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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
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
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")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](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)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
ebc7d3ff 74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [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 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[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 79
ae6a1b95 80* **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 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
ca5300c7 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
144a3588 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
6e634cbe 92 * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
f20f5fe5 93
f59f5ef8 94* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 95
597c1866 96* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
97
b31fdeed 98* **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 99
b31fdeed 100* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 101
e75bb0d6 102* **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 103
104* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 105
3de7c2ce 106* **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 107
597c1866 108* **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 109
110* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
111
418964fa 112* **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 113
8a82af35 114* **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 115
08d30158 116* **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 117
86c1a8aa 118* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 119
7a5c1cfe 120* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 121
7a5c1cfe 122See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
0930b11f 126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 129* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 130* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 131* 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 132* 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 133* 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 134* 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 135* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 136* 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 137* `--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 138* 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 139* `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
140* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 141* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 142* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
64f36541 143* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, 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
28b0eb0f 144* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 145* 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 146* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 147* 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 148* 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
0bf9dc1e 149* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 150* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 151
152For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 153
8a82af35 154* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 155* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 157
f20f5fe5 158
d19bb9c0 159# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 160
7bc877a2 161You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 162
a4211baf 163### Using the release binary
0930b11f 164
fc5fa964 165You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 166
fc5fa964 167<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168[![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)
24146491 169[![Linux](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)
170[![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)
fc5fa964 171[![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)
172[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 173[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 174<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
175
176Note: 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)
177
178<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 179In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
180
181```
182sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
184```
185
186```
187sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
189```
190
191```
b69fd25c 192sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A
193sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
194```
195
0930b11f 196
a4211baf 197### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 198
199You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
200```
201python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
202```
203
86c1a8aa 204You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 205```
206python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
207```
208
86c1a8aa 209If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 210```
ae6a1b95 211python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 212```
213
214Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
215
fc5fa964 216<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 217### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 218
219macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
220
221```
222brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
223```
224
a4211baf 225## UPDATE
0930b11f 226You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
227
228If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
229
230If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 231
ec2e44fc 232<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 233## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 234
733d8e8f 235#### Recommended
236
237File|Description
238:---|:---
ae6a1b95 239[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 240[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**)
ae6a1b95 241[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 242
243#### Alternatives
244
0e5927ee
R
245File|Description
246:---|:---
0930b11f 247[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
24146491 248[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/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi`, needs VC++14
0930b11f 249[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
250[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)
733d8e8f 251
252#### Misc
253
254File|Description
255:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
256[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
257[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
258[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 259<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 260
a4211baf 261## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 262Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 263
c9652aa4 264<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
265<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 266On 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 267-->
fac98805 268
e75bb0d6 269While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 270
b69fd25c 271* [**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)
d5820461 272* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
5d0aeac0
M
273* [**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)
274* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
0a41f331 275* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing 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)
d5820461 276* [**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>
277* [**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)
6f7563be 278* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata 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
08d30158 279* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
0930b11f 280* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
281* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
5d0aeac0 282* [**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)
0930b11f 283* [**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)
cf59cd4d 284* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 285
cf59cd4d 286To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
287
0a41f331 288The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
d710cc6d 289
08d30158 290<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 291**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
d710cc6d 292
5f326cf5 293
a4211baf 294## COMPILE
5f326cf5 295
c76eb41b 296**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 297To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 298
733d8e8f 299 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 301 py pyinst.py
7581d246 302
fac98805 303Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
b96a939b 304
c76eb41b 305**For Unix**:
060ac762 306You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 307Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 308
49a57e70 309**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 310
75b725a7 311You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 312
b31fdeed 313# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 314
ec2e44fc 315<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 316 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 317
c2b5f311 318`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 319<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 320
ec2e44fc 321<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 322## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 323 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
324 --version Print program version and exit
325 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
326 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
327 The download will be considered successful
328 even if the postprocessing fails
329 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
330 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
331 playlist (default)
332 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
333 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
334 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
335 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
336 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
337 extractors and exit
338 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
339 extractor
340 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
341 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
342 google videos for the search term "python".
