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[extractor/generic] Decode unicode-escaped embed URLs (#5919)
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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")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/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>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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)
8e40b9d1
M		 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
8b644025 79* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/de39d12](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/de39d128)** <!--([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
ae6a1b95 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 the 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
8a82af35 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-on-reject` 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
7a5c1cfe 123* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 124
7a5c1cfe 125See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 126
ae61d108 127Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
128
53ed7066 129### Differences in default behavior
130
0930b11f 131Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 132
96565c7e 133* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 134* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 135* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 136* 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 137* 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 138* 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 139* 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 140* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 141* 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 142* `--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 143* 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 144* `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
145* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 146* 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 147* 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 148* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 149* 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 150* 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 151* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 152* 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 153* 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 154* `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 155* 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
8c53322c 156* yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: `aria2c`). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
53ed7066 157
158For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 159
8a82af35 160* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 161* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
162* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
2a06bb4e 163* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
8c53322c 164* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress`. Use this to enable all future compat options
53ed7066 165
f20f5fe5 166
d19bb9c0 167# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 168
fc5fa964 169<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170[![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 171[![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 172[![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 173[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 174[![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)
175[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 176[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 177<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
178
17ffed18 179You 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 180
b8773e63 181
a4211baf 182## UPDATE
17ffed18 183You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
184
185If 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 186
17ffed18 187For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 188
cf59cd4d 189
ec2e44fc 190<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 191## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 192
733d8e8f 193#### Recommended
194
195File|Description
196:---|:---
962ffcf8 197[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 198[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 199[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 200
201#### Alternatives
202
0e5927ee
R		 203File|Description
204:---|:---
0930b11f 205[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 206[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 207[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
208[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
17fc3dc4
M		 209[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
210[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 211[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
212[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 213[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 214
215#### Misc
216
217File|Description
218:---|:---
17ffed18 219[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee
R		 220[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
221[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 222<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 223
17ffed18 224
225Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
226
a4211baf 227## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 228Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 229
c9652aa4 230<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
231<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 232On 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 233-->
fac98805 234
e75bb0d6 235While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 236
8aa0e7cd 237### Strongly recommended
238
b69fd25c 239* [**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 240
241 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
242 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions 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 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
243
244### Networking
d5820461 245* [**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 246* [**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>
247* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
248
249### Metadata
250
251* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
252* [**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)
253* [**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
254
255### Misc
256
257* [**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 258* [**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 259* [**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 260* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 261
deae7c17 262### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 263
264* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
265* [**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 266* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
267* [**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 268
cf59cd4d 269To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
270
f2df4071 271The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 272
8aa0e7cd 273If 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 274
5f326cf5 275
a4211baf 276## COMPILE
5f326cf5 277
8aa0e7cd 278### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 279To 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 280
8aa0e7cd 281 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
282 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
283 python3 pyinst.py
284
285On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
286
73ac0e6b 287`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).
288
d2c8aadf 289Note that pyinstaller with 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 290
291**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 292
8aa0e7cd 293### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 294You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 295
8aa0e7cd 296After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 297
a831c2ea 298You 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 299
8aa0e7cd 300### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
301
302While 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.
303
304If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
305
306 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
307 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
308 py setup.py py2exe
309
310### Related scripts
311
70b23409 312* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
313* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
8aa0e7cd 314* **`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.
315
304ad45a 316You can also fork the project on GitHub and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
59a7a13e 317
b31fdeed 318# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 319
ec2e44fc 320<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 321 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 322
c2b5f311 323`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 324<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 325
ec2e44fc 326<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 327## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 328 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
329 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 330 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
331 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
2dd5a2e3 332 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
333 The download will be considered successful
334 even if the postprocessing fails
335 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
336 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
337 playlist (default)
338 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
339 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
340 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
341 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
342 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
343 extractors and exit
2516cafb 344 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 345 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
346 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
347 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
348 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
349 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 350 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 351 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 352 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
353 google videos for the search term "python".
354 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
355 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
356 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
357 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
358 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
359 possible instead of searching
360 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
361 except those given by --config-locations.
