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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
2fa669f7 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#installation "Installation")
ae6a1b95 7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
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fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
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b532a348 15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge&display_timestamp=committer)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pulse/monthly "Last activity")
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b31fdeed 17</div>
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c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
deae7c17 28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
17fa3ee2 29 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 32 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
304ad45a 51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
db3ad8a6 52 * [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
878eac3e 53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 54* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 56* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 60* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 62* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 63* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
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64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
8c6f4daa 66* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 68* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 69* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 72* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 74<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 75
76
034b6215 77# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 78
9d625406 79* Forked from [**yt-dlc@f9401f2**](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee) and merged with [**youtube-dl@66ab08**](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/66ab0814c4baa2dc79c2dd5287bc0ad61a37c5b9) ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))
034b6215 80
304ad45a 81* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 82
7581d246 83* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 84
8e174ba7 85* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 86
ae61d108 87* **YouTube improvements**:
c8bc203f 88 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
ae61d108 89 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
86973308 92 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
f20f5fe5 93
304ad45a 94* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
245524e6 95
5ec1b6b7 96* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
97
597c1866 98* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
99
b31fdeed 100* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 101
b31fdeed 102* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 103
e75bb0d6 104* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 105
56ba69e4 106* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 107
3de7c2ce 108* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 109
597c1866 110* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 111
d4ada357 112* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 113
418964fa 114* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 115
fe2ce85a 116* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-match-filter` etc
0bc0a322 117
08d30158 118* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 119
86c1a8aa 120* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 121
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122* **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
123
124* **Nightly builds**: [Automated nightly builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly`
aa837ddf 125
7a5c1cfe 126See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 127
ae61d108 128Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
129
53ed7066 130### Differences in default behavior
131
0930b11f 132Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 133
5b28cef7 134* yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.7+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
96565c7e 135* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 136* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 137* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 138* 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 139* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 140* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 141* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 142* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 143* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 144* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 145* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 146* `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
147* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 148* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
86973308 149* YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
304ad45a 150* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 151* The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
18e674b4 152* 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 153* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
ad54c913 154* Some internal metadata such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 155* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
168bbc4f 156* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
1e4fca9a 157* yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
ad68b16a 158* yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [~~aria2c~~](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
93b39cdb 159* yt-dlp versions between 2021.09.01 and 2023.01.02 applies `--match-filter` to nested playlists. This was an unintentional side-effect of [8f18ac](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/8f18aca8717bb0dd49054555af8d386e5eda3a88) and is fixed in [d7b460](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/d7b460d0e5fc710950582baed2e3fc616ed98a80). Use `--compat-options playlist-match-filter` to revert this
8a8b5452 160* yt-dlp uses modern http client backends such as `requests`. Use `--compat-options prefer-legacy-http-handler` to prefer the legacy http handler (`urllib`) to be used for standard http requests.
53ed7066 161
162For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 163
8a82af35 164* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
93b39cdb 165* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams,-playlist-match-filter`
166* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect,-playlist-match-filter`
2a06bb4e 167* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
8a8b5452 168* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options playlist-match-filter,no-external-downloader-progress,prefer-legacy-http-handler`. Use this to enable all future compat options
53ed7066 169
f20f5fe5 170
d19bb9c0 171# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 172
fc5fa964 173<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
174[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
17ffed18 175[![Unix](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
24146491 176[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
17ffed18 177[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 178[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
179[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 180[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 181<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
182
c8bc203f 183You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [pip](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
0930b11f 184
b8773e63 185
a4211baf 186## UPDATE
4815bbfc 187You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
17ffed18 188
c8bc203f 189If you [installed with pip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
0930b11f 190
8e174ba7 191For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 192
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193<a id="update-channels"/>
194
195There are currently two release channels for binaries, `stable` and `nightly`.
392389b7 196`stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the nightly channel.
197The `nightly` channel has releases built after each push to the master branch, and will have the most recent fixes and additions, but also have more risk of regressions. They are available in [their own repo](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases).
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198
199When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
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200`--update-to CHANNEL` can be used to switch to a different channel when a newer version is available. `--update-to [CHANNEL@]TAG` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
201
202You may also use `--update-to <repository>` (`<owner>/<repository>`) to update to a channel on a completely different repository. Be careful with what repository you are updating to though, there is no verification done for binaries from different repositories.