343 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
344 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
345 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
346 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
347 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
348 possible instead of searching
349 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
350 except those given by --config-locations.
351 For backward compatibility, if this option
352 is found inside the system configuration
353 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
354 (Alias: --no-config)
355 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
356 (default). When given inside a configuration
357 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
358 defined in the current file
359 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
360 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 361 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
362 used multiple times and inside other
363 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 364 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
365 only list them
366 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
367 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
368 Currently only supported for YouTube
369 (Experimental)
370 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
371 (default)
372 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
373 available. Pass the minimum number of
374 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
375 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
376 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
377 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
378 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
379 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
380 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
381 configurations by reverting some of the
382 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
383 default behavior" for details
384 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
385 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
386 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
387 according to the Python string formatting
388 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
389 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
390 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
391 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
392 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
393 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
394 output. Alias options can trigger more
395 aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
396 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
397 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
398 times. This option can be used multiple
399 times
08c1d0d3 400
149f05c7 401## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 402 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
403 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
404 Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
405 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
406 connection
407 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
408 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
409 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
410 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 411
b31fdeed 412## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 413 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
414 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
415 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
416 is not present) is used for the actual
417 downloading
418 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
419 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
420 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
421 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
422 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
423 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
424 country code
425 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
426 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
427 notation
149f05c7 428
cfcec693 429## Video Selection:
2dd5a2e3 430 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
431 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
432 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
433 indices of the videos in the playlist
434 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
435 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
436 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
437 specify range: "--playlist-items
438 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos at
439 index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
440 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
441 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
442 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
443 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
444 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
445 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
446 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
447 Eg: --date today-2weeks
448 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
449 this date. The date formats accepted is the
450 same as --date
451 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
452 this date. The date formats accepted is the
453 same as --date
454 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
455 field can be compared with a number or a
456 string using the operators defined in
457 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
458 specify a field to match if the field is
459 present, use "!field" to check if the field
460 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
461 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
462 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
463 the filter matches if atleast one of the
464 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
465 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
466 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
467 only videos that are not live OR those that
468 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
469 field is not available) and also has a
470 description that contains the phrase "cats &
471 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
472 interactively ask whether to download each
473 video
474 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
475 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
476 to a video and a playlist
477 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
478 a video and a playlist
479 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
480 age
481 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
482 archive file. Record the IDs of all
483 downloaded videos in it
484 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
485 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
486 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
487 a file that is in the archive
488 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
489 a file that has been filtered out
490 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
491 and --max-downloads act only on the current
492 input URL
493 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
494 terminates the entire download queue
495 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
496 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 497
d5a62e4f 498## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 499 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
500 video that should be downloaded concurrently
501 (default is 1)
502 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
503 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
504 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
505 below which throttling is assumed and the
506 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
507 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
508 "infinite"
509 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
510 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
511 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
512 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
513 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
514 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
515 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
516 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
517 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
518 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
519 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
520 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
521 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
522 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
523 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
524 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
525 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
526 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
527 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
528 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
529 downloading is finished
530 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
531 downloading is finished (default)
532 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
533 (default is 1024)
534 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
535 from an initial value of --buffer-size
536 (default)
537 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
538 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
539 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
540 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
541 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
542 (experimental)
543 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
544 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
545 (default)
546 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
547 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
548 expected file size
549 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
550 allowing some players to play the video
551 while downloading, and reducing the chance
552 of file corruption if download is
553 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
554 live streams
555 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
556 videos. This is default when not downloading
557 live streams
558 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
559 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
560 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
561 use it for. Currently supports native,
562 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
563 wget. You can use this option multiple times
564 to set different downloaders for different
565 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
566 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
567 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
568 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
569 (Alias: --external-downloader)
570 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
571 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
572 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
573 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
574 positions using the same syntax as
575 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
576 option multiple times to give different
577 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
578 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 579
cfcec693 580## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 581 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
582 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
583 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
584 comments and ignored
585 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
586 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
587 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
588 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
589 TYPES as --output are supported.
590 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
591 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
592 files are first downloaded to the temp path
593 and then the final files are moved over to
594 the home path after download is finished.
