the hour. A part that starts at 1:05:30 is named [05-30 to ...], and two parts with the same minutes and seconds in different hours of a long stream get the same name, so B-ROLL treats the second one as already downloaded. For clips past the first hour, write the hour into the file name yourself after the download.

Two more naming facts help later. A ProRes or DNxHR download ends as a .mov with the same name; the MKV master is deleted once the conversion succeeds, and kept if it fails. Every file also gets the download date as its modified date, not the YouTube upload date, so sorting by date in Explorer shows the order you downloaded in.

Where do audio and subtitle files go?#

Audio files go to the main SAVE TO folder, or to their own folder when Save audio to a different folder is on; video downloads keep using the main folder either way. Subtitle files are saved next to their video as Title.lang.ext, for example Interview.en.srt.

When one video has more than one subtitle file, B-ROLL moves them into a folder called Title - subtitles beside the video, so a five-language download does not bury the media. Subtitles for a clip cover the whole video and carry the video’s name, not the clip’s range. Keep them with the clip anyway, and trim them in your NLE.

Audio downloads get the same credits files as video, and audio files also carry the title, uploader, date and URL as embedded metadata while Save credits is on. A music bed in 02 Audio\YouTube\ therefore stays traceable even when it travels without its text file.

How do credits files fit into the library?#

Credits files are the record layer of the library: the media files say what a clip looks like, the credits files say where it came from. After every finished download B-ROLL writes <file name>.credits.txt next to the file and adds the same block to a running credits.txt in the same folder.

Each block holds the title, the creator, the channel link, the source URL, the upload date, the license as yt-dlp reports it, and a ready credit line. A clip’s credits file is named after the clip: Interview [02-10 to 02-38].credits.txt. Its Source line is the full video URL without a timestamp. That URL plus the range in the file name lets you download the same part again, at another quality or with longer handles.

Credits files are best effort: if the metadata lookup fails, for example behind a sign-in wall, B-ROLL writes no credits file for that download and shows no error, so check that each new file has its partner.

Read the License line as a starting point, not proof. When yt-dlp reports no license, the file says Standard YouTube License even if the video page shows something else, so check the license on YouTube before you rely on it. ProRes and DNxHR .mov files carry no embedded credit, which makes the text file their only record: move the two together, always.

The full template and what each field means are on the page on automatic credit files for every YouTube download. For a project-wide log that also holds license decisions and final credit lines, copy the blocks into a video credits log that tracks every clip’s source and license. The Creative Commons wiki lists title, author, source and license as the parts of a good attribution in its recommended practices for attribution, and the credits block already holds all four.

How do you mirror the download folders as NLE bins?#

Mirror the download folders as bins by importing the whole 01 Footage folder rather than single files, so DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro rebuilds the tree you made on disk. The bin names then match the folder names, and a clip’s place in the bin tells you where the file lives.

In DaVinci Resolve, open the Media page, find 01 Footage in Media Storage, right-click it and choose Add Folder and SubFolders into Media Pool (Create Bins). Resolve creates a bin per folder, including the channel subfolders B-ROLL made.

In Premiere Pro, drag the 01 Footage folder from Explorer into the Project panel. Adobe’s guide on importing files directly says a dragged folder becomes bins with matching names, subfolders included.

Keep the bins in sync with the disk. Sort a bin by name and the parts of one source line up in order of their start time, within the first hour. When you download more clips mid-edit, send them to the same YouTube folder and import only the new files into the matching bin, so the tree never forks between disk and project.