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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
2fa669f7 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#installation "Installation")
ae6a1b95 7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
08e29b9f 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/core.yml?branch=master&label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
46d09f87 15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge&display_timestamp=committer)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
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c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
deae7c17 28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
17fa3ee2 29 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 32 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
304ad45a 51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
50865ca8 52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
878eac3e 53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 54* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 56* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 60* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 62* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 63* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
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64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
8c6f4daa 66* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 68* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 69* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 72* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 74<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 75
76
034b6215 77# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 78
45b2ee6f 79* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/2dd6c6e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/2dd6c6e)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 80
304ad45a 81* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 82
7581d246 83* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 84
8e174ba7 85* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 86
ae61d108 87* **YouTube improvements**:
88 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
89 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
92 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
86973308 93 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
f20f5fe5 94
304ad45a 95* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
245524e6 96
5ec1b6b7 97* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
98
597c1866 99* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
100
b31fdeed 101* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 102
b31fdeed 103* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 104
e75bb0d6 105* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 106
56ba69e4 107* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 108
3de7c2ce 109* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 110
597c1866 111* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 112
d4ada357 113* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 114
418964fa 115* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 116
fe2ce85a 117* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-match-filter` etc
0bc0a322 118
08d30158 119* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 120
86c1a8aa 121* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 122
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123* **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
124
125* **Nightly builds**: [Automated nightly builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly`
aa837ddf 126
7a5c1cfe 127See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 128
ae61d108 129Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
130
53ed7066 131### Differences in default behavior
132
0930b11f 133Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 134
5b28cef7 135* yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.7+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
96565c7e 136* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 137* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 138* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 139* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 140* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 141* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 142* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 143* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 144* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 145* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 146* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 147* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
148* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 149* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
86973308 150* YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
304ad45a 151* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 152* The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
18e674b4 153* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 154* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 155* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 156* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
168bbc4f 157* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
1e4fca9a 158* yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
ad68b16a 159* yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [~~aria2c~~](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
53ed7066 160
161For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 162
8a82af35 163* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 164* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
165* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
2a06bb4e 166* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
8c53322c 167* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress`. Use this to enable all future compat options
53ed7066 168
f20f5fe5 169
d19bb9c0 170# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 171
fc5fa964 172<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
173[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
17ffed18 174[![Unix](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
24146491 175[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
17ffed18 176[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 177[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
178[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 179[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 180<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
181
17ffed18 182You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
0930b11f 183
b8773e63 184
a4211baf 185## UPDATE
4815bbfc 186You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
17ffed18 187
188If you [installed with PIP](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
0930b11f 189
8e174ba7 190For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 191
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192<a id="update-channels"/>
193
194There are currently two release channels for binaries, `stable` and `nightly`.
392389b7 195`stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the nightly channel.
196The `nightly` channel has releases built after each push to the master branch, and will have the most recent fixes and additions, but also have more risk of regressions. They are available in [their own repo](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases).
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197
198When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
199This release channel can be changed by using the `--update-to` option. `--update-to` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
200
201Example usage:
202* `yt-dlp --update-to nightly` change to `nightly` channel and update to its latest release
203* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.02.17` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.02.17`
204* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.01.06` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.01.06` if it exists on the current channel
cf59cd4d 205
ec2e44fc 206<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 207## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 208
733d8e8f 209#### Recommended
210
211File|Description
212:---|:---
962ffcf8 213[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 214[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
f2df4071 215[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 216
217#### Alternatives
218
0e5927ee
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219File|Description
220:---|:---
0930b11f 221[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 222[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
f2df4071 223[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
224[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
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225[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
226[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
0930b11f 227[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
228[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
6d916fe7 229[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
733d8e8f 230
231#### Misc
232
233File|Description
234:---|:---
17ffed18 235[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee 236[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
12647e03 237[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
0e5927ee 238[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
12647e03 239[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
0e5927ee 240
12647e03
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241The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
242Example usage:
243```
244curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
245gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
246gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
247```
248<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
17ffed18 249
4815bbfc 250**Note**: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
17ffed18 251
a4211baf 252## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 253Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 254
c9652aa4 255<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
256<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 257On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
c9652aa4 258-->
fac98805 259
e75bb0d6 260While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 261
8aa0e7cd 262### Strongly recommended
263
b69fd25c 264* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
8aa0e7cd 265
8e174ba7 266 There are bugs in ffmpeg that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for some of these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
267
268 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
8aa0e7cd 269
270### Networking
d5820461 271* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 272* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
273* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
274
275### Metadata
276
277* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
278* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
279* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
280
281### Misc
282
283* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
5d0aeac0 284* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
8aa0e7cd 285* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 286* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 287
deae7c17 288### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 289
290* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
291* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
998a3cae 292* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
293* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
8aa0e7cd 294
cf59cd4d 295To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
296
f2df4071 297The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 298
8aa0e7cd 299If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
d710cc6d 300
5f326cf5 301
a4211baf 302## COMPILE
5f326cf5 303
8aa0e7cd 304### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 305To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM, 32/64 bit) as the Python used.
