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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
5ec1b6b7 96* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
97
597c1866 98* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
99
b31fdeed 100* **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 101
b31fdeed 102* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 103
e75bb0d6 104* **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 105
56ba69e4 106* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 107
3de7c2ce 108* **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 109
597c1866 110* **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 111
112* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
113
418964fa 114* **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 115
8a82af35 116* **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 117
08d30158 118* **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 119
86c1a8aa 120* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 121
7a5c1cfe 122* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 123
7a5c1cfe 124See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 125
53ed7066 126### Differences in default behavior
127
0930b11f 128Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 129
96565c7e 130* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 131* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 132* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 133* 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 134* 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 135* 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 136* 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 137* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 138* 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 139* `--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 140* 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 141* `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
142* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 143* 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 144* 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 145* 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 146* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 147* 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 148* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 149* 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 150* 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 151* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 152* 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 153
154For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 155
8a82af35 156* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 157* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
158* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 159
f20f5fe5 160
d19bb9c0 161# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 162
7bc877a2 163You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 164
a4211baf 165### Using the release binary
0930b11f 166
fc5fa964 167You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 168
fc5fa964 169<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
24146491 171[![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)
172[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
fc5fa964 173[![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)
174[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 175[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 176<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
177
178Note: 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)
179
180<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 181In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A		 182
183```
184sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
185sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
186```
187
188```
189sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
190sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
191```
192
193```
b69fd25c 194sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A		 195sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
196```
197
0930b11f 198
a4211baf 199### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 200
201You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
202```
203python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
204```
205
86c1a8aa 206You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 207```
208python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
209```
210
86c1a8aa 211If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 212```
ae6a1b95 213python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 214```
215
216Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
217
fc5fa964 218<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 219### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 220
221macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD		 222
223```
224brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
225```
226
a4211baf 227## UPDATE
0930b11f 228You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
229
230If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
231
232If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 233
ec2e44fc 234<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 235## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 236
733d8e8f 237#### Recommended
238
239File|Description
240:---|:---
ae6a1b95 241[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 242[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 243[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 244
245#### Alternatives
246
0e5927ee
R		 247File|Description
248:---|:---
0930b11f 249[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 250[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 251[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
252[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 253
254#### Misc
255
256File|Description
257:---|:---
0e5927ee
R		 258[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
259[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
260[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 261<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 262
a4211baf 263## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 264Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 265
c9652aa4 266<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
267<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 268On 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 269-->
fac98805 270
e75bb0d6 271While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 272
b69fd25c 273* [**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 274* [**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		 275* [**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)
276* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
0a41f331 277* [**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 278* [**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>
279* [**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 280* [**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 281* [**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 282* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
283* [**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 284* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
0930b11f 285* [**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 286* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 287
cf59cd4d 288To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
289
0a41f331 290The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
d710cc6d 291
08d30158 292<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 293**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 294
5f326cf5 295
a4211baf 296## COMPILE
5f326cf5 297
c76eb41b 298**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 299To 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 300
733d8e8f 301 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 302 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 303 py pyinst.py
7581d246 304
fac98805 305Note 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 306
c76eb41b 307**For Unix**:
060ac762 308You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 309Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 310
49a57e70 311**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 312
75b725a7 313You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 314
b31fdeed 315# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 316
ec2e44fc 317<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 318 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 319
c2b5f311 320`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 321<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 322
ec2e44fc 323<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 324## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 325 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
326 --version Print program version and exit
327 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
d32f30ac 328 --no-update Do not update (default)
2dd5a2e3 329 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
330 The download will be considered successful
331 even if the postprocessing fails
332 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
333 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
334 playlist (default)
335 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
336 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
337 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
338 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
339 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
340 extractors and exit
64fa820c 341 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic extractor
2dd5a2e3 342 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
343 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
344 google videos for the search term "python".
345 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
346 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
347 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
348 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
349 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
350 possible instead of searching
351 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
352 except those given by --config-locations.