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203
204Example usage:
205* `yt-dlp --update-to nightly` change to `nightly` channel and update to its latest release
206* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.02.17` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.02.17`
207* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.01.06` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.01.06` if it exists on the current channel
665472a7 208* `yt-dlp --update-to example/yt-dlp@2023.03.01` upgrade/downgrade to the release from the `example/yt-dlp` repository, tag `2023.03.01`
cf59cd4d 209
ec2e44fc 210<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 211## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 212
733d8e8f 213#### Recommended
214
215File|Description
216:---|:---
962ffcf8 217[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 218[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
f2df4071 219[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 220
221#### Alternatives
222
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223File|Description
224:---|:---
0930b11f 225[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 226[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
f2df4071 227[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
228[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
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229[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
230[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
0930b11f 231[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
232[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
6d916fe7 233[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
733d8e8f 234
235#### Misc
236
237File|Description
238:---|:---
17ffed18 239[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee 240[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
12647e03 241[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
0e5927ee 242[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
12647e03 243[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
0e5927ee 244
12647e03
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245The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
246Example usage:
247```
248curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
249gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
250gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
251```
252<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
17ffed18 253
ad54c913 254**Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
17ffed18 255
a4211baf 256## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 257Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 258
c9652aa4 259<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
260<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 261On 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 262-->
fac98805 263
e75bb0d6 264While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 265
8aa0e7cd 266### Strongly recommended
267
b69fd25c 268* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
8aa0e7cd 269
8e174ba7 270 There are bugs in ffmpeg that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for some of these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
271
272 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
8aa0e7cd 273
274### Networking
d5820461 275* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 276* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
277* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
8a8b5452 278* [**requests**](https://github.com/psf/requests)\* - HTTP library. For HTTPS proxy and persistent connections support. Licensed under [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 279
280### Metadata
281
282* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
283* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
84e26038 284* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Mac** and **BSD**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
8aa0e7cd 285
286### Misc
287
288* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
5d0aeac0 289* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
8aa0e7cd 290* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 291* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 292
deae7c17 293### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 294
295* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
296* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
998a3cae 297* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
298* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
8aa0e7cd 299
cf59cd4d 300To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
301
f2df4071 302The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 303
8aa0e7cd 304If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
d710cc6d 305
5f326cf5 306
a4211baf 307## COMPILE
5f326cf5 308
8aa0e7cd 309### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 310To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM, 32/64 bit) as the Python used.
e38df8f9 311
8aa0e7cd 312 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
313 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
314 python3 pyinst.py
315
316On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
317
73ac0e6b 318`pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
319
8e174ba7 320**Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
8aa0e7cd 321
322**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 323
8aa0e7cd 324### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 325You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 326
8aa0e7cd 327After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 328
a831c2ea 329You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 330
8aa0e7cd 331### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
332
333While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
334
335If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
336
337 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
338 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
339 py setup.py py2exe
340
341### Related scripts
342
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343* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
344* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
345* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
8aa0e7cd 346* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
347
d400e261
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348Note: See their `--help` for more info.
349
29cb20bd
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350### Forking the project
351If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
59a7a13e 352
b31fdeed 353# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 354
ec2e44fc 355<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 356 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 357
c2b5f311 358`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 359<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 360
ec2e44fc 361<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 362## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 363 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
364 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 365 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
366 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
77df20f1 367 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
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368 CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
369 and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
370 respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
371 details. Supported channels: stable, nightly
2dd5a2e3 372 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
373 The download will be considered successful
374 even if the postprocessing fails
375 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
376 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
377 playlist (default)
378 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
379 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
380 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
381 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
382 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
383 extractors and exit
2516cafb 384 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 385 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
386 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
387 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
388 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
389 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 390 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 391 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 392 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
393 google videos for the search term "python".
394 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
395 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
396 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
397 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
398 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
399 possible instead of searching
400 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
401 except those given by --config-locations.
402 For backward compatibility, if this option
403 is found inside the system configuration
404 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
405 (Alias: --no-config)
406 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
407 (default). When given inside a configuration
408 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
409 defined in the current file
410 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
411 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 412 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
413 used multiple times and inside other
414 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 415 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
416 only list them
c8bc203f 417 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
418 (default)
2dd5a2e3 419 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
420 Currently only supported for YouTube
421 (Experimental)
422 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
423 (default)
424 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
425 available. Pass the minimum number of
426 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
427 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
428 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
429 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8417f26b
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430 --color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
431 optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
432 stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
433 of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
434 "no_color" (use non color terminal
435 sequences). Can be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 436 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
437 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
438 configurations by reverting some of the
439 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
440 default behavior" for details
441 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
442 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
443 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
444 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 445 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 446 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
447 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
448 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
449 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
450 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
451 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 452 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 453 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
454 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 455 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 456
149f05c7 457## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 458 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
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459 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
460 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
461 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
462 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 463 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
464 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
465 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
466 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8300774c
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467 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
468 default for security reasons.