362 For backward compatibility, if this option
363 is found inside the system configuration
364 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
365 (Alias: --no-config)
366 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
367 (default). When given inside a configuration
368 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
369 defined in the current file
370 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
371 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 372 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
373 used multiple times and inside other
374 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 375 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
376 only list them
377 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
378 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
379 Currently only supported for YouTube
380 (Experimental)
381 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
382 (default)
383 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
384 available. Pass the minimum number of
385 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
386 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
387 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
388 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 389 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
390 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 391 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
392 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
393 configurations by reverting some of the
394 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
395 default behavior" for details
396 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
397 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
398 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
399 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 400 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 401 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
402 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
403 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
404 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
405 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
406 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 407 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 408 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
409 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 410 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 411
149f05c7 412## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 413 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
L		 414 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
415 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
416 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
417 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 418 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
419 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
420 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
421 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8300774c
M		 422 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
423 default for security reasons.
8c6c88c7 424
b31fdeed 425## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 426 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
427 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
428 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
429 is not present) is used for the actual
430 downloading
431 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
432 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
433 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
434 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
435 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
436 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
437 country code
438 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 439 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 440
cfcec693 441## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 442 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 443 to download. You can specify a range using
444 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
445 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
446 Use negative indices to count from the right
447 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 448 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 449 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 450 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 451 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
452 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
453 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 454 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 455 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
456 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
457 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
62b58c09 458 E.g. --date today-2weeks
2dd5a2e3 459 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
460 this date. The date formats accepted is the
461 same as --date
462 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
463 this date. The date formats accepted is the
464 same as --date
465 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
466 field can be compared with a number or a
467 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 468 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 469 specify a field to match if the field is
470 present, use "!field" to check if the field
471 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
472 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
473 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
474 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 475 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 476 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
477 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
478 only videos that are not live OR those that
479 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
480 field is not available) and also has a
481 description that contains the phrase "cats &
482 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
483 interactively ask whether to download each
484 video
485 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
486 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
487 to a video and a playlist
488 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
489 a video and a playlist
490 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
491 age
492 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
493 archive file. Record the IDs of all
494 downloaded videos in it
495 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
496 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
497 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
498 a file that is in the archive
499 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
500 a file that has been filtered out
71df9b7f 501 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
502 --break-on-reject, and autonumber to reset
503 per input URL
2dd5a2e3 504 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
505 terminates the entire download queue
506 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
507 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 508
d5a62e4f 509## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 510 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
511 video that should be downloaded concurrently
512 (default is 1)
62b58c09
L		 513 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
514 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 515 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
516 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 517 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 518 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
519 "infinite"
520 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
521 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
522 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
523 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 524 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
525 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
526 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
527 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
528 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
529 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
530 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 531 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 532 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
533 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
534 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
535 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
536 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
537 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
538 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
539 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
540 downloading is finished
541 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
542 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 543 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 544 (default is 1024)
545 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
546 from an initial value of --buffer-size
547 (default)
548 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
549 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 550 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 551 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
552 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
553 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 554 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 555 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
556 received. This disables n_entries,
557 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
558 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
559 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 560 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
561 expected file size
562 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
563 allowing some players to play the video
564 while downloading, and reducing the chance
565 of file corruption if download is
566 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
567 live streams
568 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
569 videos. This is default when not downloading
570 live streams
5ec1b6b7 571 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
572 the given regular expression. Time ranges
573 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
574 of chapters to download the specified range.
62b58c09
L		 575 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
576 multiple times to download multiple
577 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 578 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 579 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
580 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
581 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
582 use it for. Currently supports native,
583 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
584 wget. You can use this option multiple times
585 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 586 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 587 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
588 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
589 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
590 (Alias: --external-downloader)
591 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
592 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
593 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
594 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
595 positions using the same syntax as
596 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
597 option multiple times to give different
598 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
599 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 600
cfcec693 601## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 602 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
603 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
604 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
605 comments and ignored
606 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
607 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
608 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
609 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
610 TYPES as --output are supported.
611 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
612 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
613 files are first downloaded to the temp path
614 and then the final files are moved over to
615 the home path after download is finished.