353 For backward compatibility, if this option
354 is found inside the system configuration
355 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
356 (Alias: --no-config)
357 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
358 (default). When given inside a configuration
359 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
360 defined in the current file
361 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
362 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 363 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
364 used multiple times and inside other
365 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 366 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
367 only list them
368 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
369 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
370 Currently only supported for YouTube
371 (Experimental)
372 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
373 (default)
374 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
375 available. Pass the minimum number of
376 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
377 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
378 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
379 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
380 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
381 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
382 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
383 configurations by reverting some of the
384 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
385 default behavior" for details
386 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
387 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
388 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
389 according to the Python string formatting
390 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
391 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
392 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
393 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
394 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
395 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
396 output. Alias options can trigger more
397 aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
398 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
399 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 400 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 401
149f05c7 402## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 403 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
404 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
405 Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
406 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
407 connection
408 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
409 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
410 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
411 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 412
b31fdeed 413## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 414 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
415 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
416 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
417 is not present) is used for the actual
418 downloading
419 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
420 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
421 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
422 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
423 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
424 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
425 country code
426 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 427 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 428
cfcec693 429## Video Selection:
7e88d7d7 430 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma seperated playlist_index of the videos
431 to download. You can specify a range using
432 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
433 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
434 Use negative indices to count from the right
435 and negative STEP to download in reverse
436 order. Eg: "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
437 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
438 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
2dd5a2e3 439 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
440 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
441 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
442 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
443 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
444 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
445 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
446 Eg: --date today-2weeks
447 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
448 this date. The date formats accepted is the
449 same as --date
450 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
452 same as --date
453 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
454 field can be compared with a number or a
455 string using the operators defined in
456 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
457 specify a field to match if the field is
458 present, use "!field" to check if the field
459 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
460 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
461 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
462 the filter matches if atleast one of the
463 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
464 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
465 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
466 only videos that are not live OR those that
467 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
468 field is not available) and also has a
469 description that contains the phrase "cats &
470 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
471 interactively ask whether to download each
472 video
473 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
474 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
475 to a video and a playlist
476 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
477 a video and a playlist
478 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
479 age
480 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
481 archive file. Record the IDs of all
482 downloaded videos in it
483 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
484 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
485 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
486 a file that is in the archive
487 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
488 a file that has been filtered out
489 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
490 and --max-downloads act only on the current
491 input URL
492 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
493 terminates the entire download queue
494 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
495 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 496
d5a62e4f 497## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 498 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
499 video that should be downloaded concurrently
500 (default is 1)
501 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
502 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
503 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
504 below which throttling is assumed and the
505 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
506 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
507 "infinite"
508 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
509 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
510 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
511 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
512 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
513 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
514 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
515 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
516 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
517 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
518 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
519 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
520 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
521 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
522 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
523 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
524 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
525 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
526 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
527 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
528 downloading is finished
529 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
530 downloading is finished (default)
531 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
532 (default is 1024)
533 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
534 from an initial value of --buffer-size
535 (default)
536 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
537 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
538 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
539 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
540 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
541 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 542 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
543 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
544 expected file size
545 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
546 allowing some players to play the video
547 while downloading, and reducing the chance
548 of file corruption if download is
549 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
550 live streams
551 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
552 videos. This is default when not downloading
553 live streams
5ec1b6b7 554 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
555 the given regular expression. Time ranges
556 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
557 of chapters to download the specified range.
558 Eg: --download-sections "*10:15-15:00"
559 --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
560 This option can be used multiple times to
561 download multiple sections
2dd5a2e3 562 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
563 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
564 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
565 use it for. Currently supports native,
566 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
567 wget. You can use this option multiple times
568 to set different downloaders for different
569 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
570 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
571 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
572 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
573 (Alias: --external-downloader)
574 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
575 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
576 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
577 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
578 positions using the same syntax as
579 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
580 option multiple times to give different
581 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
582 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 583
cfcec693 584## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 585 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
586 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
587 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
588 comments and ignored
589 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
590 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
591 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
592 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
593 TYPES as --output are supported.
594 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
595 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
596 files are first downloaded to the temp path
597 and then the final files are moved over to
598 the home path after download is finished.