8c6c88c7 469
b31fdeed 470## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 471 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
472 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
473 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
474 is not present) is used for the actual
475 downloading
c1664464 476 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
477 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
c8bc203f 478 "default" (only when known to be useful),
479 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
480 two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
149f05c7 481
cfcec693 482## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 483 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 484 to download. You can specify a range using
485 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
486 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
487 Use negative indices to count from the right
488 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 489 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 490 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 491 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 492 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
493 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
494 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 495 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 496 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
497 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
498 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
29cb20bd
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499 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
500 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
2dd5a2e3 501 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
502 this date. The date formats accepted is the
503 same as --date
504 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
505 this date. The date formats accepted is the
506 same as --date
507 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
508 field can be compared with a number or a
509 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 510 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 511 specify a field to match if the field is
512 present, use "!field" to check if the field
513 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
514 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
515 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
516 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 517 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 518 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
519 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
520 only videos that are not live OR those that
521 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
522 field is not available) and also has a
523 description that contains the phrase "cats &
524 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
525 interactively ask whether to download each
526 video
c8bc203f 527 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filter (default)
fe2ce85a 528 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
529 download process when a video is rejected
530 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
2dd5a2e3 531 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
532 to a video and a playlist
533 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
534 a video and a playlist
535 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
536 age
537 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
538 archive file. Record the IDs of all
539 downloaded videos in it
540 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
541 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
542 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
543 a file that is in the archive
71df9b7f 544 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
354d5fca 545 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
546 reset per input URL
2dd5a2e3 547 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
548 terminates the entire download queue
549 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
550 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 551
d5a62e4f 552## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 553 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
554 video that should be downloaded concurrently
555 (default is 1)
62b58c09
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556 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
557 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 558 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
559 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 560 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 561 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
562 "infinite"
563 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
564 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
565 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
566 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 567 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
568 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
569 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
570 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
571 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
572 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
573 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 574 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 575 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
576 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
577 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
8e174ba7 578 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
579 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
2dd5a2e3 580 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
581 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
582 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
583 downloading is finished
584 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
585 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 586 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 587 (default is 1024)
588 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
589 from an initial value of --buffer-size
590 (default)
591 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
592 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 593 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 594 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
595 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
596 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 597 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 598 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
599 received. This disables n_entries,
600 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
601 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
602 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 603 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
604 expected file size
605 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
606 allowing some players to play the video
607 while downloading, and reducing the chance
608 of file corruption if download is
609 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
610 live streams
611 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
612 videos. This is default when not downloading
613 live streams
b4e0d758 614 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters that match the
615 regular expression. A "*" prefix denotes
616 time-range instead of chapter. Negative
617 timestamps are calculated from the end.
618 "*from-url" can be used to download between
619 the "start_time" and "end_time" extracted
620 from the URL. Needs ffmpeg. This option can
621 be used multiple times to download multiple
62b58c09 622 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 623 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 624 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
625 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
626 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
627 use it for. Currently supports native,
628 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
629 wget. You can use this option multiple times
630 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 631 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 632 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
633 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
634 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
635 (Alias: --external-downloader)
636 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
637 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
638 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
639 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
640 positions using the same syntax as
641 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
642 option multiple times to give different
643 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
644 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 645
cfcec693 646## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 647 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
648 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
649 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
650 comments and ignored
651 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
652 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
653 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
654 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
655 TYPES as --output are supported.
656 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
657 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
658 files are first downloaded to the temp path
659 and then the final files are moved over to
660 the home path after download is finished.
661 This option is ignored if --output is an
662 absolute path
663 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
664 TEMPLATE" for details
665 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
666 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
667 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
668 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
669 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
670 filenames (default)
671 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
672 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
673 using Windows (default)
674 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
675 extension) to the specified number of
676 characters
677 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
678 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
679 option includes --no-continue
680 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
681 related files (default)
682 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
683 (default)
684 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
685 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
686 restart download of the entire file
687 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
688 into output file (default)
689 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
690 output file
691 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
692 modification time (default)
693 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
694 the file modification time
64fa820c 695 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 696 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
697 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
698 (this may contain personal information)
699 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
700 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
701 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
702 --write-description etc. (default)
703 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
704 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
ad54c913 705 --clean-info-json Remove some internal metadata such as
706 filenames from the infojson (default)
2dd5a2e3 707 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
708 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
709 infojson. The comments are fetched even
710 without this option if the extraction is
711 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
712 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
713 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
714 --no-get-comments)
715 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 716 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 717 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
718 and dump cookie jar in
719 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
720 (default)
825d3ce3 721 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
722 The name of the browser to load cookies
723 from. Currently supported browsers are:
724 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
725 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
726 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
727 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
728 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
729 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
730 be given with their respective seperators.
731 By default, all containers of the most
732 recently accessed profile are used.
733 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
2e023649 734 gnomekeyring, kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6
2dd5a2e3 735 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 736 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
737 store some downloaded information (such as
738 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 739 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 740 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
741 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 742
b31fdeed 743## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 744 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 745 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 746 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
747 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
748 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 749
732044af 750## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 751 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
752 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
753 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
754 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
755 OS caches the URL based on the file path
756 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
757 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 758
0744a815 759## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 760 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
761 print the log to stderr
d669772c 762 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
2dd5a2e3 763 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
764 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
765 anything to disk
766 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
767 options are used
768 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
769 extracting metadata even if the videos are
770 not actually available for download
771 (experimental)
772 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
773 formats are found (default)
774 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
775 related files (Alias: --no-download)
776 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
777 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
778 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
779 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 780 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 781 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
782 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
783 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 784 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 785 Append given template to the file. The
786 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
787 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
788 output template. This option can be used
789 multiple times
790 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
791 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
792 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
793 description of available keys
794 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
795 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
796 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
797 a playlist, the whole playlist information
798 is dumped in a single line
799 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
800 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
801 another simulation option is used (Alias:
802 --force-download-archive)
803 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
804 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
805 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
806 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 807 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 808 Template for progress outputs, optionally
809 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
810 "download-title:" (the console title),
811 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
812 The video's fields are accessible under the
813 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 814 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 815 --console-title --progress-template
816 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
817 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
818 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
819 to debug problems (very verbose)
820 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
821 in the current directory to debug problems
822 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 823
36f35428 824## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 825 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
826 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
827 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
828 renegotiation
829 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
830 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
831 information about the video (Currently
832 supported only for YouTube)
a5387729 833 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
2dd5a2e3 834 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
835 option multiple times
836 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
837 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
838 or fribidi executable in PATH
839 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
840 during data extraction
841 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
842 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
843 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
844 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
845 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
846 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
847 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
848 subtitle download
36f35428 849
cfcec693 850## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 851 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
852 for more details
853 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
854 "Sorting Formats" for more details
855 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
856 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
857 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
858 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
859 specified sort order (default)
860 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
861 into a single file
862 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
863 output file (default)
864 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
865 into a single file
866 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
867 output file (default)
868 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
869 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
870 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
871 irrespective of quality
872 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
873 containers (default)
874 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
875 those that are actually downloadable
876 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
877 actually downloadable
878 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
879 downloadable
880 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
881 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 882 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 883 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
884 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
885 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
886
887## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 888 --write-subs Write subtitle file
889 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
890 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
891 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
892 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
893 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
894 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
895 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
896 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 897 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 898 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
899 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
900 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 901 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
902 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
903 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 904 of available language tags
6bcd846b 905
cfcec693 906## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 907 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
908 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
909 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
910 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
911 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
912 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
913 either the path or its containing directory.