616 This option is ignored if --output is an
617 absolute path
618 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
619 TEMPLATE" for details
620 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
621 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
622 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
623 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
624 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
625 filenames (default)
626 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
627 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
628 using Windows (default)
629 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
630 extension) to the specified number of
631 characters
632 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
633 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
634 option includes --no-continue
635 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
636 related files (default)
637 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
638 (default)
639 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
640 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
641 restart download of the entire file
642 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
643 into output file (default)
644 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
645 output file
646 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
647 modification time (default)
648 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
649 the file modification time
64fa820c 650 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 651 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
652 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
653 (this may contain personal information)
654 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
655 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
656 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
657 --write-description etc. (default)
658 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
659 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
660 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
661 from the infojson. Note that it could still
662 contain some personal information (default)
663 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
664 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
665 infojson. The comments are fetched even
666 without this option if the extraction is
667 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
668 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
669 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
670 --no-get-comments)
671 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 672 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 673 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
674 and dump cookie jar in
675 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
676 (default)
825d3ce3 677 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
678 The name of the browser to load cookies
679 from. Currently supported browsers are:
680 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
681 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
682 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
683 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
684 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
685 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
686 be given with their respective seperators.
687 By default, all containers of the most
688 recently accessed profile are used.
689 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
690 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 691 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 692 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
693 store some downloaded information (such as
694 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 695 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 696 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
697 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 698
b31fdeed 699## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 700 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 701 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 702 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
703 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
704 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 705
732044af 706## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 707 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
708 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
709 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
710 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
711 OS caches the URL based on the file path
712 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
713 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 714
0744a815 715## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 716 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
717 print the log to stderr
718 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
719 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
720 anything to disk
721 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
722 options are used
723 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
724 extracting metadata even if the videos are
725 not actually available for download
726 (experimental)
727 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
728 formats are found (default)
729 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
730 related files (Alias: --no-download)
731 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
732 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
733 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
734 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 735 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 736 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
737 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
738 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 739 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 740 Append given template to the file. The
741 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
742 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
743 output template. This option can be used
744 multiple times
745 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
746 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
747 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
748 description of available keys
749 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
750 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
751 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
752 a playlist, the whole playlist information
753 is dumped in a single line
754 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
755 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
756 another simulation option is used (Alias:
757 --force-download-archive)
758 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
759 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
760 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
761 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 762 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 763 Template for progress outputs, optionally
764 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
765 "download-title:" (the console title),
766 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
767 The video's fields are accessible under the
768 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 769 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 770 --console-title --progress-template
771 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
772 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
773 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
774 to debug problems (very verbose)
775 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
776 in the current directory to debug problems
777 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 778
36f35428 779## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 780 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
781 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
782 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
783 renegotiation
784 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
785 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
786 information about the video (Currently
787 supported only for YouTube)
788 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
789 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
790 option multiple times
791 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
792 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
793 or fribidi executable in PATH
794 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
795 during data extraction
796 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
797 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
798 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
799 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
800 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
801 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
802 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
803 subtitle download
36f35428 804
cfcec693 805## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 806 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
807 for more details
808 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
809 "Sorting Formats" for more details
810 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
811 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
812 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
813 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
814 specified sort order (default)
815 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
816 into a single file
817 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
818 output file (default)
819 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
820 into a single file
821 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
822 output file (default)
823 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
824 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
825 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
826 irrespective of quality
827 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
828 containers (default)
829 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
830 those that are actually downloadable
831 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
832 actually downloadable
833 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
834 downloadable
835 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
836 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 837 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 838 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL		 839 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
840 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH		 841
842## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 843 --write-subs Write subtitle file
844 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
845 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
846 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
847 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
848 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
849 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
850 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
851 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 852 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 853 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L		 854 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
855 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 856 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L		 857 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
858 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 859 of available language tags
6bcd846b 860
cfcec693 861## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 862 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
863 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
864 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
865 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
866 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
867 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
868 either the path or its containing directory.