e38df8f9 306
8aa0e7cd 307 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
308 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
309 python3 pyinst.py
310
311On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
312
73ac0e6b 313`pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
314
8e174ba7 315**Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
8aa0e7cd 316
317**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 318
8aa0e7cd 319### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 320You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 321
8aa0e7cd 322After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 323
a831c2ea 324You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 325
8aa0e7cd 326### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
327
328While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
329
330If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
331
332 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
333 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
334 py setup.py py2exe
335
336### Related scripts
337
d400e261
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338* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
339* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
340* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
8aa0e7cd 341* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
342
d400e261
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343Note: See their `--help` for more info.
344
29cb20bd
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345### Forking the project
346If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
59a7a13e 347
b31fdeed 348# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 349
ec2e44fc 350<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 351 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 352
c2b5f311 353`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 354<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 355
ec2e44fc 356<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 357## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 358 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
359 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 360 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
361 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
77df20f1
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362 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
363 CHANNEL and TAG defaults to "stable" and
4815bbfc 364 "latest" respectively if omitted; See
77df20f1
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365 "UPDATE" for details. Supported channels:
366 stable, nightly
2dd5a2e3 367 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
368 The download will be considered successful
369 even if the postprocessing fails
370 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
371 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
372 playlist (default)
373 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
374 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
375 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
376 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
377 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
378 extractors and exit
2516cafb 379 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 380 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
381 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
382 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
383 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
384 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 385 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 386 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 387 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
388 google videos for the search term "python".
389 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
390 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
391 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
392 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
393 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
394 possible instead of searching
395 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
396 except those given by --config-locations.
397 For backward compatibility, if this option
398 is found inside the system configuration
399 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
400 (Alias: --no-config)
401 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
402 (default). When given inside a configuration
403 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
404 defined in the current file
405 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
406 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 407 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
408 used multiple times and inside other
409 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 410 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
411 only list them
412 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
413 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
414 Currently only supported for YouTube
415 (Experimental)
416 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
417 (default)
418 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
419 available. Pass the minimum number of
420 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
421 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
422 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
423 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 424 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
425 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 426 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
427 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
428 configurations by reverting some of the
429 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
430 default behavior" for details
431 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
432 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
433 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
434 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 435 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 436 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
437 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
438 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
439 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
440 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
441 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 442 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 443 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
444 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 445 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 446
149f05c7 447## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 448 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
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449 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
450 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
451 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
452 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 453 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
454 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
455 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
456 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8300774c
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457 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
458 default for security reasons.
8c6c88c7 459
b31fdeed 460## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 461 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
462 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
463 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
464 is not present) is used for the actual
465 downloading
466 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
467 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
468 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
469 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
470 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
471 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
472 country code
473 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 474 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 475
cfcec693 476## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 477 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 478 to download. You can specify a range using
479 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
480 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
481 Use negative indices to count from the right
482 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 483 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 484 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 485 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 486 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
487 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
488 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 489 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 490 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
491 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
492 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
29cb20bd
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493 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
494 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
2dd5a2e3 495 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
496 this date. The date formats accepted is the
497 same as --date
498 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
499 this date. The date formats accepted is the
500 same as --date
501 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
502 field can be compared with a number or a
503 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 504 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 505 specify a field to match if the field is
506 present, use "!field" to check if the field
507 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
508 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
509 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
510 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 511 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 512 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
513 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
514 only videos that are not live OR those that
515 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
516 field is not available) and also has a
517 description that contains the phrase "cats &
518 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
519 interactively ask whether to download each
520 video
fe2ce85a 521 --no-match-filter Do not use any --match-filter (default)
522 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
523 download process when a video is rejected
524 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
2dd5a2e3 525 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
526 to a video and a playlist
527 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
528 a video and a playlist
529 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
530 age
531 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
532 archive file. Record the IDs of all
533 downloaded videos in it
534 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
535 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
536 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
537 a file that is in the archive
71df9b7f 538 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
354d5fca 539 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
540 reset per input URL
2dd5a2e3 541 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
542 terminates the entire download queue
543 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
544 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 545
d5a62e4f 546## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 547 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
548 video that should be downloaded concurrently
549 (default is 1)
62b58c09
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550 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
551 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 552 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
553 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 554 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 555 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
556 "infinite"
557 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
558 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
559 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
560 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 561 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
562 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
563 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
564 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
565 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
566 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
567 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 568 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 569 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
570 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
571 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
8e174ba7 572 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
573 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
2dd5a2e3 574 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
575 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
576 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
577 downloading is finished
578 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
579 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 580 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 581 (default is 1024)
582 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
583 from an initial value of --buffer-size
584 (default)
585 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
586 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 587 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 588 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
589 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
590 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 591 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 592 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
593 received. This disables n_entries,
594 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
595 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
596 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 597 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
598 expected file size
599 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
600 allowing some players to play the video
601 while downloading, and reducing the chance
602 of file corruption if download is
603 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
604 live streams
605 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
606 videos. This is default when not downloading
607 live streams
5ec1b6b7 608 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
609 the given regular expression. Time ranges
610 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
611 of chapters to download the specified range.