914 Defaults to ~/.netrc
db3ad8a6 915 --netrc-cmd NETRC_CMD Command to execute to get the credentials
d1b21561 916 for an extractor.
b634ba74 917 --video-password PASSWORD Video-specific password
2dd5a2e3 918 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
919 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
920 a list of available MSOs
921 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
922 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
923 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
924 interactively
925 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
926 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
927 format. May include the private key
928 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
929 Path to private key file for client
930 certificate
bb58c9ed 931 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 932 Password for client certificate private key,
933 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
934 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 935
c76eb41b 936## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 937 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
938 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 939 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
940 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 941 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 942 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
943 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 944 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
945 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
946 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
947 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
948 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 949 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 950 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
951 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
952 wav). If target container does not support
953 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
954 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 955 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 956 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 957 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
958 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
959 are the same as --remux-video
960 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
961 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
962 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
963 to give the argument to the specified
964 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
965 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
966 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
967 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
968 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
969 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
970 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
971 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
972 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
973 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
974 specified executable only when being used by
975 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
976 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
977 appended to the prefix optionally followed
978 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 979 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 980 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
981 this option multiple times to give different
982 arguments to different postprocessors.
983 (Alias: --ppa)
984 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
985 after post-processing
986 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
987 post-processing (default)
988 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
989 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
990 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
991 webm and mkv videos)
992 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
993 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
994 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
995 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
996 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
997 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
998 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
999 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
1000 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
1001 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
1002 (Alias: --add-chapters)
1003 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
1004 --no-add-chapters)
1005 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
1006 mkv/mka video files
1007 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
1008 to the video file
fe74d5b5 1009 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
1010 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 1011 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 1012 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
1013 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1014 (default: pre_process)
1015 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 1016 Replace text in a metadata field using the
1017 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 1018 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
1019 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
1020 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 1021 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
1022 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
1023 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
1024 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
1025 (default; only when the videos form a single
1026 show). All the video files must have same
1027 codecs and number of streams to be
1028 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1029 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1030 the output filename for the concatenated
1031 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1032 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1033 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1034 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1035 default; fix file if we can, warn
1036 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1037 already exists)
1038 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 1039 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 1040 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 1041 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
1042 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
1043 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
1044 after_move). Same syntax as the output
1045 template can be used to pass any field as
ad54c913 1046 arguments to the command. If no fields are
1047 passed, %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended
1048 to the end of the command. This option can
1049 be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 1050 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1051 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 1052 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 1053 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1054 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1055 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1056 can specify multiple rules using similar
1057 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1058 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1059 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1060 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1061 the output filename for the split files. See
1062 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1063 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1064 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1065 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1066 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1067 be used multiple times
1068 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1069 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1070 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1071 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1072 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1073 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1074 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1075 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1076 when cutting/splitting (default)
1077 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1078 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1079 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1080 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1081 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1082 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1083 The "when" argument determines when the
1084 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1085 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1086 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1087 "video" (after --format; before
1088 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1089 video download), "post_process" (after each
1090 video download; default), "after_move"
1091 (after moving video file to it's final
1092 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1093 and processing all formats of a video), or
1094 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1095 can be used multiple times to add different
1096 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1097
1098## SponsorBlock Options:
1099Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1100 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1101 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1102
2dd5a2e3 1103 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1104 for, separated by commas. Available
1105 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1106 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1107 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1108 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1109 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1110 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1111 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1112 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1113 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1114 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1115 category is present in both mark and remove,
1116 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1117 available categories are the same as for
1118 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1119 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1120 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1121 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1122 An output template for the title of the
1123 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1124 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1125 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1126 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1127 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1128 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1129 --sponsorblock-remove
1130 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1131 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1132
78895bd3 1133## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1134 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1135 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1136 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1137 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1138 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1139 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1140 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1141 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1142 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1143 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1144 (default)
2fa669f7 1145 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1146 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1147 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1148 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1149
b7770046
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1150# CONFIGURATION
1151
7a5c1cfe 1152You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1153
878eac3e 11541. **Main Configuration**:
1155 * The file given by `--config-location`
11561. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1157 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1158 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11591. **Home Configuration**:
1160 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1161 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11621. **User Configuration**:
773c272d 1163 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1164 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1165 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
773c272d 1166 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1167 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1168 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1169 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1170 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M
1171 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1172 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1173
878eac3e 1174 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11751. **System Configuration**:
1176 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M
1177 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1178 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1179
62b58c09 1180E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1181```
1182# Lines starting with # are comments
1183
1184# Always extract audio
1185-x
1186
1187# Do not copy the mtime
1188--no-mtime
1189
1190# Use this proxy
1191--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1192
298f597b 1193# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1194-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1195```
1196
8e174ba7 1197**Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1198
a4211baf 1199You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
b7770046 1200
304ad45a 1201### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1202
304ad45a 1203The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1204
88f60feb 1205If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
a904a7f8 1206
db3ad8a6 1207### Authentication with netrc
b7770046 1208
304ad45a 1209You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per-extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
b7770046 1210```
878eac3e 1211touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1212chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
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1213```
1214After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1215```
0001fcb5 1216machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1217```
62b58c09 1218E.g.
