]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
Reduce default `--socket-timeout`
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2
e980017a 3[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 4
28dff70b 5[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=blue&label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
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7[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
418964fa 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators)
1aebc0f7 9[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md)
28dff70b 10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=​&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
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b31fdeed 12[![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)
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b31fdeed 15[![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
c76eb41b 18
b31fdeed 19yt-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 20
034b6215 21* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 22 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 23* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 24 * [Update](#update)
cf59cd4d 25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 26 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 27* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
28 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 29 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 30 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 31 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
32 * [Download Options](#download-options)
33 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 34 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 36 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 37 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
38 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
39 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
40 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 42 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 44* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 45 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 46* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 47 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
48 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 49* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 50 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
51 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
52 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 53* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
54 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 55* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 56* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 57* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
e167860c 58* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 59* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
60 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
61 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 62* [MORE](#more)
b31fdeed 63</div>
50865ca8 64
65
034b6215 66# NEW FEATURES
f20f5fe5 67The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
034b6215 68
7a340e0d 69* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 70
7581d246 71* **[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 72
6aecd871 73* **Merged with youtube-dl [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06.06) You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
034b6215 74
0fdf490d 75* **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 improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 76
f5546c0b 77* **Youtube improvements**:
6ccf351a 78 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 79 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
80 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
6ccf351a 81 * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
f703a880 82 * Partial workaround for throttling issue
f20f5fe5 83 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 84 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 85 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
f20f5fe5 86
245524e6 87* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
88
597c1866 89* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
90
b31fdeed 91* **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 92
b31fdeed 93* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 94
dec0d56f 95* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision MSO, RCN MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ, BannedVideo, bilibili categories, Epicon, filmmodu, GabTV, HungamaAlbum, ManotoTV, Niconico search, Patreon User, peloton, ProjectVeritas, radiko, StarTV, tiktok user, Tokentube, voicy, TV2HuSeries, biliintl, 17live, NewgroundsUser, peertube channel/playlist, ZenYandex, CAM4, CGTN, damtomo, gotostage, Koo, Mediaite, Mediaklikk, MuseScore, nzherald, Olympics replay, radlive, SovietsCloset, Streamanity, Theta, Chingari, ciscowebex, Gettr, GoPro, N1, Theta, Veo, Vupload, NovaPlay
f20f5fe5 96
dec0d56f 97* **Fixed/improved extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll playlist, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds, SAML Verizon login, Hungama, afreecatv, aljazeera, ATV, bitchute, camtube, CDA, eroprofile, facebook, HearThisAtIE, iwara, kakao, Motherless, Nova, peertube, pornhub, reddit, tiktok, TV2, TV2Hu, tv5mondeplus, VH1, Viafree, XHamster, 9Now, AnimalPlanet, Arte, CBC, Chingari, comedycentral, DIYNetwork, niconico, dw, funimation, globo, HiDive, NDR, Nuvid, Oreilly, pbs, plutotv, reddit, redtube, soundcloud, SpankBang, VrtNU, bbc, Bilibili, LinkedInLearning, parliamentlive, PolskieRadio, Streamable, vidme, francetv
fac98805 98
3de7c2ce 99* **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 100
597c1866 101* **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 102
103* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
104
418964fa 105* **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 106
418964fa 107* **Other new options**: `--print`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 108
418964fa 109* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
c69911e4 110
b31fdeed 111* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
112
7a5c1cfe 113* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 114
29b6000e 115
7a5c1cfe 116See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 117
118
90505ff1 119**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
f20f5fe5 120
b9650873 121If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
f20f5fe5 122
53ed7066 123### Differences in default behavior
124
125Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
126
28b0eb0f 127* The options `--id`, `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
128* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
129* 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 130* 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
28b0eb0f 131* 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 prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
132* 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
133* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
134* 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
135* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-infojson`. Use `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
136* `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
137* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 138* 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 139* 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
09f1580e 140* 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. 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 141* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 142* 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 143* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 144* 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
b51d2ae3 145* 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 seperate 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.