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612 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
613 multiple times to download multiple
614 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 615 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 616 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
617 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
618 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
619 use it for. Currently supports native,
620 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
621 wget. You can use this option multiple times
622 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 623 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 624 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
625 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
626 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
627 (Alias: --external-downloader)
628 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
629 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
630 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
631 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
632 positions using the same syntax as
633 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
634 option multiple times to give different
635 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
636 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 637
cfcec693 638## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 639 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
640 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
641 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
642 comments and ignored
643 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
644 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
645 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
646 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
647 TYPES as --output are supported.
648 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
649 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
650 files are first downloaded to the temp path
651 and then the final files are moved over to
652 the home path after download is finished.
653 This option is ignored if --output is an
654 absolute path
655 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
656 TEMPLATE" for details
657 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
658 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
659 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
660 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
661 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
662 filenames (default)
663 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
664 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
665 using Windows (default)
666 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
667 extension) to the specified number of
668 characters
669 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
670 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
671 option includes --no-continue
672 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
673 related files (default)
674 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
675 (default)
676 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
677 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
678 restart download of the entire file
679 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
680 into output file (default)
681 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
682 output file
683 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
684 modification time (default)
685 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
686 the file modification time
64fa820c 687 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 688 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
689 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
690 (this may contain personal information)
691 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
692 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
693 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
694 --write-description etc. (default)
695 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
696 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
697 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
698 from the infojson. Note that it could still
699 contain some personal information (default)
700 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
701 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
702 infojson. The comments are fetched even
703 without this option if the extraction is
704 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
705 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
706 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
707 --no-get-comments)
708 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 709 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 710 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
711 and dump cookie jar in
712 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
713 (default)
825d3ce3 714 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
715 The name of the browser to load cookies
716 from. Currently supported browsers are:
717 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
718 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
719 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
720 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
721 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
722 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
723 be given with their respective seperators.
724 By default, all containers of the most
725 recently accessed profile are used.
726 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
727 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 728 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 729 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
730 store some downloaded information (such as
731 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 732 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 733 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
734 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 735
b31fdeed 736## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 737 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 738 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 739 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
740 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
741 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 742
732044af 743## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 744 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
745 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
746 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
747 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
748 OS caches the URL based on the file path
749 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
750 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 751
0744a815 752## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 753 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
754 print the log to stderr
d669772c 755 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
2dd5a2e3 756 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
757 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
758 anything to disk
759 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
760 options are used
761 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
762 extracting metadata even if the videos are
763 not actually available for download
764 (experimental)
765 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
766 formats are found (default)
767 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
768 related files (Alias: --no-download)
769 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
770 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
771 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
772 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 773 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 774 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
775 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
776 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 777 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 778 Append given template to the file. The
779 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
780 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
781 output template. This option can be used
782 multiple times
783 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
784 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
785 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
786 description of available keys
787 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
788 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
789 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
790 a playlist, the whole playlist information
791 is dumped in a single line
792 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
793 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
794 another simulation option is used (Alias:
795 --force-download-archive)
796 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
797 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
798 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
799 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 800 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 801 Template for progress outputs, optionally
802 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
803 "download-title:" (the console title),
804 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
805 The video's fields are accessible under the
806 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 807 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 808 --console-title --progress-template
809 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
810 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
811 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
812 to debug problems (very verbose)
813 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
814 in the current directory to debug problems
815 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 816
36f35428 817## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 818 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
819 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
820 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
821 renegotiation
822 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
823 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
824 information about the video (Currently
825 supported only for YouTube)
a5387729 826 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
2dd5a2e3 827 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
828 option multiple times
829 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
830 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
831 or fribidi executable in PATH
832 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
833 during data extraction
834 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
835 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
836 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
837 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
838 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
839 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
840 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
841 subtitle download
36f35428 842
cfcec693 843## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 844 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
845 for more details
846 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
847 "Sorting Formats" for more details
848 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
849 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
850 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
851 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
852 specified sort order (default)
853 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
854 into a single file
855 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
856 output file (default)
857 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
858 into a single file
859 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
860 output file (default)
861 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
862 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
863 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
864 irrespective of quality
865 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
866 containers (default)
867 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
868 those that are actually downloadable
869 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
870 actually downloadable
871 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
872 downloadable
873 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
874 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 875 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 876 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
877 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
878 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
879
880## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 881 --write-subs Write subtitle file
882 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
883 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
884 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
885 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
886 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
887 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
888 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
889 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 890 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 891 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
892 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
893 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 894 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
895 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
896 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 897 of available language tags
6bcd846b 898
cfcec693 899## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 900 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
901 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
902 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
903 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
904 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
905 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
906 either the path or its containing directory.