b7770046
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1219```
1220machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1221machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1222```
7a5c1cfe 1223To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1224
878eac3e 1225The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1226
d7cd97e8 1227As an alternative to using the `.netrc` file, which has the disadvantage of keeping your passwords in a plain text file, you can configure a custom shell command to provide the credentials for an extractor. This is done by providing the `--netrc-cmd` parameter, it shall output the credentials in the netrc format and return `0` on success, other values will be treated as an error. `{}` in the command will be replaced by the name of the extractor to make it possible to select the credentials for the right extractor.
db3ad8a6
ND
1228
1229E.g. To use an encrypted `.netrc` file stored as `.authinfo.gpg`
1230```
1231yt-dlp --netrc-cmd 'gpg --decrypt ~/.authinfo.gpg' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc
1232```
1233
1234
878eac3e 1235### Notes about environment variables
1236* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1237* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1238* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1239* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1240* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
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1241
1242# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1243
0202b52a 1244The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1245
ec2e44fc 1246<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1247**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1248<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1249
e58c22a0 1250The 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 1251
62b58c09 1252It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1253
1254The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1255
07a1250e 12561. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1257
62b58c09 12581. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1259
62b58c09 12601. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1261
62b58c09 12621. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1263
ec9311c4 12641. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
e978789f 1265
17ffed18 12661. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1267
9b9dad11 12681. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1269
d5d1df8a 12701. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1271
1272To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1273```
e978789f 1274%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1275```
de6000d9 1276
62b58c09 1277Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1278
4815bbfc 1279<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"/>
7aaf4cd2 1280
8e174ba7 1281**Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
7aaf4cd2 1282
e29663c6 1283The available fields are:
b7770046
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1284
1285 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1286 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1287 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1288 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1289 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1290 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1291 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1292 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1293 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1294 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1295 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1296 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1297 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1298 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1299 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1300 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
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1301 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1302 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1303 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1304 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
8213ce28 1305 - `channel_is_verified` (boolean): Whether the channel is verified on the platform
b7770046
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1306 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1307 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1308 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1309 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1310 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
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1311 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1312 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1313 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1314 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1315 - `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 1316 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1317 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1318 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1319 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1320 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1321 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U
1322 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1323 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1324 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1325 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1326 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b532a348 1327 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`, padded with leading zeros to 5 digits
9c906919 1328 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1329 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1330 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1331 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1332 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1333 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1334 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1335 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
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1336 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1337 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1338 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1339 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1340 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1341 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1342
1343All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
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1344
1345Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1346
1347 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1348 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1349 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1350
1351Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1352
1353 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1354 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1355 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1356 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1357 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1358 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1359 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1360
1361Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1362
1363 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1364 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1365 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1366 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1367 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1368 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1369 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1370 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1371 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1372 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1373
5ec1b6b7 1374Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1375
1376 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1377 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1378 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1379 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1380
53c18592 1381Available only when used in `--print`:
1382
1383 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1384 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1385 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1386 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1387 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1388 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1389
ad54c913 1390 Available only after the video is downloaded (`post_process`/`after_move`):
7a340e0d 1391
ad54c913 1392 - `filepath`: Actual path of downloaded video file
1393
7a340e0d
NA
1394Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1395
1396 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1397 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1398 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA
1399 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1400 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1401 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1402 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1403
62b58c09 1404Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
49a57e70 1405
8e174ba7 1406**Note**: Some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1407
0930b11f 1408**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1409
62b58c09 1410For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1411
940a67a3 1412Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
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1413
1414To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1415
91ebc640 1416The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1417
f304da8a 1418In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
b7770046 1419
b7770046
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1420#### Output template examples
1421
b7770046 1422```bash
d2c8aadf 1423$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1424test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1425
d2c8aadf 1426$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1427youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1428
d2c8aadf 1429$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1430youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
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1431
1432# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1433$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1434
b050d210 1435# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1436$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1437
e978789f 1438# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
ad54c913 1439$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index&{} - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1440
b7770046 1441# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1442$ 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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1443
1444# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1445$ 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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1446
1447# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1448$ 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 1449
6a34813a 1450# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1451# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1452$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1453
1454# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1455$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1456
b7770046 1457# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1458$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1459```
1460
1461# FORMAT SELECTION
1462
7a5c1cfe
P
1463By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1464This 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 1465
c111cefa 1466**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.