53ed7066 146
147For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 148* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
149* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
150* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 151
f20f5fe5 152
d19bb9c0 153# INSTALLATION
b31fdeed 154yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
50865ca8 155
7bc877a2 156You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
e6f21b3d 157* Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
b8773e63 158* With Homebrew, `brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
a61f4b28 159* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
160* Use pip+git: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
161* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
162
163Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
5f326cf5 164
5ba4a0b6
A
165UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
166
167```
168sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
169sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
170```
171
172```
173sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
174sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
175```
176
177```
178sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
179sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
180```
181
b8773e63
THD
182macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew (formerly known as Linuxbrew for Linux users) can also install it by:
183
184```
185brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
186```
187
cf59cd4d 188### UPDATE
189You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
190If you are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
b8773e63 191If you have installed using Homebrew, run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 192
e58c22a0 193### DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 194Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 195
c9652aa4 196<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
197<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 198On 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 199-->
fac98805 200
cf59cd4d 201While all the other dependancies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
202* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
cf59cd4d 203* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
b5ae35ee 204* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licenced under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
e36d50c5 205* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
982ee69a 206* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licenced under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 207* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
208* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
209* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
210* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licenced under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
7a340e0d 211* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licenced under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
cf59cd4d 212* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 213
cf59cd4d 214To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
215
f85e6be4 216The windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
d710cc6d 217
218**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependancy, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) 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 specifc issues solved by these builds
219
5f326cf5 220
c76eb41b 221### COMPILE
5f326cf5 222
c76eb41b 223**For Windows**:
f85e6be4 224To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets)
d19bb9c0 225
49e7e9c3 226 python3 -m pip install -U -r requirements.txt
e38df8f9 227
a61f4b28 228Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run `py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
5f326cf5 229
e38df8f9 230You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
231
7a5c1cfe 232 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
7581d246 233
fac98805 234Note 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 235
c76eb41b 236**For Unix**:
060ac762 237You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 238Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 239
e38df8f9 240**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 241
b31fdeed 242# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 243
7a5c1cfe 244 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 245
c2b5f311 246`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
e58c22a0 247<!-- Auto generated -->
c2b5f311 248
c76eb41b 249## General Options:
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250 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
251 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 252 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
253 sure that you have sufficient permissions
254 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 255 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
256 The download will be considered successfull
257 even if the postprocessing fails
258 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
259 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
260 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 261 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
262 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 263 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
264 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 265 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 266 extractors and exit
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267 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
268 extractor
269 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
270 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 271 from google videos for the search term
272 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
273 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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274 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
275 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
276 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 277 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 278 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 279 except the one provided by --config-location.
280 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 281 file, no further configuration files are
282 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
283 compatibility) if this option is found
284 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 285 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 286 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
287 either the path to the config or its
288 containing directory
c4af7684 289 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 290 only list them
6623ac34 291 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
b5ae35ee 292 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
293 Currently only supported for YouTube
597c1866 294 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 295 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 296 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 297 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 298 configurations by reverting some of the
299 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
300 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 301
149f05c7 302## Network Options:
28b4f736 303 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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304 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
305 scheme. For example
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306 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
307 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 308 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 309 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 310 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 311 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 312
b31fdeed 313## Geo-restriction:
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314 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
315 some geo-restricted sites. The default
316 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 317 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 318 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 319 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 320 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
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321 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
322 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
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323 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
324 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 325 country code
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326 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
327 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 328 notation
149f05c7 329
cfcec693 330## Video Selection:
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331 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
332 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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333 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
334 indices of the videos in the playlist
335 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
336 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
337 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
338 specify range: "--playlist-items
339 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 340 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
780083db 341 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
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342 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
343 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
344 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
345 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
6623ac34 346 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
347 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
348 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 349 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 350 this date. The date formats accepted is the
351 same as --date
c4af7684 352 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 353 this date. The date formats accepted is the
354 same as --date
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355 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
356 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 357 number or a string using the operators
358 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
359 also simply specify a field to match if the
360 field is present and "!field" to check if
361 the field is not present. In addition,
362 Python style regular expression matching
363 can be done using "~=", and multiple
364 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
365 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
366 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 367 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 368 matches only videos that are not live, has
369 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 370 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 371 description that contains the phrase "cats
372 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 373 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 374 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 375 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 376 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 377 a video and a playlist
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378 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
379 age
380 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
381 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 382 downloaded videos in it
8b0d7497 383 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 384 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 385 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 386 a file that has been filtered out
26e2805c 387 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
388 of the playlist is skipped
c76eb41b 389 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
6bcd846b 390
d5a62e4f 391## Download Options:
b31fdeed 392 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
393 video that should be download concurrently
394 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 395 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 396 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 397 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
398 below which throttling is assumed and the
399 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 400 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 401 "infinite"
0be8314d 402 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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403 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
404 ISM)
6623ac34 405 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
406 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 407 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 408 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 409 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 410 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 411 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 412 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
413 downloading is finished (default)
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414 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
415 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 416 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
417 from an initial value of --buffer-size
418 (default)
419 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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420 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
421 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
422 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
423 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
424 (experimental)
2101f5d4 425 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 426 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 427 (default)
31487eb9 428 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 429 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 430 expected file size
9bd20204 431 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
432 allowing some players to play the video
433 while downloading, and reducing the chance
434 of file corruption if download is
435 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
436 live streams
437 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
438 videos. This is default when not
439 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 440 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
441 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
442 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
443 use it for. Currently supports native,
444 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
445 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
446 this option multiple times to set different
447 downloaders for different protocols. For
448 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
449 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
450 http/ftp downloads, and the native
451 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
452 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 453 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
454 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 455 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
456 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
457 different positions using the same syntax
458 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
459 option multiple times to give different
460 arguments to different downloaders
29b6000e 461 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 462
cfcec693 463## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 464 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
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465 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
466 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 467 comments and ignored
6ccf351a 468 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 469 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 470 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
471 same types as --output are supported.