869 Defaults to ~/.netrc
870 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
871 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
872 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
873 a list of available MSOs
874 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
875 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
876 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
877 interactively
878 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
879 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
880 format. May include the private key
881 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
882 Path to private key file for client
883 certificate
bb58c9ed 884 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 885 Password for client certificate private key,
886 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
887 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 888
c76eb41b 889## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 890 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
891 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 892 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
893 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 894 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 895 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
896 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 897 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
898 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
899 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
900 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
901 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 902 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 903 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
904 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
905 wav). If target container does not support
906 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
907 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 908 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 909 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 910 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
911 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
912 are the same as --remux-video
913 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
914 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
915 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
916 to give the argument to the specified
917 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
918 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
919 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
920 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
921 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
922 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
923 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
924 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
925 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
926 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
927 specified executable only when being used by
928 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
929 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
930 appended to the prefix optionally followed
931 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 932 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 933 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
934 this option multiple times to give different
935 arguments to different postprocessors.
936 (Alias: --ppa)
937 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
938 after post-processing
939 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
940 post-processing (default)
941 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
942 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
943 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
944 webm and mkv videos)
945 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
946 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
947 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
948 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
949 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
950 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
951 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
952 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
953 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
954 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
955 (Alias: --add-chapters)
956 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
957 --no-add-chapters)
958 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
959 mkv/mka video files
960 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
961 to the video file
fe74d5b5 962 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
963 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 964 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 965 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
966 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
967 (default: pre_process)
968 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 969 Replace text in a metadata field using the
970 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 971 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
972 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
973 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 974 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
975 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
976 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
977 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
978 (default; only when the videos form a single
979 show). All the video files must have same
980 codecs and number of streams to be
981 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
982 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
983 the output filename for the concatenated
984 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
985 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
986 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
987 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
988 default; fix file if we can, warn
989 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
990 already exists)
991 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 992 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 993 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 994 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
995 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
996 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
997 after_move). Same syntax as the output
998 template can be used to pass any field as
999 arguments to the command. After download, an
1000 additional field "filepath" that contains
1001 the final path of the downloaded file is
1002 also available, and if no fields are passed,
1003 %(filepath)q is appended to the end of the
1004 command. This option can be used multiple
1005 times
2dd5a2e3 1006 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1007 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 1008 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 1009 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1010 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1011 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1012 can specify multiple rules using similar
1013 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1014 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1015 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1016 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1017 the output filename for the split files. See
1018 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1019 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1020 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1021 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1022 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1023 be used multiple times
1024 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1025 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1026 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1027 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1028 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1029 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1030 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1031 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1032 when cutting/splitting (default)
1033 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1034 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1035 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1036 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1037 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1038 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1039 The "when" argument determines when the
1040 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1041 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1042 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1043 "video" (after --format; before
1044 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1045 video download), "post_process" (after each
1046 video download; default), "after_move"
1047 (after moving video file to it's final
1048 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1049 and processing all formats of a video), or
1050 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1051 can be used multiple times to add different
1052 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1053
1054## SponsorBlock Options:
1055Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1056 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1057 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1058
2dd5a2e3 1059 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1060 for, separated by commas. Available
1061 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1062 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1063 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1064 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1065 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1066 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1067 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1068 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1069 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1070 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1071 category is present in both mark and remove,
1072 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1073 available categories are the same as for
1074 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1075 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1076 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1077 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1078 An output template for the title of the
1079 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1080 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1081 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1082 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1083 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1084 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1085 --sponsorblock-remove
1086 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1087 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1088
78895bd3 1089## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1090 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1091 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1092 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1093 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1094 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1095 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1096 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1097 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1098 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1099 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1100 (default)
2fa669f7 1101 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1102 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1103 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1104 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1105
b7770046
U		 1106# CONFIGURATION
1107
7a5c1cfe 1108You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1109
878eac3e 11101. **Main Configuration**:
1111 * The file given by `--config-location`
11121. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1113 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1114 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11151. **Home Configuration**:
1116 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1117 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11181. **User Configuration**:
878eac3e 1119 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1120 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
878eac3e 1121 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1122 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1123 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1124 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1125 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M		 1126 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1127 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1128
878eac3e 1129 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11301. **System Configuration**:
1131 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M		 1132 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1133 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1134
62b58c09 1135E.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
U		 1136```
1137# Lines starting with # are comments
1138
1139# Always extract audio
1140-x
1141
1142# Do not copy the mtime
1143--no-mtime
1144
1145# Use this proxy
1146--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1147
298f597b 1148# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1149-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1150```
1151
2fa669f7 1152Note that 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 1153
a4211baf 1154You 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 1155
304ad45a 1156### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1157
304ad45a 1158The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1159
88f60feb 1160If 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 1161
b7770046
U		 1162### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1163
304ad45a 1164You 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 1165```
878eac3e 1166touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1167chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
U		 1168```
1169After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1170```
0001fcb5 1171machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1172```
62b58c09 1173E.g.
