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b31fdeed 1<div align="center">
2
d9d045e2 3# YT-DLP
b31fdeed 4A command-line program to download videos from YouTube and many other [video platforms](supportedsites.md)
d9d045e2 5
b31fdeed 6<!-- GHA doesnot have for-the-badge style
7a5c1cfe 7[![CI Status](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/workflows/Core%20Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
b31fdeed 8-->
9[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Release&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
10[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
11[![Doc Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/badge/?version=latest&style=for-the-badge)](https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
a7191c6f 12[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=discord&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
b31fdeed 13[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
a7191c6f 15[![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/total?style=for-the-badge&color=blue)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
b31fdeed 16[![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
c76eb41b 17
b31fdeed 18</div>
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
034b6215 22* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
c76eb41b 23* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
b31fdeed 24 * [Dependancies](#dependancies)
17fa3ee2 25 * [Update](#update)
26 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 27* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
28 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 29 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 30 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 31 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
32 * [Download Options](#download-options)
33 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 34 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 36 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 37 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
38 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
39 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
40 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
8a51f564 42 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 44* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 45 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 46* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 47 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
48 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 49* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 50 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
51 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
52 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 53* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
54 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
f74980cb 55* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
e167860c 56* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
c76eb41b 57* [MORE](#more)
b31fdeed 58</div>
50865ca8 59
60
034b6215 61# NEW FEATURES
f20f5fe5 62The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
034b6215 63
7a5c1cfe 64* **[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 65
90505ff1 66* **[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 that what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 67
a0f30f19 68* **Merged with youtube-dl v2021.04.07**: You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
034b6215 69
7a5c1cfe 70* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--get-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, Playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 71
f5546c0b 72* **Youtube improvements**:
aa837ddf 73 * All Youtube Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) works correctly and supports downloading multiple pages of content
74 * Youtube search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs works correctly
f20f5fe5 75 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
76
597c1866 77* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
78
b31fdeed 79* **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 80
b31fdeed 81* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 82
a0f30f19 83* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula
f20f5fe5 84
a0f30f19 85* **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter
034b6215 86
597c1866 87* **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 88
89* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
90
29b6000e 91* **Other new options**: `--parse-metadata`, `--list-formats-as-table`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 92
c25228e5 93* **Improvements**: Multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--external-downloader-args`, Date/time formatting in `-o`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
c69911e4 94
b31fdeed 95* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
96
7a5c1cfe 97* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 98
29b6000e 99
7a5c1cfe 100See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 101
102
90505ff1 103**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
f20f5fe5 104
b9650873 105If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
f20f5fe5 106
107
d19bb9c0 108# INSTALLATION
b31fdeed 109yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
50865ca8 110
7bc877a2 111You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
7a5c1cfe 112* Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
4ff5e989 113* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
7a5c1cfe
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114* Use pip+git: `python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
115* Install master branch: `python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
5f326cf5 116
5ba4a0b6
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117UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
118
119```
120sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
121sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
122```
123
124```
125sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
126sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
127```
128
129```
130sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
131sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
132```
133
b31fdeed 134### DEPENDANCIES
135
a0f30f19 136Python versions 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2+ are currently supported. However, 3.2+ is strongly recommended and python2 support will be deprecated in the future.
b31fdeed 137
138Although there are no required dependancies, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended. Other optional dependancies are `sponskrub`, `AtomicParsley`, `mutagen`, `pycryptodome` and any of the supported external downloaders. Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen and pycryptodome included.
139
c76eb41b 140### UPDATE
b31fdeed 141You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
aa837ddf 142If you are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
5f326cf5 143
c76eb41b 144### COMPILE
5f326cf5 145
c76eb41b 146**For Windows**:
5d25607a 147To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen and pycryptodome)
d19bb9c0 148
5d25607a 149 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome
e38df8f9 150
b3943b2f 151Once you have all the necessary dependancies installed, just run `py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it. It is strongly reccomended to use python3 although python2.6+ is supported.
5f326cf5 152
e38df8f9 153You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
154
7a5c1cfe 155 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
b96a939b 156
c76eb41b 157**For Unix**:
c74d1aa3 158You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `nosetests`
127d0759 159Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 160
e38df8f9 161**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 162
b31fdeed 163# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 164
7a5c1cfe 165 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 166
c2b5f311 167`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
c76eb41b 168<!-- Autogenerated -->
c2b5f311 169
c76eb41b 170## General Options:
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171 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
172 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 173 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
174 sure that you have sufficient permissions
175 (run with sudo if needed)
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176 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
177 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
8a51f564 178 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
179 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
180 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
1dc2726f 181 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
4b9f9010 182 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
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183 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
184 extractors
185 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
186 extractor
187 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
188 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
6623ac34 189 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
c4af7684 190 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
6623ac34 191 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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192 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
193 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
194 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 195 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 196 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 197 except the one provided by --config-location.