472 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 473 (default) and "temp" paths. All
474 intermediary files are first downloaded to
475 the temp path and then the final files are
476 moved over to the home path after download
477 is finished. This option is ignored if
478 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 479 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 480 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 481 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
482 fields in output filename template
483 (default: "NA")
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484 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
485 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
486 filenames
c76eb41b 487 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
488 filenames (default)
c2934512 489 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
490 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
491 using windows (default)
492 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
493 extension) to the specified number of
494 characters
9b45b9f5 495 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
496 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
497 This option includes --no-continue
498 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
499 related files (default)
c25228e5 500 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
501 (default)
502 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 503 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 504 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 505 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 506 into output file (default)
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507 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
508 into output file
c76eb41b 509 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
510 file modification time (default)
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511 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
512 the file modification time
513 --write-description Write video description to a .description
514 file
6623ac34 515 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 516 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 517 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 518 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 519 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
520 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
521 --write-description etc. (default)
522 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
523 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 524 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
525 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
526 could still contain some personal
527 information (default)
528 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 529 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
530 infojson. The comments are fetched even
531 without this option if the extraction is
532 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
533 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
534 extraction is known to be quick
535 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 536 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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537 (created with the "--write-info-json"
538 option)
539 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
540 jar in
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541 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
542 (default)
543 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
544 Load cookies from a user profile of the
545 given web browser. Currently supported
0ef787d7 546 browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
547 edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
548 can specify the user profile name or
549 directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
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550 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
551 given, the most recently accessed one is
552 used
553 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 554 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 555 can store some downloaded information (such
556 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 557 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
558 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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559 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
560 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 561
b31fdeed 562## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 563 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 564 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 565 (default)
1dc2726f 566 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 567 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
568 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 569
732044af 570## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 571 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
572 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
573 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
574 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
575 OS caches the URL based on the file path
576 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
577 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 578
0744a815 579## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 580 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
581 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 582 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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583 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
584 anything to disk
34488702 585 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
586 options are used
0cf05715 587 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
34488702 588 for extracting metadata even if the videos
589 are not actually available for download
0cf05715 590 (experimental)
591 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
592 formats are found (default)
e167860c 593 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
594 related files (Alias: --no-download)
34488702 595 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
596 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
597 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
598 the output template can be used
599 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
600 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
601 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
602 description of available keys
603 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
604 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
605 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
606 a playlist, the whole playlist information
607 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 608 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 609 written as far as no errors occur, even if
610 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 611 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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612 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
613 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 614 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 615 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 616 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
617 Template for progress outputs, optionally
618 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
619 "download-title:" (the console title),
620 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
621 The video's fields are accessible under the
622 "info" key and the progress attributes are
623 accessible under "progress" key. Eg:
624 --console-title --progress-template
625 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 626 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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627 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
628 to debug problems (very verbose)
629 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
630 files in the current directory to debug
631 problems
780083db 632 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 633
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634## Workarounds:
635 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
1dc2726f 636 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 637 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 638 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 639 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 640 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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641 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
642 access is restricted to one domain
643 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 644 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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645 option multiple times
646 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
647 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
648 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 649 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
650 during data extraction
c4af7684 651 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 652 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
653 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
654 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
655 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
656 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 657 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
658 subtitle download
36f35428 659
cfcec693 660## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 661 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
662 for more details
663 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
664 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 665 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
666 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 667 Formats" for more details
668 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 669 specified sort order (default), see
670 "Sorting Formats" for more details
671 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
672 into a single file
673 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
674 each output file (default)
675 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
676 into a single file
677 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
678 each output file (default)
da9be05e 679 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
680 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
681 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
682 containers irrespective of quality
683 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
684 containers (default)
e8e73840 685 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
0ba692ac 686 actually downloadable
687 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats selected are
688 actually downloadable
34488702 689 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
690 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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691 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
692 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
693 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
694 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
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695
696## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 697 --write-subs Write subtitle file
698 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
699 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 700 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
701 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
702 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 703 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