595 This option is ignored if --output is an
596 absolute path
597 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
598 TEMPLATE" for details
599 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
600 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
601 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
602 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
603 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
604 filenames (default)
605 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
606 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
607 using Windows (default)
608 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
609 extension) to the specified number of
610 characters
611 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
612 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
613 option includes --no-continue
614 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
615 related files (default)
616 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
617 (default)
618 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
619 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
620 restart download of the entire file
621 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
622 into output file (default)
623 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
624 output file
625 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
626 modification time (default)
627 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
628 the file modification time
629 --write-description Write video description to a .description
630 file
631 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
632 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
633 (this may contain personal information)
634 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
635 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
636 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
637 --write-description etc. (default)
638 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
639 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
640 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
641 from the infojson. Note that it could still
642 contain some personal information (default)
643 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
644 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
645 infojson. The comments are fetched even
646 without this option if the extraction is
647 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
648 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
649 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
650 --no-get-comments)
651 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
652 (created with the "--write-info-json"
653 option)
654 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
655 and dump cookie jar in
656 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
657 (default)
f59f5ef8 658 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
2dd5a2e3 659 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
660 name/path of the profile to load cookies
661 from, separated by a ":". Currently
662 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
663 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
664 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
665 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
666 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
667 be (optionally) specified after the browser
668 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
669 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring,
670 kwallet
671 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
672 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
673 can store some downloaded information (such
674 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
675 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
676 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
677 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
678 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 679
b31fdeed 680## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 681 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
682 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
683 (default)
684 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
685 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
686 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 687
732044af 688## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 689 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
690 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
691 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
692 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
693 OS caches the URL based on the file path
694 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
695 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 696
0744a815 697## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 698 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
699 print the log to stderr
700 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
701 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
702 anything to disk
703 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
704 options are used
705 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
706 extracting metadata even if the videos are
707 not actually available for download
708 (experimental)
709 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
710 formats are found (default)
711 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
712 related files (Alias: --no-download)
713 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
714 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
715 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
716 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
717 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
718 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
719 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
720 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 721 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 722 Append given template to the file. The
723 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
724 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
725 output template. This option can be used
726 multiple times
727 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
728 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
729 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
730 description of available keys
731 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
732 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
733 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
734 a playlist, the whole playlist information
735 is dumped in a single line
736 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
737 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
738 another simulation option is used (Alias:
739 --force-download-archive)
740 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
741 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
742 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
743 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 744 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 745 Template for progress outputs, optionally
746 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
747 "download-title:" (the console title),
748 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
749 The video's fields are accessible under the
750 "info" key and the progress attributes are
751 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
752 --console-title --progress-template
753 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
754 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
755 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
756 to debug problems (very verbose)
757 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
758 in the current directory to debug problems
759 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 760
36f35428 761## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 762 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
763 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
764 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
765 renegotiation
766 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
767 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
768 information about the video (Currently
769 supported only for YouTube)
770 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
771 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
772 option multiple times
773 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
774 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
775 or fribidi executable in PATH
776 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
777 during data extraction
778 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
779 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
780 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
781 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
782 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
783 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
784 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
785 subtitle download
36f35428 786
cfcec693 787## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 788 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
789 for more details
790 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
791 "Sorting Formats" for more details
792 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
793 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
794 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
795 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
796 specified sort order (default)
797 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
798 into a single file
799 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
800 output file (default)
801 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
802 into a single file
803 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
804 output file (default)
805 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
806 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
807 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
808 irrespective of quality
809 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
810 containers (default)
811 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
812 those that are actually downloadable
813 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
814 actually downloadable
815 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
816 downloadable
817 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
818 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
819 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
820 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
821 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
822 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH
823
824## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 825 --write-subs Write subtitle file
826 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
827 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
828 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
829 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
830 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
831 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
832 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
833 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
834 Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
835 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
836 be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
837 --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
838 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
839 the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
840 all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
841 of available language tags
6bcd846b 842
cfcec693 843## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 844 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
845 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
846 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
847 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
848 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
849 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
850 either the path or its containing directory.