198 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 199 file, no further configuration files are
200 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
201 compatibility) if this option is found
202 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 203 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 204 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
205 either the path to the config or its
206 containing directory
c4af7684 207 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 208 only list them
6623ac34 209 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
bdf7f139 210 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
597c1866 211 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 212 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
08c1d0d3 213
149f05c7 214## Network Options:
28b4f736 215 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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216 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
217 scheme. For example
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218 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
219 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 220 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 221 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 222 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 223 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 224
b31fdeed 225## Geo-restriction:
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226 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
227 some geo-restricted sites. The default
228 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 229 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 230 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 231 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 232 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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233 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
234 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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235 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
236 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 237 country code
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238 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
239 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 240 notation
149f05c7 241
cfcec693 242## Video Selection:
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243 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
244 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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245 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
246 indices of the videos in the playlist
247 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
248 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
249 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
250 specify range: "--playlist-items
251 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 252 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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253 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
254 caseless sub-string)
255 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
256 caseless sub-string)
780083db 257 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
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258 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
259 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
260 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
261 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
6623ac34 262 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
263 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
264 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 265 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 266 this date. The date formats accepted is the
267 same as --date
c4af7684 268 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 269 this date. The date formats accepted is the
270 same as --date
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271 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
272 COUNT views
273 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
274 COUNT views
4d2fdb07 275 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
8a51f564 276 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
277 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
278 to check if the key is not present,
277d6ff5 279 key>NUMBER (like "view_count > 12", also
8a51f564 280 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
281 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
282 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
283 !=) to match against a string literal and &
284 to require multiple matches. Values which
285 are not known are excluded unless you put a
286 question mark (?) after the operator. For
287 example, to only match videos that have
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288 been liked more than 100 times and disliked
289 less than 50 times (or the dislike
290 functionality is not available at the given
291 service), but who also have a description,
292 use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
8a51f564 293 dislike_count <? 50 & description"
c76eb41b 294 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 295 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 296 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 297 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 298 a video and a playlist
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299 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
300 age
301 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
302 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 303 downloaded videos in it
8b0d7497 304 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 305 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 306 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 307 a file that has been filtered out
26e2805c 308 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
309 of the playlist is skipped
c76eb41b 310 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
6bcd846b 311
d5a62e4f 312## Download Options:
b31fdeed 313 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
314 video that should be download concurrently
315 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 316 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
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317 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
318 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 319 "infinite"
0be8314d 320 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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321 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
322 ISM)
6623ac34 323 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
324 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 325 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 326 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 327 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 328 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 329 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 330 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
331 downloading is finished (default)
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332 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
333 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 334 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
335 from an initial value of --buffer-size
336 (default)
337 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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338 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
339 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
340 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
341 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
342 (experimental)
2101f5d4 343 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 344 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 345 (default)
31487eb9 346 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 347 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 348 expected file size
9bd20204 349 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
350 allowing some players to play the video
351 while downloading, and reducing the chance
352 of file corruption if download is
353 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
354 live streams
355 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
356 videos. This is default when not
357 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 358 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
359 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
360 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
361 use it for. Currently supports native,
362 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
363 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
364 this option multiple times to set different
365 downloaders for different protocols. For
366 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
367 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
368 http/ftp downloads, and the native
369 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
370 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 371 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
372 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
373 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
29b6000e 374 can use this option multiple times
375 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 376
cfcec693 377## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 378 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
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379 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
380 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 381 comments and ignored
d818eb74 382 -P, --paths TYPES:PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 383 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 384 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
385 same types as --output are supported.