704 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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705 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
706 preference, for example: "srt" or
707 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 708 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
709 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
710 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
711 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
712 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
713 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
714 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 715
cfcec693 716## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 717 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 718 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 719 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 720 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 721 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 722 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
723 either the path or its containing
724 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 725 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 726 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 727 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
728 a list of available MSOs
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729 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
730 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 731 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
732 interactively
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733 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
734 operators
735
c76eb41b 736## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 737 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 738 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 739 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
740 to when -x is used. Currently supported
741 formats are: best (default) or one of
34488702 742 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
e4172ac9 743 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
744 value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
745 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 746 (default 5)
c76eb41b 747 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 748 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
749 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
750 target container does not support the
06167fbb 751 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 752 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 753 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
754 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 755 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 756 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
757 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 758 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 759 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 760 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
761 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 762 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
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763 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
764 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 765 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
766 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 767 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
768 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 769 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 770 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
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771 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
772 specified executable only when being used
773 by the specified postprocessor.
774 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
775 can be appended to the prefix optionally
776 followed by a number to pass the argument
777 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
778 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
779 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 780 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 781 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 782 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 783 after post-processing
c76eb41b 784 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 785 post-processing (default)
786 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
787 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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788 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
789 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 790 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 791 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 792 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
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793 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also adds
794 chapters to file unless --no-add-chapters
795 is used (Alias: --add-metadata)
796 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 797 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
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798 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
799 (Alias: --add-chapters)
800 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
801 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
73cd218f 802 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
803 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
804 for details
e9f4ccd1 805 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
806 Replace text in a metadata field using the
807 given regex. This option can be used
808 multiple times
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809 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
810 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
811 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
812 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
813 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
814 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 815 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
816 already exists
e4172ac9 817 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
818 path to the binary or its containing
819 directory
c4af7684 820 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
34488702 821 downloading and post-processing. Same
822 syntax as the output template can be used
9de3ea31 823 to pass any field as arguments to the
824 command. An additional field "filepath"
825 that contains the final path of the
826 downloaded file is also available. If no
7d1eb38a 827 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
34488702 828 to the end of the command. This option can
829 be used multiple times
830 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
5520aa2d 831 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
832 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
34488702 833 but "filepath" is not available. This
834 option can be used multiple times
835 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
836 --exec-before-download
e167860c 837 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 838 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 839 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 840 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
3de7c2ce 841 (currently supported: jpg|png)
72755351 842 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
843 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
844 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
845 to set the output filename for the split
846 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
847 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
848 (default)
7a340e0d 849 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 850 given regular expression. Time ranges
851 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
852 of chapters to remove the specified range.
853 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
854 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 855 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 856 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
857 (default)
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858 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
859 removing/splitting them. Requires a
860 reencode and thus is very slow, but the
861 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
862 around the cuts
863 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
864 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 865 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
866 postprocessors to be enabled, and
867 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
868 seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
869 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
870 The "when" argument determines when the
871 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
872 "pre_process" (after extraction),
873 "before_dl" (before video download),
874 "post_process" (after video download;
875 default) or "after_move" (after moving file
876 to their final locations). This option can
877 be used multiple times to add different
878 postprocessors
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879
880## SponsorBlock Options:
881Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
882 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 883 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
884
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885 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
886 for, separated by commas. Available
887 categories are all, sponsor, intro, outro,
888 selfpromo, interaction, preview,
889 music_offtopic. You can prefix the category
890 with a "-" to exempt it. See
891 https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/index.php/Segment_Categories
892 for description of the categories. Eg:
893 --sponsorblock-query all,-preview
894 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
895 the video file, separated by commas. If a
896 category is present in both mark and
897 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
898 and available categories are the same as
899 for --sponsorblock-mark
900 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
901 The title template for SponsorBlock
902 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
903 The same syntax as the output template is
904 used, but the only available fields are
905 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
906 name, category_names. Defaults to
907 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
908 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
909 --sponsorblock-remove
910 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
911 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 912
78895bd3 913## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 914 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 915 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 916 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 917 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
918 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
919 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 920 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
921 discontinuities such as ad breaks
922 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
923 formats at discontinuities such as ad
924 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 925 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
926 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
927 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 928 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 929
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930# CONFIGURATION
931
7a5c1cfe 932You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 933
0202b52a 9341. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
P
9351. **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.