599 This option is ignored if --output is an
600 absolute path
601 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
602 TEMPLATE" for details
603 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
604 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
605 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
606 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
607 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
608 filenames (default)
609 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
610 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
611 using Windows (default)
612 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
613 extension) to the specified number of
614 characters
615 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
616 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
617 option includes --no-continue
618 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
619 related files (default)
620 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
621 (default)
622 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
623 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
624 restart download of the entire file
625 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
626 into output file (default)
627 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
628 output file
629 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
630 modification time (default)
631 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
632 the file modification time
64fa820c 633 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 634 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
635 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
636 (this may contain personal information)
637 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
638 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
639 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
640 --write-description etc. (default)
641 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
642 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
643 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
644 from the infojson. Note that it could still
645 contain some personal information (default)
646 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
647 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
648 infojson. The comments are fetched even
649 without this option if the extraction is
650 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
651 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
652 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
653 --no-get-comments)
654 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 655 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 656 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
657 and dump cookie jar in
658 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
659 (default)
f59f5ef8 660 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
2dd5a2e3 661 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
662 name/path of the profile to load cookies
663 from, separated by a ":". Currently
664 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
665 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
666 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
667 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
668 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
669 be (optionally) specified after the browser
670 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
64fa820c 671 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 672 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
673 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
674 can store some downloaded information (such
675 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
676 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
677 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
678 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
679 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 680
b31fdeed 681## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 682 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 683 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 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)
35faefee 874 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
875 used. (currently supported: best (default),
e0ab9854 876 mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac,
877 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
878 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 879 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
880 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
881 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
882 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
883 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
884 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
35faefee 885 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
886 m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 887 target container does not support the
888 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
889 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
890 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 891 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 892 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
893 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
894 are the same as --remux-video
895 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
896 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
897 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
898 to give the argument to the specified
899 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
900 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
901 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
902 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
903 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
904 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
905 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
906 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
907 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
908 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
909 specified executable only when being used by
910 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
911 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
912 appended to the prefix optionally followed
913 by a number to pass the argument before the
914 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
915 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
916 this option multiple times to give different
917 arguments to different postprocessors.
918 (Alias: --ppa)
919 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
920 after post-processing
921 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
922 post-processing (default)
923 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
924 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
925 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
926 webm and mkv videos)
927 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
928 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
929 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
930 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
931 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
932 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
933 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
934 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
935 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
936 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
937 (Alias: --add-chapters)
938 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
939 --no-add-chapters)
940 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
941 mkv/mka video files
942 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
943 to the video file
944 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
945 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
946 for details
e9f4ccd1 947 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 948 Replace text in a metadata field using the
949 given regex. This option can be used
950 multiple times
951 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
952 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
953 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
954 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
955 (default; only when the videos form a single
956 show). All the video files must have same
957 codecs and number of streams to be
958 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
959 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
960 the output filename for the concatenated
961 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
962 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
963 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
964 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
965 default; fix file if we can, warn
966 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
967 already exists)
968 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 969 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 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
00bbc5f1 988 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
989 can specify multiple rules using similar
990 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 991 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
992 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
993 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
994 the output filename for the split files. See
995 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 996 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 997 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 998 given regular expression. The syntax is the
999 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1000 be used multiple times
1001 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1002 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1003 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1004 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1005 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1006 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1007 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1008 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1009 when cutting/splitting (default)
1010 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1011 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1012 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1013 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1014 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1015 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1016 The "when" argument determines when the
1017 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1018 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1019 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1020 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1021 "post_process" (after each video download;
1022 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1023 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1024 (after downloading and processing all
1025 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1026 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1027 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1028
1029## SponsorBlock Options:
1030Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1031 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1032 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1033
2dd5a2e3 1034 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1035 for, separated by commas. Available
1036 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1037 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1038 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1039 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1040 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
1041 description of the categories. Eg:
1042 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1043 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1044 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1045 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1046 category is present in both mark and remove,