907 Defaults to ~/.netrc
908 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
909 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
910 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
911 a list of available MSOs
912 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
913 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
914 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
915 interactively
916 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
917 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
918 format. May include the private key
919 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
920 Path to private key file for client
921 certificate
bb58c9ed 922 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 923 Password for client certificate private key,
924 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
925 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 926
c76eb41b 927## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 928 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
929 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 930 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
931 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 932 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 933 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
934 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 935 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
936 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
937 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
938 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
939 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 940 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 941 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
942 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
943 wav). If target container does not support
944 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
945 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 946 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 947 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 948 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
949 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
950 are the same as --remux-video
951 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
952 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
953 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
954 to give the argument to the specified
955 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
956 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
957 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
958 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
959 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
960 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
961 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
962 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
963 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
964 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
965 specified executable only when being used by
966 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
967 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
968 appended to the prefix optionally followed
969 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 970 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 971 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
972 this option multiple times to give different
973 arguments to different postprocessors.
974 (Alias: --ppa)
975 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
976 after post-processing
977 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
978 post-processing (default)
979 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
980 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
981 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
982 webm and mkv videos)
983 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
984 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
985 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
986 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
987 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
988 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
989 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
990 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
991 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
992 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
993 (Alias: --add-chapters)
994 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
995 --no-add-chapters)
996 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
997 mkv/mka video files
998 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
999 to the video file
fe74d5b5 1000 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
1001 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 1002 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 1003 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
1004 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1005 (default: pre_process)
1006 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 1007 Replace text in a metadata field using the
1008 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 1009 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
1010 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1011 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 1012 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
1013 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
1014 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
1015 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
1016 (default; only when the videos form a single
1017 show). All the video files must have same
1018 codecs and number of streams to be
1019 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1020 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1021 the output filename for the concatenated
1022 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1023 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1024 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1025 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1026 default; fix file if we can, warn
1027 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1028 already exists)
1029 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 1030 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 1031 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 1032 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
1033 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
1034 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
1035 after_move). Same syntax as the output
1036 template can be used to pass any field as
1037 arguments to the command. After download, an
1038 additional field "filepath" that contains
1039 the final path of the downloaded file is
1040 also available, and if no fields are passed,
8e174ba7 1041 %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended to the
1042 end of the command. This option can be used
1043 multiple times
2dd5a2e3 1044 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1045 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 1046 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 1047 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1048 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1049 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1050 can specify multiple rules using similar
1051 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1052 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1053 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1054 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1055 the output filename for the split files. See
1056 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1057 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1058 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1059 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1060 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1061 be used multiple times
1062 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1063 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1064 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1065 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1066 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1067 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1068 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1069 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1070 when cutting/splitting (default)
1071 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1072 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1073 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1074 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1075 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1076 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1077 The "when" argument determines when the
1078 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1079 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1080 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1081 "video" (after --format; before
1082 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1083 video download), "post_process" (after each
1084 video download; default), "after_move"
1085 (after moving video file to it's final
1086 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1087 and processing all formats of a video), or
1088 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1089 can be used multiple times to add different
1090 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1091
1092## SponsorBlock Options:
1093Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1094 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1095 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1096
2dd5a2e3 1097 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1098 for, separated by commas. Available
1099 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1100 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1101 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1102 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1103 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1104 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1105 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1106 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1107 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1108 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1109 category is present in both mark and remove,
1110 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1111 available categories are the same as for
1112 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1113 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1114 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1115 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1116 An output template for the title of the
1117 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1118 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1119 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1120 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1121 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1122 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1123 --sponsorblock-remove
1124 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1125 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1126
78895bd3 1127## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1128 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1129 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1130 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1131 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1132 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1133 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1134 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1135 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1136 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1137 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1138 (default)
2fa669f7 1139 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1140 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1141 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1142 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1143
b7770046
U
1144# CONFIGURATION
1145
7a5c1cfe 1146You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1147
878eac3e 11481. **Main Configuration**:
1149 * The file given by `--config-location`
11501. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1151 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1152 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11531. **Home Configuration**:
1154 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1155 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11561. **User Configuration**:
773c272d 1157 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1158 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1159 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
773c272d 1160 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1161 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1162 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1163 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1164 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M
1165 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1166 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1167
878eac3e 1168 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11691. **System Configuration**:
1170 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M
1171 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1172 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1173
62b58c09 1174E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1175```
1176# Lines starting with # are comments
1177
1178# Always extract audio
1179-x
1180
1181# Do not copy the mtime
1182--no-mtime
1183
1184# Use this proxy
1185--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1186
298f597b 1187# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1188-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1189```
1190
8e174ba7 1191**Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1192
a4211baf 1193You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
b7770046 1194
304ad45a 1195### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1196
304ad45a 1197The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1198
88f60feb 1199If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
a904a7f8 1200
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1201### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1202
304ad45a 1203You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per-extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
b7770046 1204```
878eac3e 1205touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1206chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
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1207```
1208After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1209```
0001fcb5 1210machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1211```
62b58c09 1212E.g.
b7770046
U
1213```
1214machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1215machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1216```
7a5c1cfe 1217To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1218
878eac3e 1219The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1220
1221### Notes about environment variables
1222* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1223* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1224* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1225* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1226* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
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1227
1228# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1229
0202b52a 1230The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1231
ec2e44fc 1232<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1233**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1234<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1235
e58c22a0 1236The simplest usage of `-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
a439a3a4 1237
62b58c09 1238It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1239
1240The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1241
07a1250e 12421. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1243
62b58c09 12441. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1245
62b58c09 12461. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1247
62b58c09 12481. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1249
ec9311c4 12501. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
e978789f 1251
17ffed18 12521. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1253
9b9dad11 12541. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1255
d5d1df8a 12561. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1257
1258To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1259```
e978789f 1260%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1261```
de6000d9 1262
62b58c09 1263Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1264
4815bbfc 1265<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"/>
7aaf4cd2 1266
8e174ba7 1267**Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
7aaf4cd2 1268
e29663c6 1269The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1270
1271 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1272 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1273 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1274 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1275 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1276 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1277 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1278 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1279 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1280 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1281 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1282 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1283 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1284 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1285 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1286 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1287 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1288 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1289 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1290 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U
1291 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1292 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1293 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1294 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1295 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U
1296 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1297 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1298 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1299 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1300 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
b7770046 1301 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1302 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1303 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1304 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1305 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1306 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U
1307 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1308 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1309 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1310 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1311 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1312 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1313 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1314 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1315 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1316 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1317 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1318 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1319 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1320 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
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1321 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1322 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1323 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1324 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1325 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1326 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1327
1328All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
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1329
1330Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1331
1332 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1333 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1334 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1335
1336Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1337
1338 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1339 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1340 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1341 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1342 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1343 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1344 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1345
1346Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1347
1348 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1349 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1350 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1351 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1352 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1353 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1354 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1355 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1356 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1357 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1358
5ec1b6b7 1359Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1360
1361 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1362 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1363 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1364 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1365
53c18592 1366Available only when used in `--print`:
1367
1368 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1369 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1370 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1371 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1372 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1373 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1374
7a340e0d
NA
1375
1376Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1377
1378 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1379 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1380 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA
1381 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1382 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1383 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1384 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1385
62b58c09 1386Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
49a57e70 1387
8e174ba7 1388**Note**: Some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1389
0930b11f 1390**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1391
62b58c09 1392For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1393
940a67a3 1394Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
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1395
1396To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1397
91ebc640 1398The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1399
f304da8a 1400In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
b7770046 1401
b7770046
U
1402#### Output template examples
1403
b7770046 1404```bash
d2c8aadf 1405$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1406test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1407
d2c8aadf 1408$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1409youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1410
d2c8aadf 1411$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1412youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
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1413
1414# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1415$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1416
b050d210 1417# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1418$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1419
e978789f 1420# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1421$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1422
b7770046 1423# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1424$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1425
1426# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1427$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
U
1428
1429# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1430$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
b7770046 1431
6a34813a 1432# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1433# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1434$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1435
1436# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1437$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1438
b7770046 1439# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1440$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1441```
1442
1443# FORMAT SELECTION
1444
7a5c1cfe
P
1445By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1446This is generally equivalent to using `-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to `-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg is unavailable, or if you use yt-dlp to stream to `stdout` (`-o -`), the default becomes `-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
b7770046 1447
c111cefa 1448**Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to `-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the `-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1449
eff63539 1450The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
b7770046 1451
ec2e44fc 1452<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1453**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1454<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1455
62b58c09 1456The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
b7770046
U
1457
1458You can also use a file extension (currently `3gp`, `aac`, `flv`, `m4a`, `mp3`, `mp4`, `ogg`, `wav`, `webm` are supported) to download the best quality format of a particular file extension served as a single file, e.g. `-f webm` will download the best quality format with the `webm` extension served as a single file.