386 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
387 and "temp" paths. All intermediary files
388 are first downloaded to the temp path and
389 then the final files are moved over to the
390 home path after download is finished. This
391 option is ignored if --output is an
392 absolute path
d818eb74 393 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 394 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 395 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
396 fields in output filename template
397 (default: "NA")
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398 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
399 (default is 1)
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400 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
401 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
402 filenames
c76eb41b 403 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
404 filenames (default)
c2934512 405 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
406 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
407 using windows (default)
408 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
409 extension) to the specified number of
410 characters
9b45b9f5 411 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
412 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
413 This option includes --no-continue
414 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
415 related files (default)
c25228e5 416 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
417 (default)
418 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
419 fragments. If the file is unfragmented,
420 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 421 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 422 into output file (default)
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423 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
424 into output file
c76eb41b 425 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
426 file modification time (default)
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427 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
428 the file modification time
429 --write-description Write video description to a .description
430 file
6623ac34 431 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 432 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 433 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 434 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
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435 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
436 .annotations.xml file
6623ac34 437 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
cac96421 438 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
439 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
440 --write-description etc. (default)
441 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
442 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 443 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
444 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
445 could still contain some personal
446 information (default)
447 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
06167fbb 448 --get-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
277d6ff5 449 .info.json file. The comments are fetched
450 even without this option if the extraction
451 is known to be quick
d845622b 452 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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453 (created with the "--write-info-json"
454 option)
455 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
456 jar in
6623ac34 457 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
458 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
459 can store some downloaded information
82674236 460 permanently. By default
6623ac34 461 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
462 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
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463 YouTube player files (for videos with
464 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
8a51f564 465 may change
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466 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
467 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 468
b31fdeed 469## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 470 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 471 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 472 (default)
1dc2726f 473 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
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474 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
475 formats
2b1bd292 476
732044af 477## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 478 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
479 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
480 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
481 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
482 OS caches the URL based on the file path
483 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
484 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 485
0744a815 486## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
1dc2726f 487 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
6c072e7d 488 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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489 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
490 anything to disk
e167860c 491 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
492 related files (Alias: --no-download)
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493 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
494 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
495 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
496 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
497 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
498 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
499 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
500 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
c4af7684 501 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
8a51f564 502 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
503 available keys
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504 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
505 for each command-line argument. If the URL
506 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
8a51f564 507 playlist information in a single line
c4af7684 508 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
8a51f564 509 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
510 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
511 written as far as no errors occur,even if
512 -s or another simulation switch is used
513 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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514 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
515 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
516 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
517 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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518 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
519 to debug problems (very verbose)
520 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
521 files in the current directory to debug
522 problems
780083db 523 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 524
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525## Workarounds:
526 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
1dc2726f 527 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 528 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 529 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 530 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 531 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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532 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
533 access is restricted to one domain
534 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 535 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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536 option multiple times
537 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
538 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
539 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 540 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
541 during data extraction
c4af7684 542 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 543 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
544 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
545 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
546 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
547 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 548 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
549 subtitle download
36f35428 550
cfcec693 551## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 552 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
553 for more details
554 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
555 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 556 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
557 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 558 Formats" for more details
559 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 560 specified sort order (default), see
561 "Sorting Formats" for more details
562 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
563 into a single file
564 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
565 each output file (default)
566 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
567 into a single file
568 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
569 each output file (default)
da9be05e 570 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
571 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
572 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
573 containers irrespective of quality
574 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
575 containers (default)
535d7b68 576 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
bb6ac836 577 videos
8a51f564 578 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in tabular form
579 (default)
c76eb41b 580 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
8a51f564 581 (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
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582 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
583 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
584 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
585 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
63ad4d43 586 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
587 downloaded. All video postprocessing will
588 also be turned off
589 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
590 listed or downloaded (default)
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591
592## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 593 --write-subs Write subtitle file
594 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
595 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 596 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
597 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
598 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
1dc2726f 599 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
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600 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
601 preference, for example: "srt" or
602 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 603 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
604 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
605 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
606 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
607 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
608 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
609 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 610
cfcec693 611## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 612 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 613 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 614 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 615 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 616 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
29f7c58a 617 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 618 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 619 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
620 a list of available MSOs
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621 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
622 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 623 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
624 interactively
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625 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
626 operators
627
c76eb41b 628## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 629 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 630 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
c4af7684 631 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
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632 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
633 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
634 -x
e4172ac9 635 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
636 value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
637 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 638 (default 5)
c76eb41b 639 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 640 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
641 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
642 target container does not support the
06167fbb 643 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
644 can specify multiple rules; eg.