b7770046
U		 1174```
1175machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1176machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1177```
7a5c1cfe 1178To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1179
878eac3e 1180The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1181
1182### Notes about environment variables
1183* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1184* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1185* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1186* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1187* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
U		 1188
1189# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1190
0202b52a 1191The `-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 1192
ec2e44fc 1193<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1194**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1195<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1196
e58c22a0 1197The 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 1198
62b58c09 1199It 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 1200
1201The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1202
07a1250e 12031. **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 1204
62b58c09 12051. **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 1206
62b58c09 12071. **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 1208
62b58c09 12091. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1210
304ad45a 12111. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator. 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.
e978789f 1212
17ffed18 12131. **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 1214
9b9dad11 12151. **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 1216
d5d1df8a 12171. **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 1218
1219To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1220```
e978789f 1221%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1222```
de6000d9 1223
62b58c09 1224Additionally, 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 1225
7aaf4cd2
RG		 1226<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
1227
1228Note: 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.
1229
e29663c6 1230The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1231
1232 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1233 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1234 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1235 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1236 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1237 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1238 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1239 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1240 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1241 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1242 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1243 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1244 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1245 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1246 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1247 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1248 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1249 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1250 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1251 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1252 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1253 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1254 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1255 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1256 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U		 1257 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1258 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1259 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1260 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1261 - `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 1262 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1263 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1264 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1265 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1266 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1267 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1268 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1269 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U		 1270 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1271 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1272 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1273 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1274 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1275 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1276 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1277 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1278 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1279 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1280 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1281 - `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
U		 1282 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1283 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1284 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1285 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1286 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1287 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1288
1289All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U		 1290
1291Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1292
1293 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1294 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1295 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1296
1297Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1298
1299 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1300 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1301 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1302 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1303 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1304 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1305 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1306
1307Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1308
1309 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1310 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1311 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1312 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1313 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1314 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1315 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1316 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1317 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1318 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1319
5ec1b6b7 1320Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1321
1322 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1323 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1324 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1325 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1326
53c18592 1327Available only when used in `--print`:
1328
1329 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1330 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1331 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1332 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1333 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1334 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1335
7a340e0d
NA		 1336
1337Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1338
1339 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1340 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1341 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA		 1342 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1343 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1344 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1345 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1346
62b58c09 1347Each 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 1348
1349Note that 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 1350
0930b11f 1351**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1352
62b58c09 1353For 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 1354
940a67a3 1355Output 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
U		 1356
1357To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1358
91ebc640 1359The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1360
f304da8a 1361In 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 1362
b7770046
U		 1363#### Output template examples
1364
b7770046 1365```bash
d2c8aadf 1366$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1367test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1368
d2c8aadf 1369$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1370youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1371
d2c8aadf 1372$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1373youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1374
1375# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1376$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1377
b050d210 1378# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1379$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1380
e978789f 1381# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1382$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1383
b7770046 1384# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1385$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1386
1387# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1388$ 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		 1389
1390# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1391$ 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 1392
6a34813a 1393# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1394# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1395$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1396
1397# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1398$ 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
1399
b7770046 1400# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1401$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1402```
1403
1404# FORMAT SELECTION
1405
7a5c1cfe
P		 1406By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1407This 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 1408
c111cefa 1409**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.