1459
fa9f30b8 1460You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1461
b7770046
U
1462You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1463
59a7a13e 1464 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1465 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1466 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1467 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1468 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1469 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1470 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1471 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
59a7a13e 1472 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1473 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1474 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1475 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1476 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1477 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1478
d4ada357 1479For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1480
1481You can select the n'th best format of a type by using `best<type>.<n>`. For example, `best.2` will select the 2nd best combined format. Similarly, `bv*.3` will select the 3rd best format that contains a video stream.
b7770046 1482
304ad45a 1483If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
b7770046
U
1484
1485If you want to download several formats of the same video use a comma as a separator, e.g. `-f 22,17,18` will download all these three formats, of course if they are available. Or a more sophisticated example combined with the precedence feature: `-f 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio`.
1486
62b58c09 1487You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
d806c9fd 1488
1489**Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1490
304ad45a 1491Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1492
1493## Filtering Formats
1494
b7770046
U
1495You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1496
1497The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1498
1499 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1500 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1501 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1502 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1503 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
b7770046
U
1504 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1505 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1506 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1507 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1508 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1509 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1510 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1511
1ce9a3cb 1512Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1513
d2c8aadf 1514 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1515 - `ext`: File extension
1516 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1517 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1518 - `container`: Name of the container format
1519 - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case (`http`, `https`, `rtsp`, `rtmp`, `rtmpe`, `mms`, `f4m`, `ism`, `http_dash_segments`, `m3u8`, or `m3u8_native`)
29f7c58a 1520 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1521 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1522 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1523 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1524 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1525 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1526
1ce9a3cb 1527Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
b7770046 1528
8e174ba7 1529**Note**: None of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1530
62b58c09 1531Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1532
62b58c09 1533Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
b7770046 1534
eb8a4433 1535## Sorting Formats
1536
2e7781a9 1537You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1538
1539The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1540
304ad45a 1541 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1542 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1543 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1544 - `lang`: The language preference
1545 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1546 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1547 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1548 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
a5387729 1549 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1550 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1551 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1552 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
63be1aab 1553 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1554 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1555 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1556 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1557 - `height`: Height of video
1558 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1559 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1560 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1561 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1562 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1563 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1564 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1565 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1566 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1567 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1568
1569**Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
eb8a4433 1570
62b58c09 1571All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. E.g. `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
9ee4f0bb 1572
7e798d72 1573The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1574
7e798d72 1575Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1576
e58c22a0 1577If your format selector is `worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all respects. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps`.
eb8a4433 1578
1579**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1580
eb8a4433 1581## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1582
b7770046 1583```bash
e58c22a0 1584# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1585# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1586$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1587
1588# Download best format that contains video,
1589# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1590$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1591
1592# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1593$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1594
6fd35a11 1595# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1596# For this case, an output template should be used since
1597# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1598$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1599
f8d4ad9a 1600# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1601# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1602$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1603
1604# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1605# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1606$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1607
6fd35a11 1608
1609# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1610# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1611
1612# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1613$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1614
1615# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1616$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1617
1618# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1619$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1620
1621
909d24dd 1622
eb8a4433 1623# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1625
1626# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1627# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1628$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1629
1630
909d24dd 1631
eb8a4433 1632# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1633# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1634$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1635
eb8a4433 1636# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1637# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1638$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1639
eb8a4433 1640# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1641# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1642# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1643# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1644$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1645
b7770046 1646
909d24dd 1647
eb8a4433 1648# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1649# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1650$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1651
1652# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1653# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1654$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1655
1656# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1657$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1658
1659
909d24dd 1660
eb8a4433 1661# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1662# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1663$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1664
1665# Download best video available via the best protocol
1666# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1667$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1668
1669
909d24dd 1670
1ce9a3cb
LF
1671# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1672# or the best video if there is no such video
1673$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1674
1675# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1676# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1677$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1678
1679# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1680# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1681$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1682
