OT Question on audio downloads from youtube

[Jim web]

In article <20200922151233.GA11234 at firedrake.org>, Roger Bell_West
<roger at firedrake.org> wrote:

> Use youtube-dl -x and it will automatically get the version with the
> least-lossy available audio, strip off the extraneous video, and leave
> you with a file that is just the audio stream. (Not always m4a;
> sometimes it's opus.) That's the version you keep in your archives.

I've never looked at uploading anything for YT. The question in my mind is
as follows:

Yes, it generally offers a range of download formats. But what format was
*uploaded* in the first place? I wonder if getting the 'best' audio from YT
simply may mean the least harm from a transcode YT has done.  Or are
uploaders expected to provide multiple versions? I suspect not.

If my suspicion is correct, the 'best' would be to find the version as
uploaded, I assume.

Jim

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