9361. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 9371. **User Configuration**:
938 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
939 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
940 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
941 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
942 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
943 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
944
c589c1d3 945 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `~` points to %HOME% if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`.
07cce701 9461. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 947
7a5c1cfe 948For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
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949```
950# Lines starting with # are comments
951
952# Always extract audio
953-x
954
955# Do not copy the mtime
956--no-mtime
957
958# Use this proxy
959--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
960
298f597b 961# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
962-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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963```
964
e2e43aea 965Note 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 966
7a5c1cfe 967You 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 user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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968
969### Authentication with `.netrc` file
970
0001fcb5 971You 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:
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972```
973touch $HOME/.netrc
974chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
975```
976After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
977```
0001fcb5 978machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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979```
980For example:
981```
982machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
983machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
984```
7a5c1cfe 985To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 986
0001fcb5 987The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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988
989# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
990
0202b52a 991The `-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.
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992
993**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
994
e58c22a0 995The 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 996
f5aa5cfb 997It 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 998
999The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 10001. **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
e625be0d 10011. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
10021. **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`
7c37ff97 10031. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified seperated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
10041. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
91dd88b9 10051. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist (alternate form flag `#` makes it new line `\n` seperated) and a string **q**uoted for the terminal, respectively
524e2e4f 10061. **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 1007
1008To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1009```
7c37ff97 1010%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1011```
de6000d9 1012
80c03fa9 1013Additionally, 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`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. 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 (except default) 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 1014
1015The available fields are:
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1016
1017 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1018 - `title` (string): Video title
1019 - `url` (string): Video URL
1020 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1021 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1022 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1023 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1024 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1025 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1026 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
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1027 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1028 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1029 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1030 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
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1031 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1032 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1033 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1034 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1035 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1036 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1037 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1038 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1039 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1040 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1041 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1042 - `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 1043 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
3dbb2a9d 1044 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
b7770046 1045 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1046 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1047 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 1048 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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1049 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1050 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1051 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1052 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1053 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1054 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1055 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1056 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1057 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1058 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1059 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1060 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1061 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1062 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1063 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1064 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1065 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1066 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1067 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1068 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1069 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1070 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1071 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
e6f21b3d 1072 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
b7770046 1073 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
e6f21b3d 1074 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1075 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
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1076 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1077 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1078 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1079 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1080 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1081 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1082
1083Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1084
1085 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1086 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1087 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1088
1089Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1090
1091 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1092 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1093 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1094 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1095 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1096 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1097 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1098
1099Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1100
1101 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1102 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1103 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1104 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1105 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1106 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1107 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1108 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1109 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1110 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1111
b050d210 1112Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1113
1114 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1115 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1116 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1117 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1118
53c18592 1119Available only when used in `--print`:
1120
1121 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1122 - `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
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1123
1124Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1125
1126 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1127 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1128 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1129 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1130 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1131 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1132
a820dc72 1133Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note 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 1134
bc97cdae 1135For 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.
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1136
1137For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1138
1139Output 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.
1140
1141To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1142
91ebc640 1143The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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1144
1145In 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:
1146
1147#### Output template and Windows batch files
1148
1149If 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"`.
1150
1151#### Output template examples
1152
de6000d9 1153Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
b7770046
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1154
1155```bash
7a5c1cfe
P
1156$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1157youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1158
7a5c1cfe
P
1159$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1160youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
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1161
1162# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 1163$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 1164
b050d210 1165# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 1166$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 1167
b7770046 1168# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 1169$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
b7770046
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1170
1171# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 1172$ 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
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1173
1174# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 1175$ 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
U
1176
1177# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1178$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
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1179```
1180
1181# FORMAT SELECTION
1182
7a5c1cfe
P
1183By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1184This 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 1185
c111cefa 1186**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.