851 Defaults to ~/.netrc
852 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
853 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
854 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
855 a list of available MSOs
856 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
857 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
858 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
859 interactively
860 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
861 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
862 format. May include the private key
863 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
864 Path to private key file for client
865 certificate
bb58c9ed 866 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 867 Password for client certificate private key,
868 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
869 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 870
c76eb41b 871## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 872 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
873 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
874 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio to
875 when -x is used. Currently supported formats
876 are: best (default) or one of aac, flac,
877 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
878 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
879 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
880 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
881 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
882 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
883 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
884 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
885 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
886 target container does not support the
887 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
888 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
889 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
890 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
891 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
892 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
893 are the same as --remux-video
894 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
895 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
896 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
897 to give the argument to the specified
898 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
899 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
900 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
901 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
902 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
903 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
904 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
905 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
906 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
907 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
908 specified executable only when being used by
909 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
910 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
911 appended to the prefix optionally followed
912 by a number to pass the argument before the
913 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
914 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
915 this option multiple times to give different
916 arguments to different postprocessors.
917 (Alias: --ppa)
918 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
919 after post-processing
920 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
921 post-processing (default)
922 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
923 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
924 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
925 webm and mkv videos)
926 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
927 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
928 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
929 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
930 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
931 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
932 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
933 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
934 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
935 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
936 (Alias: --add-chapters)
937 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
938 --no-add-chapters)
939 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
940 mkv/mka video files
941 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
942 to the video file
943 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
944 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
945 for details
e9f4ccd1 946 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 947 Replace text in a metadata field using the
948 given regex. This option can be used
949 multiple times
950 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
951 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
952 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
953 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
954 (default; only when the videos form a single
955 show). All the video files must have same
956 codecs and number of streams to be
957 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
958 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
959 the output filename for the concatenated
960 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
961 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
962 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
963 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
964 default; fix file if we can, warn
965 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
966 already exists)
967 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
968 path to the binary or its containing
969 directory
970 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
971 when to execute it (after_move if
972 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
973 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
974 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
975 output template can be used to pass any
976 field as arguments to the command. After
977 download, an additional field "filepath"
978 that contains the final path of the
979 downloaded file is also available, and if no
980 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
981 to the end of the command. This option can
982 be used multiple times
983 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
984 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
985 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
986 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
987 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
988 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
989 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
990 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
991 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
992 the output filename for the split files. See
993 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
994 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
995 (default)
996 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
997 given regular expression. Time ranges
998 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
999 of chapters to remove the specified range.