1467
eff63539 1468The 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 1469
ec2e44fc 1470<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1471**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1472<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1473
62b58c09 1474The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
b7770046
U
1475
1476You 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.
1477
fa9f30b8 1478You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1479
b7770046
U
1480You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1481
59a7a13e 1482 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1483 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1484 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1485 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1486 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1487 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1488 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1489 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
59a7a13e 1490 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1491 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1492 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1493 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1494 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1495 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1496
d4ada357 1497For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1498
1499You 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 1500
304ad45a 1501If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
b7770046
U
1502
1503If 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`.
1504
62b58c09 1505You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
d806c9fd 1506
1507**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
1508
304ad45a 1509Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1510
1511## Filtering Formats
1512
b532a348 1513You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"` since filters without a selector are interpreted as `best`).
b7770046
U
1514
1515The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1516
1517 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1518 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1519 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1520 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1521 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
b7770046
U
1522 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1523 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1524 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1525 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1526 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1527 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1528 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1529
1ce9a3cb 1530Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1531
d2c8aadf 1532 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1533 - `ext`: File extension
1534 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1535 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1536 - `container`: Name of the container format
1537 - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case (`http`, `https`, `rtsp`, `rtmp`, `rtmpe`, `mms`, `f4m`, `ism`, `http_dash_segments`, `m3u8`, or `m3u8_native`)
29f7c58a 1538 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1539 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1540 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1541 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1542 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1543 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1544
1ce9a3cb 1545Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
b7770046 1546
8e174ba7 1547**Note**: None of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1548
b532a348 1549Formats 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 "bv[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1550
62b58c09 1551Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
b7770046 1552
eb8a4433 1553## Sorting Formats
1554
2e7781a9 1555You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1556
1557The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1558
304ad45a 1559 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1560 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1561 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1562 - `lang`: The language preference
1563 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1564 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1565 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1566 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
a5387729 1567 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1568 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1569 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1570 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
63be1aab 1571 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1572 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
62b5c94c 1573 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize
63be1aab 1574 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1575 - `height`: Height of video
1576 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1577 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1578 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1579 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1580 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1581 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1582 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1583 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
62b5c94c 1584 - `br`: Average bitrate in KBit/s, `tbr`/`vbr`/`abr`
63be1aab 1585 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1586
1587**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 1588
62b58c09 1589All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. E.g. `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
9ee4f0bb 1590
7e798d72 1591The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1592
7e798d72 1593Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1594
e58c22a0 1595If 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 1596
1597**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1598
eb8a4433 1599## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1600
b7770046 1601```bash
e58c22a0 1602# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1603# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1604$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1605
1606# Download best format that contains video,
1607# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1608$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1609
1610# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1611$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1612
6fd35a11 1613# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1614# For this case, an output template should be used since
1615# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1616$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1617
f8d4ad9a 1618# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1619# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1620$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1621
1622# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1623# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1625
6fd35a11 1626
1627# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1628# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1629
1630# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1631$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1632
1633# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1634$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1635
1636# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1637$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1638
1639
909d24dd 1640
eb8a4433 1641# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1642$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1643
1644# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1645# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1646$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1647
1648
909d24dd 1649
eb8a4433 1650# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1651# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1652$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1653
eb8a4433 1654# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1655# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1656$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1657
eb8a4433 1658# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1659# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1660# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1661# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1662$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1663
b7770046 1664
909d24dd 1665
eb8a4433 1666# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1667# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1668$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1669
1670# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1671# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1672$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1673
1674# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1675$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1676
1677
909d24dd 1678
eb8a4433 1679# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1680# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1681$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1682
1683# Download best video available via the best protocol
1684# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1685$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1686
1687
909d24dd 1688
1ce9a3cb
LF
1689# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1690# or the best video if there is no such video
1691$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1692
1693# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1694# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1695$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1696
1697# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1698# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1699$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1700
1701
1702
1703# More complex examples
1704
e58c22a0 1705# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1706# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1707$ 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 1708