1187
eff63539 1188The 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
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1189
1190**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1191
a439a3a4 1192The 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
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1193
1194You 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.
1195
1196You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1197
e094cec1 1198 - `all`: Select all formats
f8d4ad9a 1199 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1200 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1201 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
909d24dd 1202 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1203 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1204 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1205 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1206 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1207 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1208 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1209 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1210 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1211 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1212
e58c22a0 1213For 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 `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1214
1215You 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 1216
eb8a4433 1217If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
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1218
1219If 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`.
1220
d806c9fd 1221You 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.
1222
1223**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
1224
1225Unless `--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 1226
1227## Filtering Formats
1228
b7770046
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1229You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1230
1231The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1232
1233 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1234 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1235 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1236 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1237 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1238 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1239 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1240 - `fps`: Frame rate
1241
1242Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1243
1244 - `ext`: File extension
1245 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1246 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1247 - `container`: Name of the container format
1248 - `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`)
1249 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1250 - `language`: Language code
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1251
1252Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1253
e58c22a0 1254Note 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 1255
e094cec1 1256Formats 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 1257
b7770046
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1258Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1259
eb8a4433 1260## Sorting Formats
1261
2e7781a9 1262You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1263
1264The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1265
63be1aab 1266 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1267 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1268 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1269 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1270 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1271 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
e36d50c5 1272 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1273 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
63be1aab 1274 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1275 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1276 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1277 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1278 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
eb8a4433 1279 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
63be1aab 1280 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1281 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1282 - `height`: Height of video
1283 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1284 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1285 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1286 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1287 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1288 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1289 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1290 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1291
1292**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 1293
9ee4f0bb 1294All 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.
1295
e6f21b3d 1296The 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,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 1297
9ee4f0bb 1298Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not prefered
eb8a4433 1299
e58c22a0 1300If 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 1301
1302**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1303
eb8a4433 1304## Format Selection examples
b7770046
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1305
1306Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1307
1308```bash
e58c22a0 1309# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1310# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1311$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1312
1313# Download best format that contains video,
1314# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1315$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1316
1317# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1318$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1319
6fd35a11 1320# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1321# For this case, an output template should be used since
1322# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1323$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1324
f8d4ad9a 1325# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1326# and all audio-only formats into one file
1327$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1328
1329# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1330# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1331$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1332
6fd35a11 1333
1334# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1335# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1336
1337# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1338$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1339
1340# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1341$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1342
1343# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1344$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1345
1346
909d24dd 1347
eb8a4433 1348# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1349$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1350
1351# Download the best video with the best extension
1352# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1353$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1354
1355
909d24dd 1356
eb8a4433 1357# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1358# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1359$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1360
eb8a4433 1361# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1362# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1363$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1364
eb8a4433 1365# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1366# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1367# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1368# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1369$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1370
b7770046 1371
909d24dd 1372
eb8a4433 1373# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1374# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1375$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1376
1377# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1378# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1379$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1380
1381# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1382$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1383
1384
909d24dd 1385
eb8a4433 1386# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1387# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1388$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1389
1390# Download best video available via the best protocol
1391# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1392$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1393
1394
909d24dd 1395
eb8a4433 1396# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1397$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1398
1399# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1400# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1401$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1402
1403# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1404# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1405$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1406
1407
1408
1409# More complex examples
1410
e58c22a0 1411# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1412# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1413$ 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 1414
1415# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1416# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1417# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1418$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1419
1420
909d24dd 1421
eb8a4433 1422# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1423# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1424# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1425$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1426```
eb8a4433 1427
73cd218f 1428# MODIFYING METADATA
1429
e9f4ccd1 1430The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1431
418964fa 1432`--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 1433
2e7781a9 1434The 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 1435
1436Note 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`.