1000 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
1001 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
1002 be used multiple times
1003 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1004 (default)
1005 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around chapters when
8a82af35 1006 removing/splitting them. This is slow due to
1007 needing a re-encode, but the resulting video
1008 may have fewer artifacts around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1009 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1010 when cutting/splitting (default)
1011 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1012 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1013 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1014 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1015 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1016 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1017 The "when" argument determines when the
1018 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1019 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1020 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1021 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1022 "post_process" (after each video download;
1023 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1024 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1025 (after downloading and processing all
1026 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1027 of playlist). This option can be used
1028 multiple times to add different
1029 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1030
1031## SponsorBlock Options:
1032Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1033 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1034 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1035
2dd5a2e3 1036 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1037 for, separated by commas. Available
1038 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1039 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1040 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1041 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1042 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
1043 description of the categories. Eg:
1044 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1045 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1046 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1047 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1048 category is present in both mark and remove,
1049 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1050 available categories are the same as for
1051 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1052 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1053 not available
7a340e0d 1054 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1055 An output template for the title of the
1056 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1057 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1058 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1059 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1060 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1061 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1062 --sponsorblock-remove
1063 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1064 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1065
78895bd3 1066## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1067 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1068 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1069 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1070 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1071 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1072 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1073 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1074 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1075 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1076 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1077 (default)
1078 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1079 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1080 use this option multiple times to give
1081 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1082
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1083# CONFIGURATION
1084
7a5c1cfe 1085You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1086
0202b52a 10871. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10881. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10891. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10901. **User Configuration**:
1091 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1092 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1093 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1094 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1095 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1096 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1097
ec2e44fc 1098 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1099
07cce701 11001. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1101
7a5c1cfe 1102For example, 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:
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1103```
1104# Lines starting with # are comments
1105
1106# Always extract audio
1107-x
1108
1109# Do not copy the mtime
1110--no-mtime
1111
1112# Use this proxy
1113--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1114
298f597b 1115# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1116-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1117```
1118
e2e43aea 1119Note 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`.
b7770046 1120
a4211baf 1121You 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.
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1122
1123### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1124
0001fcb5 1125You 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
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1126```
1127touch $HOME/.netrc
1128chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1129```
1130After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1131```
0001fcb5 1132machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
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1133```
1134For example:
1135```
1136machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1137machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1138```
7a5c1cfe 1139To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1140
0001fcb5 1141The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1142
1143# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1144
0202b52a 1145The `-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 1146
ec2e44fc 1147<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1148**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1149<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1150
e58c22a0 1151The 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 1152
0930b11f 1153It 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). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1154
1155The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1156
2b8a2973 11571. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1158
e625be0d 11591. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1160
e625be0d 11611. **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 `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1162
e75bb0d6 11631. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1164
e978789f
P
11651. **Replacement**: A replacement value can 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.
1166
e75bb0d6 11671. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1168
abbeeebc 11691. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1170
524e2e4f 11711. **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. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1172
1173To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1174```
e978789f 1175%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1176```
de6000d9 1177
dbcea058 1178Additionally, 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`. For example, `-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. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1179
1180The available fields are:
b7770046
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1181
1182 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1183 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1184 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
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1185 - `url` (string): Video URL
1186 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1187 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1188 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1189 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1190 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1191 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1192 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1193 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1194 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1195 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1196 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1197 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1198 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
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1199 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1200 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1201 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1202 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
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1203 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1204 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1205 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1206 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1207 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1208 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1209 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1210 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1211 - `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 1212 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1213 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1214 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1215 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1216 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1217 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
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1218 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1219 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1220 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1221 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1222 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1223 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1224 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1225 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1226 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1227 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1228 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1229 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1230 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1231 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1232 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1233 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1234 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1235 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1236 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1237 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1238 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1239 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1240 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1241 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1242 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1243 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1244 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1245 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1246 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1247 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1248 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1249 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
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1250 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1251 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1252 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1253 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1254 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1255 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1256
1257Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1258
1259 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1260 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1261 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1262
1263Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1264
1265 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1266 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1267 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1268 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1269 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1270 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1271 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1272
1273Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1274
1275 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1276 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1277 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1278 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1279 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1280 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1281 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1282 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1283 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1284 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1285
b050d210 1286Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1287
1288 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1289 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1290 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1291 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1292
53c18592 1293Available only when used in `--print`:
1294
1295 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1296 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1297 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1298 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1299 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1300 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1301
7a340e0d
NA
1302
1303Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1304
1305 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1306 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1307 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1308 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1309 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1310 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1311
49a57e70 1312Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example 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.