1410
eff63539 1411The 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 1412
ec2e44fc 1413<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1414**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1415<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1416
62b58c09 1417The 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		 1418
1419You 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.
1420
fa9f30b8 1421You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1422
b7770046
U		 1423You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1424
59a7a13e 1425 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1426 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1427 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1428 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1429 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1430 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1431 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1432 - `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 1433 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1434 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1435 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1436 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1437 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1438 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1439
d4ada357 1440For 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 1441
1442You 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 1443
304ad45a 1444If 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		 1445
1446If 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`.
1447
62b58c09 1448You 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 1449
1450**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
1451
304ad45a 1452Unless `--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 1453
1454## Filtering Formats
1455
b7770046
U		 1456You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1457
1458The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1459
1460 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1461 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U		 1462 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1463 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1464 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
b7770046
U		 1465 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1466 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1467 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1468 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1469 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1470 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1471 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1472
1ce9a3cb 1473Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1474
d2c8aadf 1475 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U		 1476 - `ext`: File extension
1477 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1478 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1479 - `container`: Name of the container format
1480 - `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 1481 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1482 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1483 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1484 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1485 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1486 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1487
1ce9a3cb 1488Any 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 1489
e58c22a0 1490Note that 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 1491
62b58c09 1492Formats 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 1493
62b58c09 1494Format 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 1495
eb8a4433 1496## Sorting Formats
1497
2e7781a9 1498You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1499
1500The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1501
304ad45a 1502 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1503 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1504 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1505 - `lang`: The language preference
1506 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1507 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1508 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1509 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
71082216 1510 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` `ac4` > > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1511 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1512 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1513 - `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 1514 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1515 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1516 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1517 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1518 - `height`: Height of video
1519 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1520 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1521 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1522 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1523 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1524 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1525 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1526 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1527 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1528 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1529
1530**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 1531
62b58c09 1532All 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 1533
7e798d72 1534The 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 1535
7e798d72 1536Note 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 1537
e58c22a0 1538If 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 1539
1540**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1541
eb8a4433 1542## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1543
b7770046 1544```bash
e58c22a0 1545# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1546# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1547$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1548
1549# Download best format that contains video,
1550# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1551$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1552
1553# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1554$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1555
6fd35a11 1556# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1557# For this case, an output template should be used since
1558# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1559$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1560
f8d4ad9a 1561# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1562# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1563$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1564
1565# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1566# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1568
6fd35a11 1569
1570# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1571# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1572
1573# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1575
1576# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1577$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1578
1579# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1580$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1581
1582
909d24dd 1583
eb8a4433 1584# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1585$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1586
1587# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1588# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1590
1591
909d24dd 1592
eb8a4433 1593# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1594# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1595$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1596
eb8a4433 1597# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1598# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1599$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1600
eb8a4433 1601# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1602# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1603# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1604# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1605$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1606
b7770046 1607
909d24dd 1608
eb8a4433 1609# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1610# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1611$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1612
1613# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1614# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1615$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1616
1617# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1618$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1619
1620
909d24dd 1621
eb8a4433 1622# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1623# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1625
1626# Download best video available via the best protocol
1627# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1628$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1629
1630
909d24dd 1631
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1632# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1633# or the best video if there is no such video
1634$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1635
1636# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1637# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1638$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1639
1640# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1641# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1642$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1643
1644
1645
1646# More complex examples
1647
e58c22a0 1648# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1649# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1650$ 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 1651
1652# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1653# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1654# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1655$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1656
1657
909d24dd 1658
eb8a4433 1659# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1660# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1661# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1662$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1663```
eb8a4433 1664
73cd218f 1665# MODIFYING METADATA
1666
a4211baf 1667The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1668
418964fa 1669`--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 1670
46d09f87 1671The 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 1672
46d09f87 1673Note 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 1674
9c2b75b5 1675This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1676
62b58c09 1677* 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 1678
62b58c09 1679* 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 1680
08d30158 1681**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.