1683
1684
1685# More complex examples
1686
e58c22a0 1687# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1688# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1689$ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
eb8a4433 1690
1691# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1692# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1693# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1694$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1695
1696
909d24dd 1697
eb8a4433 1698# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1699# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1700# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1701$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1702```
eb8a4433 1703
73cd218f 1704# MODIFYING METADATA
1705
a4211baf 1706The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1707
418964fa 1708`--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE` is used to replace text in any metadata field using [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax). [Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
e9f4ccd1 1709
46d09f87 1710The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1711
46d09f87 1712Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1713
9c2b75b5 1714This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1715
62b58c09 1716* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1717
62b58c09 1718* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1719
08d30158 1720**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1721
c31be5b0 1722For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1723
08d30158 1724Metadata fields | From
1725:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1726`title` | `track` or `title`
1727`date` | `upload_date`
1728`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1729`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1730`track` | `track_number`
1731`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1732`genre` | `genre`
1733`album` | `album`
1734`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1735`disc` | `disc_number`
1736`show` | `series`
1737`season_number` | `season_number`
1738`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1739`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1740`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1741
c31be5b0 1742**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1743
73cd218f 1744
1745## Modifying metadata examples
1746
73cd218f 1747```bash
1748# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1749$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1750
1751# Regex example
940a67a3 1752$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1753
1754# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1755$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1756
a44ca5a4 1757# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1758$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1759
1760# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1761# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1762$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1763
8aa0e7cd 1764# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1765$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1766
0930b11f 1767# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1768$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1769
e9f4ccd1 1770# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1771$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1772
73cd218f 1773```
1774
5d3a0e79 1775# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1776
62b58c09 1777Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1778
a5387729 1779Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1780
5d3a0e79 1781The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1782
1783#### youtube
8e174ba7 1784* `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
8aa0e7cd 1785* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
304ad45a 1786* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1787* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
96565c7e 1788* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1789* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`
1790 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
86cb9221 1791* `include_duplicate_formats`: Extract formats with identical content but different URLs or protocol. This is useful if some of the formats are unavailable or throttled.
4d37720a 1792* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1793* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
2ae778b8 1794* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1795
1796#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1797* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
5225df50 1798* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1799
3b021eac 1800#### generic
5cc0a8fd 1801* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1802* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
c2e0fc40 1803* `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
93e7c699 1804* `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
3b021eac 1805
96565c7e 1806#### funimation
304ad45a 1807* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1808* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1809
cb1553e9 1810#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
62b58c09 1811* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `download_dash`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2`
dfea94f8 1812* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1813
96565c7e 1814#### vikichannel
1815* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1816
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1817#### niconico
1818* `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1819
aa4b0545 1820#### youtubewebarchive
1821* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1822
d43de682
M
1823#### gamejolt
1824* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1825
26f2aa3d
AG
1826#### hotstar
1827* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1828* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1829* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1830
046cab39 1831#### tiktok
c4cbd3be 1832* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
62b58c09
L
1833* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1834* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1835
7eaf7f9a 1836#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1837* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1838
7a26ce26
SS
1839#### twitter
1840* `force_graphql`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
7eaf7f9a 1841
8e174ba7 1842**Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1843
ec2e44fc 1844<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1845
3acf6d38 1846
f74980cb 1847# PLUGINS
b7770046 1848
8e40b9d1 1849Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. **Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code!**
3ae5e797 1850
8e40b9d1
M
1851Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1852- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1853- Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1854- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1855
3ae5e797 1856
8e40b9d1 1857Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1858
8e40b9d1
M
1859In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1860
1861 yt_dlp_plugins/
1862 extractor/
1863 myplugin.py
1864 postprocessor/
1865 myplugin.py
1866
1867yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1868
deae7c17 1869See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1870
8e40b9d1
M
1871## Installing Plugins
1872
1873Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1874
18751. **Configuration directories**:
1876 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1877 * **User Plugins**
1878 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1879 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1880 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
773c272d 1881 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
8e40b9d1
M
1882 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1883 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1884 * **System Plugins**
1885 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1886 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
18872. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location:
1888 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1889 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1890
18913. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
e756f45b 1892 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
8e174ba7 1893 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
8e40b9d1
M
1894 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1895 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1896
1897
8e174ba7 1898`.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1899* e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
8e40b9d1 1900
8e174ba7 1901Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
8e40b9d1
M
1902
1903## Developing Plugins
1904
8e174ba7 1905See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
8e40b9d1 1906
8e174ba7 1907All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
e756f45b 1908
773c272d 1909To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
8e40b9d1 1910
8e174ba7 1911If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
b7770046 1912
8e40b9d1 1913See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
8c6f4daa 1914
1915# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1916
1917yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1918
1919Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J`, `--print`, `--progress-template`, `--exec` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1920
1921From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1922
1923```python
59a7a13e 1924from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1925
3d3bb168 1926URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1927with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1928 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1929```
1930
a5387729 1931Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L184).