1709# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1710# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1711# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1712$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1713
1714
909d24dd 1715
eb8a4433 1716# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1717# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1718# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1719$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1720```
eb8a4433 1721
73cd218f 1722# MODIFYING METADATA
1723
a4211baf 1724The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1725
418964fa 1726`--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 1727
46d09f87 1728The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1729
46d09f87 1730Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1731
9c2b75b5 1732This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1733
c8bc203f 1734* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)"` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1735
62b58c09 1736* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1737
08d30158 1738**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1739
c31be5b0 1740For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1741
08d30158 1742Metadata fields | From
1743:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1744`title` | `track` or `title`
1745`date` | `upload_date`
1746`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1747`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1748`track` | `track_number`
1749`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1750`genre` | `genre`
1751`album` | `album`
1752`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1753`disc` | `disc_number`
1754`show` | `series`
1755`season_number` | `season_number`
1756`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1757`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1758`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1759
c31be5b0 1760**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1761
73cd218f 1762
1763## Modifying metadata examples
1764
73cd218f 1765```bash
1766# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1767$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1768
1769# Regex example
940a67a3 1770$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1771
1772# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1773$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1774
a44ca5a4 1775# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1776$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1777
1778# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1779# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1780$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1781
8aa0e7cd 1782# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1783$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1784
0930b11f 1785# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
7f9c6a63 1786$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "video::(?P<formats>)" --write-info-json
0930b11f 1787
e9f4ccd1 1788# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1789$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1790
73cd218f 1791```
1792
5d3a0e79 1793# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1794
62b58c09 1795Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1796
a5387729 1797Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1798
5d3a0e79 1799The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1800
1801#### youtube
8e174ba7 1802* `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
8aa0e7cd 1803* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
39abae23 1804* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mweb`, `mweb_embedscreen` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web,ios` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1805* `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
ba06d77a 1806* `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
96565c7e 1807* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1808* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`
1809 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
b532a348 1810* `formats`: Change the types of formats to return. `dashy` (convert HTTP to DASH), `duplicate` (identical content but different URLs or protocol; includes `dashy`), `incomplete` (cannot be downloaded completely - live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1811* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
2ae778b8 1812* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
eb5bdbfa 1813* `raise_incomplete_data`: `Incomplete Data Received` raises an error instead of reporting a warning
96565c7e 1814
1815#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1816* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
5225df50 1817* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1818
3b021eac 1819#### generic
5cc0a8fd 1820* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1821* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
c2e0fc40 1822* `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
93e7c699 1823* `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
3b021eac 1824
96565c7e 1825#### funimation
304ad45a 1826* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1827* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1828
cb1553e9 1829#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
62b58c09 1830* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `download_dash`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2`
dfea94f8 1831* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1832
96565c7e 1833#### vikichannel
1834* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1835
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1836#### niconico
1837* `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1838
aa4b0545 1839#### youtubewebarchive
1840* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1841
d43de682
M
1842#### gamejolt
1843* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1844
26f2aa3d
AG
1845#### hotstar
1846* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1847* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1848* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1849
698beb9a
M
1850#### niconicochannelplus
1851* `max_comments`: Maximum number of comments to extract - default is `120`
1852
046cab39 1853#### tiktok
c4cbd3be 1854* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
62b58c09
L
1855* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1856* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1857
7eaf7f9a 1858#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1859* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1860
b03fa783 1861#### twitter
a006ce2b 1862* `api`: Select one of `graphql` (default), `legacy` or `syndication` as the API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if logged in
b03fa783 1863
af1fd12f 1864#### stacommu, wrestleuniverse
ef8fb7f0 1865* `device_id`: UUID value assigned by the website and used to enforce device limits for paid livestream content. Can be found in browser local storage
1866
7f9c6a63 1867#### twitch
1868* `client_id`: Client ID value to be sent with GraphQL requests, e.g. `twitch:client_id=kimne78kx3ncx6brgo4mv6wki5h1ko`
01231feb 1869
81c8b9bd 1870#### nhkradirulive (NHK らじる★らじる LIVE)
1871* `area`: Which regional variation to extract. Valid areas are: `sapporo`, `sendai`, `tokyo`, `nagoya`, `osaka`, `hiroshima`, `matsuyama`, `fukuoka`. Defaults to `tokyo`
1872
1eaca74b 1873#### nflplusreplay
1874* `type`: Type(s) of game replays to extract. Valid types are: `full_game`, `full_game_spanish`, `condensed_game` and `all_22`. You can use `all` to extract all available replay types, which is the default
1875
8e174ba7 1876**Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1877
ec2e44fc 1878<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1879
3acf6d38 1880
f74980cb 1881# PLUGINS
b7770046 1882
8e40b9d1 1883Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. **Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code!**
3ae5e797 1884
8e40b9d1
M
1885Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1886- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1887- Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1888- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1889
3ae5e797 1890
8e40b9d1 1891Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1892
8e40b9d1
M
1893In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1894
1895 yt_dlp_plugins/
1896 extractor/
1897 myplugin.py
1898 postprocessor/
1899 myplugin.py
1900
1901yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1902
deae7c17 1903See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1904
8e40b9d1
M
1905## Installing Plugins
1906
1907Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1908
19091. **Configuration directories**:
1910 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1911 * **User Plugins**
1912 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1913 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1914 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
773c272d 1915 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
8e40b9d1
M
1916 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1917 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1918 * **System Plugins**
1919 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1920 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
c8bc203f 19212. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
8e40b9d1
M
1922 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1923 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1924
19253. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
e756f45b 1926 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
8e174ba7 1927 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
8e40b9d1
M
1928 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1929 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1930
1931
8e174ba7 1932`.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1933* e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
8e40b9d1 1934
8e174ba7 1935Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
8e40b9d1
M
1936
1937## Developing Plugins
1938
8e174ba7 1939See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
8e40b9d1 1940
8e174ba7 1941All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
e756f45b 1942
773c272d 1943To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
8e40b9d1 1944
8e174ba7 1945If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
b7770046 1946
8e40b9d1 1947See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
8c6f4daa 1948
1949# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1950
1951yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1952
1953Your 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.