1682
c31be5b0 1683For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1684
08d30158 1685Metadata fields | From
1686:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1687`title` | `track` or `title`
1688`date` | `upload_date`
1689`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1690`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1691`track` | `track_number`
1692`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1693`genre` | `genre`
1694`album` | `album`
1695`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1696`disc` | `disc_number`
1697`show` | `series`
1698`season_number` | `season_number`
1699`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1700`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1701`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1702
c31be5b0 1703**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1704
73cd218f 1705
1706## Modifying metadata examples
1707
73cd218f 1708```bash
1709# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1710$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1711
1712# Regex example
940a67a3 1713$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1714
1715# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1716$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1717
a44ca5a4 1718# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1719$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1720
1721# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1722# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1723$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1724
8aa0e7cd 1725# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1726$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1727
0930b11f 1728# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1729$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1730
e9f4ccd1 1731# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1732$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1733
73cd218f 1734```
1735
5d3a0e79 1736# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1737
62b58c09 1738Some 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 1739
1740The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1741
1742#### youtube
2fa669f7 1743* `lang`: Language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (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 1744* `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 1745* `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 1746* `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 1747* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1748* `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`
1749 * 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
4d37720a 1750* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1751* `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 1752* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1753
1754#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1755* `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 1756* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1757
3b021eac 1758#### generic
1759* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1760
96565c7e 1761#### funimation
304ad45a 1762* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1763* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1764
cb1553e9 1765#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
62b58c09 1766* `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 1767* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1768
96565c7e 1769#### vikichannel
1770* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1771
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1772#### niconico
1773* `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.**
1774
aa4b0545 1775#### youtubewebarchive
1776* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1777
d43de682
M		 1778#### gamejolt
1779* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1780
26f2aa3d
AG		 1781#### hotstar
1782* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1783* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1784* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1785
046cab39 1786#### tiktok
c4cbd3be 1787* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
62b58c09
L		 1788* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1789* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1790
7eaf7f9a 1791#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1792* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1793
7a26ce26
SS		 1794#### twitter
1795* `force_graphql`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
7eaf7f9a 1796
bc97cdae 1797NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1798
ec2e44fc 1799<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1800
3acf6d38 1801
f74980cb 1802# PLUGINS
b7770046 1803
8e40b9d1 1804Note 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 1805
8e40b9d1
M		 1806Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1807- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1808- Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1809- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1810
3ae5e797 1811
8e40b9d1 1812Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1813
8e40b9d1
M		 1814In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1815
1816 yt_dlp_plugins/
1817 extractor/
1818 myplugin.py
1819 postprocessor/
1820 myplugin.py
1821
1822yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1823
deae7c17 1824See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1825
8e40b9d1
M		 1826## Installing Plugins
1827
1828Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1829
18301. **Configuration directories**:
1831 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1832 * **User Plugins**
1833 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1834 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1835 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
1836 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1837 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1838 * **System Plugins**
1839 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1840 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
18412. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location:
1842 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1843 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1844
18453. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
e756f45b 1846 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
8e40b9d1
M		 1847 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames
1848 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1849 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1850
1851
1852.zip, .egg and .whl archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported. These can be placed in the same locations `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders can be found.
1853- e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
1854
1855Run yt-dlp with `--verbose`/`-v` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1856
1857## Developing Plugins
1858
e756f45b 1859See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for a sample plugin package with instructions on how to set up an environment for plugin development.
8e40b9d1 1860
e756f45b
M		 1861All 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`)
1862
1863To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`).
1864Due to the mechanics behind this, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
8e40b9d1
M		 1865
1866If 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 1867
8e40b9d1 1868See 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 1869
1870# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1871
1872yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1873
1874Your 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.
1875
1876From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1877
1878```python
59a7a13e 1879from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1880
3d3bb168 1881URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1882with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1883 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1884```
1885
1890fc63 1886Most 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#L180).