8c6f4daa 1932
43cc91ad 1933**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
3d3bb168 1934
1935## Embedding examples
1936
43cc91ad 1937#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1938
1939```python
1940import json
8c6f4daa 1941import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1942
3d3bb168 1943URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1944
1945# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1946ydl_opts = {}
1947with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1948 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1949
1950 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1951 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1952```
43cc91ad 1953#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1954
1955```python
1956import yt_dlp
1957
1958INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1959
1960with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1961 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1962
1963print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1964 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1965```
1966
43cc91ad 1967#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1968
1969```python
1970import yt_dlp
1971
1972URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1973
1974ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1975 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1976 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1977 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1978 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1979 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1980 }]
1981}
1982
1983with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1984 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1985```
0a41f331 1986
1987#### Filter videos
1988
1989```python
1990import yt_dlp
1991
1992URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1993
1994def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1995 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1996 duration = info.get('duration')
1997 if duration and duration < 60:
1998 return 'The video is too short'
1999
2000ydl_opts = {
2001 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2002}
2003
2004with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2005 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2006```
2007
43cc91ad 2008#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 2009
2010```python
2011import yt_dlp
2012
2013URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 2014
2015class MyLogger:
2016 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 2017 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 2018 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2019 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2020 pass
2021 else:
2022 self.info(msg)
2023
2024 def info(self, msg):
2025 pass
2026
2027 def warning(self, msg):
2028 pass
2029
2030 def error(self, msg):
2031 print(msg)
2032
2033
3d3bb168 2034# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2035def my_hook(d):
2036 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2037 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2038
2039
2040ydl_opts = {
2041 'logger': MyLogger(),
2042 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2043}
2044
2045with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2046 ydl.download(URLS)
2047```
2048
43cc91ad 2049#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2050
2051```python
2052import yt_dlp
2053
2054URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2055
2056# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2057class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2058 def run(self, info):
2059 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2060 return [], info
2061
2062
3d3bb168 2063with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2064 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2065 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2066 ydl.download(URLS)
2067```
8c6f4daa 2068
2069
43cc91ad 2070#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2071
2072```python
2073import yt_dlp
2074
2075URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2076
093a1710 2077def format_selector(ctx):
2078 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2079 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2080
2081 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2082 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2083
2084 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2085 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2086 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2087
2088 # find compatible audio extension
2089 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2090 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2091 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2092 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2093
3d3bb168 2094 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2095 yield {
093a1710 2096 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2097 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2098 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2099 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2100 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2101 }
2102
2103
8c6f4daa 2104ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2105 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2106}
2107
2108with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2109 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2110```
2111
ec2e44fc 2112<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2113
e167860c 2114# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2115
2116These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2117
8130779d 2118#### Almost redundant options
2119While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2120
2121 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2122 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2123 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2124 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2125
6ccf351a 2126#### Redundant options
2127While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2128
53c18592 2129 --get-description --print description
2130 --get-duration --print duration_string
2131 --get-filename --print filename
2132 --get-format --print format
2133 --get-id --print id
2134 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2135 -e, --get-title --print title
2136 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2137 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2138 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2139 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2140 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
fe2ce85a 2141 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
8b7539d2 2142 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2143 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2144 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2145 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2146 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2147 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2148
2149
2150#### Not recommended
2151While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2152
fe7866d0 2153 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2154 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2155 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2156 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2157 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2158 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2159 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2160 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2161 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2162 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2163 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2164 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2165 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2166 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2167 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2168 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2169 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2170 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2171
2172
2173#### Developer options
2174These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2175
34488702 2176 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2177 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2178 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2179 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2180 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2181
2182
2183#### Old aliases
2184These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2185
2186 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2187 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2188 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2189 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2190 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2191 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2192 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2193 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2194 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2195 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2196 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2197 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2198 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2199 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2200 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2201 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2202 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2203
7a340e0d 2204#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2205Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2206
2207 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2208 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2209 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2210 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2211 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2212 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2213 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2214 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2215
f4536226 2216#### No longer supported
2217These options may no longer work as intended
2218
2219 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2220 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2221 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2222 --no-call-home Default
2223 --include-ads No longer supported
2224 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2225 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2226 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2227 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2228
2229#### Removed
2230These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2231
f4536226 2232 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2233 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2234
8c6f4daa 2235# CONTRIBUTING
2236See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
e167860c 2237
17ffed18 2238# WIKI
2239See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information