1047 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1048 available categories are the same as for
1049 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1050 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1051 not available
7a340e0d 1052 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1053 An output template for the title of the
1054 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1055 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1056 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1057 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1058 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1059 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1060 --sponsorblock-remove
1061 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1062 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1063
78895bd3 1064## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1065 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1066 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1067 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1068 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1069 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1070 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1071 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1072 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1073 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1074 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1075 (default)
1076 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1077 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1078 use this option multiple times to give
1079 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1080
b7770046
U		 1081# CONFIGURATION
1082
7a5c1cfe 1083You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1084
0202b52a 10851. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10861. **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 10871. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10881. **User Configuration**:
1089 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1090 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1091 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1092 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1093 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1094 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1095
ec2e44fc 1096 `%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 1097
07cce701 10981. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1099
7a5c1cfe 1100For 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:
b7770046
U		 1101```
1102# Lines starting with # are comments
1103
1104# Always extract audio
1105-x
1106
1107# Do not copy the mtime
1108--no-mtime
1109
1110# Use this proxy
1111--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1112
298f597b 1113# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1114-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1115```
1116
e2e43aea 1117Note 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 1118
a4211baf 1119You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
b7770046
U		 1120
1121### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1122
0001fcb5 1123You 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
U		 1124```
1125touch $HOME/.netrc
1126chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1127```
1128After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1129```
0001fcb5 1130machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
U		 1131```
1132For example:
1133```
1134machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1135machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1136```
7a5c1cfe 1137To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1138
0001fcb5 1139The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
U		 1140
1141# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1142
0202b52a 1143The `-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 1144
ec2e44fc 1145<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1146**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1147<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1148
e58c22a0 1149The 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 1150
0930b11f 1151It 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 1152
1153The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1154
2b8a2973 11551. **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 1156
e625be0d 11571. **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 1158
e625be0d 11591. **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 1160
e75bb0d6 11611. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1162
e978789f
P		 11631. **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.
1164
e75bb0d6 11651. **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 1166
abbeeebc 11671. **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 1168
524e2e4f 11691. **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 1170
1171To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1172```
e978789f 1173%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1174```
de6000d9 1175
dbcea058 1176Additionally, 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 1177
1178The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1179
1180 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1181 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1182 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1183 - `url` (string): Video URL
1184 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1185 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1186 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1187 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1188 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1189 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1190 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1191 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1192 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1193 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1194 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1195 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1196 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1197 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1198 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1199 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1200 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1201 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1202 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1203 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U		 1204 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1205 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1206 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1207 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1208 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1209 - `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 1210 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1211 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1212 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1213 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1214 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1215 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1216 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1217 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1218 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
b7770046
U		 1219 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1220 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1221 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1222 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1223 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1224 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1225 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1226 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1227 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1228 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1229 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1230 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
b7770046
U		 1231 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1232 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1233 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1234 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1235 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1236 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1237 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1238 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1239 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1240 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1241 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1242 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1243 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1244 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1245 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1246 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1247 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
U		 1248 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1249 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1250 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1251 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1252 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1253 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
b7770046
U		 1254
1255Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1256
1257 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1258 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1259 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1260
1261Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1262
1263 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1264 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1265 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1266 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1267 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1268 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1269 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1270
1271Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1272
1273 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1274 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1275 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1276 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1277 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1278 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1279 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1280 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1281 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1282 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1283
5ec1b6b7 1284Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1285
1286 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1287 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1288 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1289 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1290
53c18592 1291Available only when used in `--print`:
1292
1293 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1294 - `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 1295 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1296 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1297 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1298 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1299
7a340e0d
NA		 1300
1301Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1302
1303 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1304 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1305 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1306 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1307 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1308 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1309
49a57e70 1310Each 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.