1313
1314Note 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 1315
0930b11f 1316**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1317
49a57e70 1318For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1319
940a67a3 1320Output 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.
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1321
1322To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1323
91ebc640 1324The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1325
f304da8a 1326In 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 1327
ec2e44fc 1328<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1329#### Output template and Windows batch files
1330
1331If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1332<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1333
1334#### Output template examples
1335
b7770046 1336```bash
940a67a3 1337$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1338test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1339
940a67a3 1340$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1341youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1342
940a67a3 1343$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1344youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1345
1346# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1347$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1348
b050d210 1349# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1350$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1351
e978789f 1352# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1353$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1354
b7770046 1355# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1356$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
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1357
1358# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1359$ 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"
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1360
1361# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1362$ 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 1363
6a34813a 1364# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1365# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1366$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1367
1368# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1369$ 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
1370
b7770046 1371# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1372$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1373```
1374
1375# FORMAT SELECTION
1376
7a5c1cfe
P
1377By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1378This 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 1379
c111cefa 1380**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.
1381
eff63539 1382The 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 1383
ec2e44fc 1384<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1385**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1386<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1387
a439a3a4 1388The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example 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.
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1389
1390You 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.
1391
fa9f30b8 1392You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1393
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1394You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1395
59a7a13e 1396 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1397 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1398 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1399 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1400 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1401 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1402 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1403 - `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 1404 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1405 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1406 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1407 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1408 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1409 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1410
ae6a1b95 1411For 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 1412
1413You 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 1414
eb8a4433 1415If 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, for example `-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.
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1416
1417If 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`.
1418
d806c9fd 1419You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1420
1421**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
1422
1423Unless `--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. For example, `-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 and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1424
1425## Filtering Formats
1426
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1427You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1428
1429The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1430
1431 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1432 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1433 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1434 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1435 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1436 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1437 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1438 - `fps`: Frame rate
1439
1ce9a3cb 1440Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
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1441
1442 - `ext`: File extension
1443 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1444 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1445 - `container`: Name of the container format
1446 - `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`)
1447 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1448 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1449
1ce9a3cb 1450Any 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 1451
e58c22a0 1452Note 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 1453
e094cec1 1454Formats 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. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1455
940a67a3 1456Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1457
eb8a4433 1458## Sorting Formats
1459
2e7781a9 1460You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1461
1462The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1463
63be1aab 1464 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1465 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1466 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1467 - `lang`: The language preference
1468 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1469 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1470 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1471 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1472 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1473 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1474 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1475 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1476 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1477 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1478 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1479 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1480 - `height`: Height of video
1481 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1482 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1483 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1484 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1485 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1486 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1487 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1488 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1489 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1490
1491**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 1492
9ee4f0bb 1493All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `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. Eg: `+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. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1494
176f1866 1495The 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,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1496
e75bb0d6 1497Note that the default has `codec: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 1498
e58c22a0 1499If 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 1500
1501**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1502
eb8a4433 1503## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1504
b7770046 1505```bash
e58c22a0 1506# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1507# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1508$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1509
1510# Download best format that contains video,
1511# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1512$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1513
1514# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1515$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1516
6fd35a11 1517# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1518# For this case, an output template should be used since
1519# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1520$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1521
f8d4ad9a 1522# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1523# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1524$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1525
1526# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1527# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1528$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1529
6fd35a11 1530
1531# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1532# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1533
1534# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1535$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1536
1537# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1538$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1539
1540# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1541$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1542
1543
909d24dd 1544
eb8a4433 1545# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1546$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1547
1548# Download the best video with the best extension
1549# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1550$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1551
1552
909d24dd 1553
eb8a4433 1554# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1555# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1556$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1557
eb8a4433 1558# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1559# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1560$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1561
eb8a4433 1562# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1563# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1564# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1565# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1566$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1567
b7770046 1568
909d24dd 1569
eb8a4433 1570# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1571# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1572$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1573
1574# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1575# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1576$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1577
1578# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1579$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1580
1581
909d24dd 1582
eb8a4433 1583# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1584# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1585$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1586
1587# Download best video available via the best protocol
1588# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1590
1591
909d24dd 1592
1ce9a3cb
LF
1593# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1594# or the best video if there is no such video
1595$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1596
1597# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1598# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1599$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1600
1601# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1602# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1603$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1604
1605
1606
1607# More complex examples
1608
e58c22a0 1609# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1610# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1611$ 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 1612
1613# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1614# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1615# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1616$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1617
1618
909d24dd 1619
eb8a4433 1620# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1621# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1622# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1623$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1624```
eb8a4433 1625
73cd218f 1626# MODIFYING METADATA
1627
a4211baf 1628The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1629
418964fa 1630`--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 1631
2e7781a9 1632The 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 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 1633
1634Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1635
9c2b75b5 1636This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1637
28b0eb0f 1638* 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. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1639
88968992 1640* 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. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1641
08d30158 1642**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.