8c6f4daa 1887
43cc91ad 1888**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 1889
1890## Embedding examples
1891
43cc91ad 1892#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1893
1894```python
1895import json
8c6f4daa 1896import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1897
3d3bb168 1898URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1899
1900# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1901ydl_opts = {}
1902with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1903 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1904
1905 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1906 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1907```
43cc91ad 1908#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1909
1910```python
1911import yt_dlp
1912
1913INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1914
1915with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1916 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1917
1918print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1919 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1920```
1921
43cc91ad 1922#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1923
1924```python
1925import yt_dlp
1926
1927URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1928
1929ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1930 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1931 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1932 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1933 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1934 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1935 }]
1936}
1937
1938with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1939 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1940```
0a41f331 1941
1942#### Filter videos
1943
1944```python
1945import yt_dlp
1946
1947URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1948
1949def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1950 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1951 duration = info.get('duration')
1952 if duration and duration < 60:
1953 return 'The video is too short'
1954
1955ydl_opts = {
1956 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1957}
1958
1959with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1960 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1961```
1962
43cc91ad 1963#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1964
1965```python
1966import yt_dlp
1967
1968URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1969
1970class MyLogger:
1971 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1972 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1973 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1974 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1975 pass
1976 else:
1977 self.info(msg)
1978
1979 def info(self, msg):
1980 pass
1981
1982 def warning(self, msg):
1983 pass
1984
1985 def error(self, msg):
1986 print(msg)
1987
1988
3d3bb168 1989# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1990def my_hook(d):
1991 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1992 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1993
1994
1995ydl_opts = {
1996 'logger': MyLogger(),
1997 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1998}
1999
2000with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2001 ydl.download(URLS)
2002```
2003
43cc91ad 2004#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2005
2006```python
2007import yt_dlp
2008
2009URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2010
2011# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2012class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2013 def run(self, info):
2014 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2015 return [], info
2016
2017
3d3bb168 2018with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2019 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2020 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2021 ydl.download(URLS)
2022```
8c6f4daa 2023
2024
43cc91ad 2025#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2026
2027```python
2028import yt_dlp
2029
2030URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2031
093a1710 2032def format_selector(ctx):
2033 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2034 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2035
2036 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2037 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2038
2039 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2040 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2041 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2042
2043 # find compatible audio extension
2044 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2045 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2046 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2047 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2048
3d3bb168 2049 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2050 yield {
093a1710 2051 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2052 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2053 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2054 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2055 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2056 }
2057
2058
8c6f4daa 2059ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2060 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2061}
2062
2063with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2064 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2065```
2066
ec2e44fc 2067<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2068
e167860c 2069# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2070
2071These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2072
8130779d 2073#### Almost redundant options
2074While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2075
2076 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2077 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2078 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2079 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2080
6ccf351a 2081#### Redundant options
2082While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2083
53c18592 2084 --get-description --print description
2085 --get-duration --print duration_string
2086 --get-filename --print filename
2087 --get-format --print format
2088 --get-id --print id
2089 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2090 -e, --get-title --print title
2091 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2092 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2093 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2094 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2095 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2096 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2097 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2098 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2099 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2100 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2101 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2102
2103
2104#### Not recommended
2105While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2106
fe7866d0 2107 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2108 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2109 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2110 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2111 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2112 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2113 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2114 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2115 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2116 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2117 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2118 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2119 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2120 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2121 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2122 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2123 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2124 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2125
2126
2127#### Developer options
2128These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2129
34488702 2130 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2131 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2132 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2133 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2134 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2135
2136
2137#### Old aliases
2138These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2139
2140 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2141 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2142 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2143 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2144 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2145 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2146 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2147 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2148 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2149 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2150 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2151 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2152 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2153 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2154 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2155 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2156 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2157
7a340e0d 2158#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2159Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2160
2161 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2162 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2163 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2164 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2165 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2166 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2167 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2168 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2169
f4536226 2170#### No longer supported
2171These options may no longer work as intended
2172
2173 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2174 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2175 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2176 --no-call-home Default
2177 --include-ads No longer supported
2178 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2179 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2180 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2181 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2182
2183#### Removed
2184These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2185
f4536226 2186 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2187 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2188
8c6f4daa 2189# CONTRIBUTING
2190See [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 2191
17ffed18 2192# WIKI
2193See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/