1311
1312Note 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 1313
0930b11f 1314**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1315
49a57e70 1316For 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 1317
940a67a3 1318Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
U		 1319
1320To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1321
91ebc640 1322The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1323
f304da8a 1324In 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 1325
ec2e44fc 1326<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1327#### Output template and Windows batch files
1328
1329If 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 1330<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1331
1332#### Output template examples
1333
b7770046 1334```bash
940a67a3 1335$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1336test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1337
940a67a3 1338$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1339youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1340
940a67a3 1341$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1342youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1343
1344# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1345$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1346
b050d210 1347# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1348$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1349
e978789f 1350# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1351$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1352
b7770046 1353# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1354$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1355
1356# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1357$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
U		 1358
1359# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1360$ 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 1361
6a34813a 1362# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1363# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1364$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1365
1366# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1367$ 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
1368
b7770046 1369# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1370$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1371```
1372
1373# FORMAT SELECTION
1374
7a5c1cfe
P		 1375By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1376This 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 1377
c111cefa 1378**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.
1379
eff63539 1380The 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 1381
ec2e44fc 1382<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1383**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1384<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1385
a439a3a4 1386The 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.
b7770046
U		 1387
1388You 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.
1389
fa9f30b8 1390You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1391
b7770046
U		 1392You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1393
59a7a13e 1394 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1395 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1396 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1397 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1398 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1399 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1400 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1401 - `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 1402 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1403 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1404 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1405 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1406 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1407 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1408
ae6a1b95 1409For 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 1410
1411You 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 1412
eb8a4433 1413If 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.
b7770046
U		 1414
1415If 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`.
1416
d806c9fd 1417You 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.
1418
1419**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
1420
1421Unless `--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 1422
1423## Filtering Formats
1424
b7770046
U		 1425You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1426
1427The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1428
1429 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1430 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1431 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1432 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1433 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1434 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1435 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1436 - `fps`: Frame rate
1437
1ce9a3cb 1438Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
U		 1439
1440 - `ext`: File extension
1441 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1442 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1443 - `container`: Name of the container format
1444 - `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`)
1445 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1446 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1447
1ce9a3cb 1448Any 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 1449
e58c22a0 1450Note 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 1451
e094cec1 1452Formats 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 1453
940a67a3 1454Format 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 1455
eb8a4433 1456## Sorting Formats
1457
2e7781a9 1458You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1459
1460The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1461
63be1aab 1462 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1463 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1464 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1465 - `lang`: The language preference
1466 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1467 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1468 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1469 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1470 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1471 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1472 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1473 - `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 1474 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1475 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1476 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1477 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1478 - `height`: Height of video
1479 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1480 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1481 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1482 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1483 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1484 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1485 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1486 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1487 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1488
1489**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 1490
9ee4f0bb 1491All 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.
1492
176f1866 1493The 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 1494
e75bb0d6 1495Note 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 1496
e58c22a0 1497If 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 1498
1499**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1500
eb8a4433 1501## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1502
b7770046 1503```bash
e58c22a0 1504# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1505# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1506$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1507
1508# Download best format that contains video,
1509# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1510$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1511
1512# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1513$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1514
6fd35a11 1515# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1516# For this case, an output template should be used since
1517# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1518$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1519
f8d4ad9a 1520# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1521# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1522$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1523
1524# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1525# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1526$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1527
6fd35a11 1528
1529# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1530# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1531
1532# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1533$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1534
1535# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1536$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1537
1538# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1539$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1540
1541
909d24dd 1542
eb8a4433 1543# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1544$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1545
1546# Download the best video with the best extension
1547# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1548$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1549
1550
909d24dd 1551
eb8a4433 1552# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1553# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1554$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1555
eb8a4433 1556# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1557# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1558$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1559
eb8a4433 1560# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1561# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1562# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1563# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1564$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1565
b7770046 1566
909d24dd 1567
eb8a4433 1568# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1569# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1570$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1571
1572# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1573# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1575
1576# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1577$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1578
1579
909d24dd 1580
eb8a4433 1581# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1582# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1583$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1584
1585# Download best video available via the best protocol
1586# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1588
1589
909d24dd 1590
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1591# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1592# or the best video if there is no such video
1593$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1594
1595# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1596# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1597$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1598
1599# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1600# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1601$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1602
1603
1604
1605# More complex examples
1606
e58c22a0 1607# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1608# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1609$ 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 1610
1611# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1612# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1613# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1614$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1615
1616
909d24dd 1617
eb8a4433 1618# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1619# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1620# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1621$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1622```
eb8a4433 1623
73cd218f 1624# MODIFYING METADATA
1625
a4211baf 1626The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1627
418964fa 1628`--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 1629
2e7781a9 1630The 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 1631
1632Note 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`.