1643
c31be5b0 1644For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1645
08d30158 1646Metadata fields | From
1647:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1648`title` | `track` or `title`
1649`date` | `upload_date`
1650`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1651`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1652`track` | `track_number`
1653`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1654`genre` | `genre`
1655`album` | `album`
1656`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1657`disc` | `disc_number`
1658`show` | `series`
1659`season_number` | `season_number`
1660`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1661`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1662`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1663
c31be5b0 1664**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1665
73cd218f 1666
1667## Modifying metadata examples
1668
73cd218f 1669```bash
1670# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1671$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1672
1673# Regex example
940a67a3 1674$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1675
1676# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1677$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1678
a44ca5a4 1679# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1680$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1681
1682# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1683# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1684$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1685
0930b11f 1686# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1687$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1688
e9f4ccd1 1689# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1690$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1691
73cd218f 1692```
1693
5d3a0e79 1694# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1695
a44ca5a4 1696Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1697
1698The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1699
1700#### youtube
18e49408 1701* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
e7870111 1702* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `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 1703* `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
adbc4ec4 1704* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1705* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1706* `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`
1707 * 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
96565c7e 1708
1709#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1710* `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)
a30a6ed3 1711* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1712
1713#### funimation
1714* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1715* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1716
a9d4da60 1717#### crunchyroll
1718* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1719* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1720
ae6a1b95 1721#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH
1722* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1723 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1724* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1725
96565c7e 1726#### vikichannel
1727* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1728
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1729#### niconico
1730* `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.**
1731
aa4b0545 1732#### youtubewebarchive
1733* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1734
d43de682
M
1735#### gamejolt
1736* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1737
26f2aa3d
AG
1738#### hotstar
1739* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1740* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1741* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1742
046cab39
M
1743#### tiktok
1744* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1745* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1746
7eaf7f9a 1747#### rokfinchannel
1748* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1749
1750
bc97cdae 1751NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1752
ec2e44fc 1753<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1754
3acf6d38 1755
f74980cb 1756# PLUGINS
b7770046 1757
3ae5e797 1758Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1759
1760Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1761
1762See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1763
1764Note 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
1765
1766If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1767
b7770046 1768
8c6f4daa 1769
1770# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1771
1772yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1773
1774Your 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.
