New option --no-write-playlist-metafiles to NOT write playlist metadata files

README.md

@@ -378,6 +378,11 @@ Then simply type this
     --write-annotations              Write video annotations to a
                                      .annotations.xml file
     --no-write-annotations           Do not write video annotations (default)
+    --write-playlist-metafiles       Write playlist metadata in addition to the
+                                     video metadata when using --write-info-json,
+                                     --write-description etc. (default)
+    --no-write-playlist-metafiles    Do not write playlist metadata when using
+                                     --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
     --get-comments                   Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
                                      .info.json file
     --load-info-json FILE            JSON file containing the video information

youtube_dlc/YoutubeDL.py

@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                        unless writeinfojson is also given
     writeannotations:  Write the video annotations to a .annotations.xml file
     writethumbnail:    Write the thumbnail image to a file
+    allow_playlist_files: Also write playlists' description, infojson etc in a seperate file
     write_all_thumbnails:  Write all thumbnail formats to files
     writelink:         Write an internet shortcut file, depending on the
                        current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop)
@@ -1108,6 +1109,8 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         # We process each entry in the playlist
         playlist = ie_result.get('title') or ie_result.get('id')
         self.to_screen('[download] Downloading playlist: %s' % playlist)
+
+        if self.params.get('allow_playlist_files', True):
             ie_copy = {
                 'playlist': playlist,
                 'playlist_id': ie_result.get('id'),

youtube_dlc/options.py

@@ -937,6 +937,18 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
         '--no-write-annotations',
         action='store_false', dest='writeannotations',
         help='Do not write video annotations (default)')
+    filesystem.add_option(
+        '--write-playlist-metafiles',
+        action='store_true', dest='allow_playlist_files', default=True,
+        help=(
+            'Write playlist metadata in addition to the video metadata '
+            'when using --write-info-json, --write-description etc. (default)'))
+    filesystem.add_option(
+        '--no-write-playlist-metafiles',
+        action='store_false', dest='allow_playlist_files',
+        help=(
+            'Do not write playlist metadata when using '
+            '--write-info-json, --write-description etc.'))
     filesystem.add_option(
         '--get-comments',
         action='store_true', dest='getcomments', default=False,