1437
9c2b75b5 1438This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1439* 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
b11d2101 1440* 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". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1441
1442For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1443
1444Metadata fields|From
1445:---|:---
1446`title`|`track` or `title`
1447`date`|`upload_date`
1448`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1449`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1450`track`|`track_number`
1451`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1452`genre`|`genre`
1453`album`|`album`
1454`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1455`disc`|`disc_number`
1456`show`|`series`
1457`season_number`|`season_number`
1458`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1459`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1460`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1461**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1462
73cd218f 1463
1464## Modifying metadata examples
1465
1466Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1467
1468```bash
1469# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1470$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1471
1472# Regex example
02aabd45 1473$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1474
1475# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1476$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1477
1478# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1479$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1480
e9f4ccd1 1481# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1482$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1483
73cd218f 1484```
1485
5d3a0e79 1486# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1487
34488702 1488Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) seperated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1489
1490The following extractors use this feature:
1491* **youtube**
1492 * `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
e7e94f2a 1493 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android`, `ios`, `mweb`. These also have `_music`, `_embedded`, `_agegate`, and `_creator` variants (Eg: `web_embedded`) (`mweb` has only `_agegate`). By default, `android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use `all` to use all the clients
b6de707d 1494 * `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
57015a4a 1495 * `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
2d6659b9 1496 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side).
34488702 1497 * `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all).
7581d246 1498 * `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default).
ac56cf38 1499* **youtubetab**
1500 (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1501 * `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)
11f9be09 1502
3acf6d38 1503* **funimation**
1504 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1505 * `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1506
73d829c1 1507* **vikiChannel**
1508 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1509
bc97cdae 1510NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1511
3acf6d38 1512
f74980cb 1513# PLUGINS
b7770046 1514
3ae5e797 1515Plugins 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
1516
1517Plugins 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`.
1518
1519See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1520
1521Note 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
1522
1523If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1524
b7770046 1525
8c6f4daa 1526
1527# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1528
1529yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1530
1531Your 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.
1532
1533From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1534
1535```python
1536import yt_dlp
1537
1538ydl_opts = {}
1539with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1540 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1541```
1542
1543Most 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#L154-L452).
1544
1545Here's a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), converts the video to an mp3 file, implements a custom postprocessor and prints the final info_dict as json:
1546
1547```python
1548import json
1549
1550import yt_dlp
1551from yt_dlp.postprocessor.common import PostProcessor
1552
1553
1554class MyLogger:
1555 def debug(self, msg):
1556 # For compatability with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1557 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1558 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1559 pass
1560 else:
1561 self.info(msg)
1562
1563 def info(self, msg):
1564 pass
1565
1566 def warning(self, msg):
1567 pass
1568
1569 def error(self, msg):
1570 print(msg)
1571
1572
1573class MyCustomPP(PostProcessor):
1574 def run(self, info):
1575 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1576 return [], info
1577
1578
1579def my_hook(d):
1580 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1581 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1582
1583
1584ydl_opts = {
1585 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
1586 'postprocessors': [{
1587 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1588 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
1589 'preferredquality': '192',
1590 }],
1591 'logger': MyLogger(),
1592 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1593}
1594
1595with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1596 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1597 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
1598 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1599```
1600
1601See the public functions in [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py) for other available functions. Eg: `ydl.download`, `ydl.download_with_info_file`
1602
1603
e167860c 1604# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1605
1606These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1607
6ccf351a 1608#### Redundant options
1609While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1610
53c18592 1611 --get-description --print description
1612 --get-duration --print duration_string
1613 --get-filename --print filename
1614 --get-format --print format
1615 --get-id --print id
1616 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1617 -e, --get-title --print title
1618 -g, --get-url --print urls
2b8a2973 1619 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
8f18aca8 1620 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1621 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1622 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1623 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
6ccf351a 1624
1625
1626#### Not recommended
1627While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1628
d9aa2332 1629 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1630 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1631 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1632 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1633 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
73cd218f 1634 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1635 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1636 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1637 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1638 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1639 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1640 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1641 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1642 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1643
1644
1645#### Developer options
1646These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1647
34488702 1648 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1649 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1650 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1651 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1652
1653
1654#### Old aliases
1655These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1656
1657 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1658 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1659 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1660 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1661 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1662 --load-info --load-info-json
1663 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1664 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1665 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1666 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1667 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1668 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1669 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1670 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1671 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1672
7a340e0d
NA
1673#### Sponskrub Options
1674Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of `--sponsorblock`
1675
1676 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1677 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1678 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1679 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1680 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1681 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1682 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1683 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1684
f4536226 1685#### No longer supported
1686These options may no longer work as intended
1687
1688 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1689 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1690 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1691 --no-call-home Default
1692 --include-ads No longer supported
1693 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1694 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1695 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1696
1697#### Removed
1698These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1699
f4536226 1700 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1701 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1702 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1703 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1704
8c6f4daa 1705# CONTRIBUTING
1706See [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 1707
c2b5f311 1708# MORE
8c6f4daa 1709For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)