1775
1776From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1777
1778```python
59a7a13e 1779from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1780
3d3bb168 1781URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1782with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1783 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1784```
1785
1890fc63 1786Most 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 1787
43cc91ad 1788**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 1789
1790## Embedding examples
1791
43cc91ad 1792#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1793
1794```python
1795import json
8c6f4daa 1796import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1797
3d3bb168 1798URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1799
1800# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1801ydl_opts = {}
1802with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1803 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1804
1805 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1806 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1807```
43cc91ad 1808#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1809
1810```python
1811import yt_dlp
1812
1813INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1814
1815with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1816 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1817
1818print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1819 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1820```
1821
43cc91ad 1822#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1823
1824```python
1825import yt_dlp
1826
1827URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1828
1829ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1830 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1831 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1832 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1833 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1834 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1835 }]
1836}
1837
1838with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1839 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1840```
0a41f331 1841
1842#### Filter videos
1843
1844```python
1845import yt_dlp
1846
1847URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1848
1849def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1850 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1851 duration = info.get('duration')
1852 if duration and duration < 60:
1853 return 'The video is too short'
1854
1855ydl_opts = {
1856 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1857}
1858
1859with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1860 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1861```
1862
43cc91ad 1863#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1864
1865```python
1866import yt_dlp
1867
1868URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1869
1870class MyLogger:
1871 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1872 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1873 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1874 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1875 pass
1876 else:
1877 self.info(msg)
1878
1879 def info(self, msg):
1880 pass
1881
1882 def warning(self, msg):
1883 pass
1884
1885 def error(self, msg):
1886 print(msg)
1887
1888
3d3bb168 1889# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1890def my_hook(d):
1891 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1892 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1893
1894
1895ydl_opts = {
1896 'logger': MyLogger(),
1897 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1898}
1899
1900with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1901 ydl.download(URLS)
1902```
1903
43cc91ad 1904#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1905
1906```python
1907import yt_dlp
1908
1909URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1910
1911# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1912class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1913 def run(self, info):
1914 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1915 return [], info
1916
1917
3d3bb168 1918with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1919 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1920 ydl.download(URLS)
1921```
8c6f4daa 1922
1923
43cc91ad 1924#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1925
1926```python
1927import yt_dlp
1928
1929URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1930
093a1710 1931def format_selector(ctx):
1932 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1933 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1934
1935 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1936 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1937
1938 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1939 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1940 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1941
1942 # find compatible audio extension
1943 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1944 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1945 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1946 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1947
3d3bb168 1948 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1949 yield {
093a1710 1950 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1951 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1952 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1953 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1954 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1955 }
1956
1957
8c6f4daa 1958ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1959 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1960}
1961
1962with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1963 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1964```
1965
ec2e44fc 1966<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1967
e167860c 1968# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1969
1970These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1971
8130779d 1972#### Almost redundant options
1973While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1974
1975 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1976 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1977 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1978 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1979
6ccf351a 1980#### Redundant options
1981While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1982
53c18592 1983 --get-description --print description
1984 --get-duration --print duration_string
1985 --get-filename --print filename
1986 --get-format --print format
1987 --get-id --print id
1988 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1989 -e, --get-title --print title
1990 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1991 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1992 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1993 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1994 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1995 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1996 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
6ccf351a 1997
1998
1999#### Not recommended
2000While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2001
1e43a6f7 2002 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2003 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2004 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2005 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2006 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2007 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2008 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2009 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2010 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2011 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2012 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2013 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2014 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2015 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2016 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2017 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2018 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2019
2020
2021#### Developer options
2022These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2023
34488702 2024 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2025 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2026 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2027 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2028 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2029
2030
2031#### Old aliases
2032These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2033
2034 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2035 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2036 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2037 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2038 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2039 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2040 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2041 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2042 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2043 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2044 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2045 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2046 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2047 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2048 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2049 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2050 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2051
7a340e0d 2052#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2053Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2054
2055 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2056 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2057 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2058 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2059 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2060 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2061 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2062 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2063
f4536226 2064#### No longer supported
2065These options may no longer work as intended
2066
2067 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2068 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2069 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2070 --no-call-home Default
2071 --include-ads No longer supported
2072 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2073 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2074 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2075
2076#### Removed
2077These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2078
f4536226 2079 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2080 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2081
8c6f4daa 2082# CONTRIBUTING
2083See [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 2084
c2b5f311 2085# MORE
8c6f4daa 2086For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)