1954
1955From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1956
1957```python
59a7a13e 1958from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1959
3d3bb168 1960URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1961with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1962 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1963```
1964
b532a348 1965Most 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#L183) or `help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)` in a Python shell. If you are already familiar with the CLI, you can use [`devscripts/cli_to_api.py`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/devscripts/cli_to_api.py) to translate any CLI switches to `YoutubeDL` params.
8c6f4daa 1966
43cc91ad 1967**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
3d3bb168 1968
1969## Embedding examples
1970
43cc91ad 1971#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1972
1973```python
1974import json
8c6f4daa 1975import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1976
3d3bb168 1977URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1978
1979# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1980ydl_opts = {}
1981with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1982 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1983
1984 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1985 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1986```
43cc91ad 1987#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1988
1989```python
1990import yt_dlp
1991
1992INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1993
1994with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1995 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1996
1997print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1998 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1999```
2000
43cc91ad 2001#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 2002
2003```python
2004import yt_dlp
2005
2006URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2007
2008ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 2009 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 2010 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
2011 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
2012 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
2013 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
2014 }]
2015}
2016
2017with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2018 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2019```
0a41f331 2020
2021#### Filter videos
2022
2023```python
2024import yt_dlp
2025
2026URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2027
2028def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
2029 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
2030 duration = info.get('duration')
2031 if duration and duration < 60:
2032 return 'The video is too short'
2033
2034ydl_opts = {
2035 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2036}
2037
2038with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2039 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2040```
2041
43cc91ad 2042#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 2043
2044```python
2045import yt_dlp
2046
2047URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 2048
2049class MyLogger:
2050 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 2051 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 2052 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2053 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2054 pass
2055 else:
2056 self.info(msg)
2057
2058 def info(self, msg):
2059 pass
2060
2061 def warning(self, msg):
2062 pass
2063
2064 def error(self, msg):
2065 print(msg)
2066
2067
3d3bb168 2068# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2069def my_hook(d):
2070 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2071 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2072
2073
2074ydl_opts = {
2075 'logger': MyLogger(),
2076 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2077}
2078
2079with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2080 ydl.download(URLS)
2081```
2082
43cc91ad 2083#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2084
2085```python
2086import yt_dlp
2087
2088URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2089
2090# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2091class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2092 def run(self, info):
2093 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2094 return [], info
2095
2096
3d3bb168 2097with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2098 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2099 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2100 ydl.download(URLS)
2101```
8c6f4daa 2102
2103
43cc91ad 2104#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2105
2106```python
2107import yt_dlp
2108
c8bc203f 2109URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
3d3bb168 2110
093a1710 2111def format_selector(ctx):
2112 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2113 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2114
2115 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2116 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2117
2118 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2119 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2120 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2121
2122 # find compatible audio extension
2123 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2124 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2125 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2126 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2127
3d3bb168 2128 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2129 yield {
093a1710 2130 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2131 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2132 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2133 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2134 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2135 }
2136
2137
8c6f4daa 2138ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2139 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2140}
2141
2142with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2143 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2144```
2145
ec2e44fc 2146<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2147
e167860c 2148# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2149
2150These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2151
8130779d 2152#### Almost redundant options
2153While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2154
2155 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2156 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2157 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2158 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2159
6ccf351a 2160#### Redundant options
2161While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2162
53c18592 2163 --get-description --print description
2164 --get-duration --print duration_string
2165 --get-filename --print filename
2166 --get-format --print format
2167 --get-id --print id
2168 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2169 -e, --get-title --print title
2170 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2171 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2172 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2173 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2174 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
fe2ce85a 2175 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
8b7539d2 2176 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2177 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2178 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2179 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2180 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2181 --no-playlist-reverse Default
8417f26b 2182 --no-colors --color no_color
6ccf351a 2183
2184
2185#### Not recommended
2186While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2187
fe7866d0 2188 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2189 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2190 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2191 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2192 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2193 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2194 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2195 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2196 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2197 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2198 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2199 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2200 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2201 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2202 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2203 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2204 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2205 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
c1664464 2206 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2207 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2208 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2209 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
6ccf351a 2210
2211
2212#### Developer options
2213These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2214
34488702 2215 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2216 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2217 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2218 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2219 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2220
2221
2222#### Old aliases
2223These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2224
2225 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2226 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2227 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2228 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2229 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2230 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2231 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2232 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2233 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2234 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2235 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2236 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2237 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2238 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2239 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2240 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2241 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2242
7a340e0d 2243#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2244Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2245
2246 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2247 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2248 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2249 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2250 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2251 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2252 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2253 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2254
f4536226 2255#### No longer supported
2256These options may no longer work as intended
2257
2258 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2259 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2260 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2261 --no-call-home Default
2262 --include-ads No longer supported
2263 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2264 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2265 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2266 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2267
2268#### Removed
2269These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2270
f4536226 2271 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2272 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2273
8c6f4daa 2274# CONTRIBUTING
2275See [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 2276
17ffed18 2277# WIKI
2278See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information