1633
9c2b75b5 1634This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1635
28b0eb0f 1636* 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 1637
88968992 1638* 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 1639
08d30158 1640**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.
1641
c31be5b0 1642For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1643
08d30158 1644Metadata fields | From
1645:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1646`title` | `track` or `title`
1647`date` | `upload_date`
1648`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1649`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1650`track` | `track_number`
1651`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1652`genre` | `genre`
1653`album` | `album`
1654`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1655`disc` | `disc_number`
1656`show` | `series`
1657`season_number` | `season_number`
1658`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1659`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1660`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1661
c31be5b0 1662**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1663
73cd218f 1664
1665## Modifying metadata examples
1666
73cd218f 1667```bash
1668# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1669$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1670
1671# Regex example
940a67a3 1672$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1673
1674# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1675$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1676
a44ca5a4 1677# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1678$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1679
1680# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1681# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1682$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1683
0930b11f 1684# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1685$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1686
e9f4ccd1 1687# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1688$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1689
73cd218f 1690```
1691
5d3a0e79 1692# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1693
a44ca5a4 1694Some 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 1695
1696The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1697
1698#### youtube
18e49408 1699* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
56ba69e4 1700* `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 1701* `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 1702* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1703* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1704* `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`
1705 * 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
2ae778b8 1706* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
1707 * e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`
1708 * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com`
1709* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1710
1711#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1712* `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 1713* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1714
1715#### funimation
1716* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1717* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1718
a9d4da60 1719#### crunchyroll
1720* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1721* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1722
ae6a1b95 1723#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH		 1724* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1725 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1726* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1727
96565c7e 1728#### vikichannel
1729* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1730
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1731#### niconico
1732* `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.**
1733
aa4b0545 1734#### youtubewebarchive
1735* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1736
d43de682
M		 1737#### gamejolt
1738* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1739
26f2aa3d
AG		 1740#### hotstar
1741* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1742* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1743* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1744
046cab39
M		 1745#### tiktok
1746* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1747* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1748
7eaf7f9a 1749#### rokfinchannel
1750* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1751
1752
bc97cdae 1753NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1754
ec2e44fc 1755<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1756
3acf6d38 1757
f74980cb 1758# PLUGINS
b7770046 1759
3ae5e797 1760Plugins 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
1761
1762Plugins 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`.
1763
1764See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1765
1766Note 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
1767
1768If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1769
b7770046 1770
8c6f4daa 1771
1772# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1773
1774yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1775
1776Your 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.
1777
1778From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1779
1780```python
59a7a13e 1781from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1782
3d3bb168 1783URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1784with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1785 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1786```
1787
1890fc63 1788Most 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 1789
43cc91ad 1790**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 1791
1792## Embedding examples
1793
43cc91ad 1794#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1795
1796```python
1797import json
8c6f4daa 1798import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1799
3d3bb168 1800URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1801
1802# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1803ydl_opts = {}
1804with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1805 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1806
1807 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1808 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1809```
43cc91ad 1810#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1811
1812```python
1813import yt_dlp
1814
1815INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1816
1817with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1818 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1819
1820print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1821 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1822```
1823
43cc91ad 1824#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1825
1826```python
1827import yt_dlp
1828
1829URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1830
1831ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1832 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1833 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1834 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1835 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1836 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1837 }]
1838}
1839
1840with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1841 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1842```
0a41f331 1843
1844#### Filter videos
1845
1846```python
1847import yt_dlp
1848
1849URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1850
1851def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1852 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1853 duration = info.get('duration')
1854 if duration and duration < 60:
1855 return 'The video is too short'
1856
1857ydl_opts = {
1858 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1859}
1860
1861with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1862 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1863```
1864
43cc91ad 1865#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1866
1867```python
1868import yt_dlp
1869
1870URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1871
1872class MyLogger:
1873 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1874 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1875 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1876 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1877 pass
1878 else:
1879 self.info(msg)
1880
1881 def info(self, msg):
1882 pass
1883
1884 def warning(self, msg):
1885 pass
1886
1887 def error(self, msg):
1888 print(msg)
1889
1890
3d3bb168 1891# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1892def my_hook(d):
1893 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1894 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1895
1896
1897ydl_opts = {
1898 'logger': MyLogger(),
1899 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1900}
1901
1902with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1903 ydl.download(URLS)
1904```
1905
43cc91ad 1906#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1907
1908```python
1909import yt_dlp
1910
1911URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1912
1913# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1914class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1915 def run(self, info):
1916 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1917 return [], info
1918
1919
3d3bb168 1920with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1921 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1922 ydl.download(URLS)
1923```
8c6f4daa 1924
1925
43cc91ad 1926#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1927
1928```python
1929import yt_dlp
1930
1931URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1932
093a1710 1933def format_selector(ctx):
1934 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1935 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1936
1937 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1938 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1939
1940 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1941 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1942 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1943
1944 # find compatible audio extension
1945 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1946 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1947 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1948 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1949
3d3bb168 1950 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1951 yield {
093a1710 1952 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1953 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1954 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1955 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1956 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1957 }
1958
1959
8c6f4daa 1960ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1961 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1962}
1963
1964with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1965 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1966```
1967
ec2e44fc 1968<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1969
e167860c 1970# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1971
1972These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1973
8130779d 1974#### Almost redundant options
1975While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1976
1977 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1978 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1979 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1980 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1981
6ccf351a 1982#### Redundant options
1983While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1984
53c18592 1985 --get-description --print description
1986 --get-duration --print duration_string
1987 --get-filename --print filename
1988 --get-format --print format
1989 --get-id --print id
1990 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1991 -e, --get-title --print title
1992 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1993 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1994 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1995 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1996 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1997 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1998 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 1999 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2000 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2001 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2002 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2003
2004
2005#### Not recommended
2006While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2007
1e43a6f7 2008 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2009 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2010 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2011 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2012 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2013 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2014 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2015 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2016 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2017 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2018 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2019 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2020 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2021 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2022 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2023 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2024 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2025
2026
2027#### Developer options
2028These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2029
34488702 2030 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2031 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2032 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2033 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2034 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2035
2036
2037#### Old aliases
2038These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2039
2040 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2041 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2042 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2043 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2044 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2045 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2046 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2047 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2048 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2049 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2050 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2051 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2052 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2053 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2054 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2055 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2056 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2057
7a340e0d 2058#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2059Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2060
2061 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2062 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2063 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2064 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2065 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2066 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2067 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2068 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2069
f4536226 2070#### No longer supported
2071These options may no longer work as intended
2072
2073 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2074 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2075 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2076 --no-call-home Default
2077 --include-ads No longer supported
2078 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2079 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2080 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2081
2082#### Removed
2083These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2084
f4536226 2085 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2086 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2087
8c6f4daa 2088# CONTRIBUTING
2089See [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 2090
c2b5f311 2091# MORE
8c6f4daa 2092For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/