645 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
646 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 647 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
29b6000e 648 re-encoding is necessary. The supported
649 formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 650 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 651 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 652 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
653 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 654 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
655 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
656 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
657 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
658 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
659 FixupStretched, FixupM4a and FixupM3u8. The
660 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
661 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
662 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
663 arguments to the specified executable only
664 when being used by the specified
665 postprocessor. Additionally, for
666 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
667 to the prefix optionally followed by a
668 number to pass the argument before the
669 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
670 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
671 this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 672 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 673 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 674 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 675 after post-processing
c76eb41b 676 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 677 post-processing (default)
678 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
679 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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680 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
681 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 682 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
1dc2726f 683 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
6623ac34 684 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
1dc2726f 685 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
6623ac34 686 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
73cd218f 687 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
688 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
689 for details
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690 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
691 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
692 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
693 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
694 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
695 default; fix file if we can, warn
696 otherwise)
e4172ac9 697 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
698 path to the binary or its containing
699 directory
c4af7684 700 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
9de3ea31 701 downloading and post-processing. Similar
702 syntax to the output template can be used
703 to pass any field as arguments to the
704 command. An additional field "filepath"
705 that contains the final path of the
706 downloaded file is also available. If no
707 fields are passed, "%(filepath)s" is
708 appended to the end of the command
e167860c 709 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
9fc41bcb 710 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
e167860c 711 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 712 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
713 (currently supported: jpg)
72755351 714 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
715 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
716 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
717 to set the output filename for the split
718 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
719 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
720 (default)
6bcd846b 721
8a51f564 722## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
7a5c1cfe 723[SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
8a51f564 724 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
725 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
726
727 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
728 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
729 binary exists (Youtube only)
c76eb41b 730 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
a9e7f546 731 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
732 simply marking them
6623ac34 733 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
734 them out (default)
c76eb41b 735 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
736 downloaded
6623ac34 737 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
738 video was already downloaded (default)
c76eb41b 739 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
740 the path to the binary or its containing
8a51f564 741 directory
a9e7f546 742
78895bd3 743## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 744 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 745 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 746 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 747 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
748 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
749 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 750 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
751 discontinuities such as ad breaks
752 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
753 formats at discontinuities such as ad
754 breaks (default)
755 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
756 data on YouTube videos (default)
757 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
758 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
759 related data on YouTube videos
760 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
761 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
762 on YouTube videos (default)
763 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
764 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
765 related data on YouTube videos
766 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
17cb02d0 767
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768# CONFIGURATION
769
7a5c1cfe 770You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 771
0202b52a 7721. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
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7731. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
7741. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 7751. **User Configuration**:
776 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
777 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
778 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
779 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
780 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
781 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
782
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783 Note that `~` points to `C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also, `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined
7841. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf` or `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 785
7a5c1cfe 786For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
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787```
788# Lines starting with # are comments
789
790# Always extract audio
791-x
792
793# Do not copy the mtime
794--no-mtime
795
796# Use this proxy
797--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
798
298f597b 799# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
800-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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801```
802
e2e43aea 803Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
b7770046 804
7a5c1cfe 805You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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806
807### Authentication with `.netrc` file
808
7a5c1cfe 809You 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 your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
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810```
811touch $HOME/.netrc
812chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
813```
814After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
815```
816machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
817```
818For example:
819```
820machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
821machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
822```
7a5c1cfe 823To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
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824
825On Windows you may also need to setup the `%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
826```
827set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
828```
829
830# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
831
0202b52a 832The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
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833
834**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
835
b050d210 836The basic 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). However, it may 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/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations. Date/time fields can also be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it inside the parantheses separated from the field name using a `>`. For example, `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`.
de6000d9 837
b31fdeed 838Additionally, 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 filetypes supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation`, `infojson`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video.
e29663c6 839
840The available fields are:
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841
842 - `id` (string): Video identifier
843 - `title` (string): Video title
844 - `url` (string): Video URL
845 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
846 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 847 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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848 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
849 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
850 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
851 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
852 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
853 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
854 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
855 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
856 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
857 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
858 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
859 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
dbbbe555 860 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
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861 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
862 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
863 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
864 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
865 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 866 - `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)
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867 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
868 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 869 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 870 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 871 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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872 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
873 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 874 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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875 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
876 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
877 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
878 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
879 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
880 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
881 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
882 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
883 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
884 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
885 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
886 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
887 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
888 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
889 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
890 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
891 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
892 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
893 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
894 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
895 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
896 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
897 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
898 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
899 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
900 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
901
902Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
903
904 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
905 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
906 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
907
908Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
909
910 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
911 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
912 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
913 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
914 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
915 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
916 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
917
918Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
919
920 - `track` (string): Title of the track
921 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
922 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
923 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
924 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
925 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
926 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
927 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
928 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
929 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
930
b050d210 931Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 932
933 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
934 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
935 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
936 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
937
a820dc72 938Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 939
7a5c1cfe 940For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
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941
942For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
943
944Output 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.
945
946To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
947
91ebc640 948The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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949
950In 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:
951
952#### Output template and Windows batch files
953
954If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
955
956#### Output template examples
957
de6000d9 958Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
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959
960```bash
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961$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
962youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 963
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964$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
965youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
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966
967# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 968$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 969
b050d210 970# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 971$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 972
b7770046 973# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 974$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
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975
976# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 977$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P '~/MyVideos' -o '%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
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978
979# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 980$ 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
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981
982# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 983$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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984```
985
986# FORMAT SELECTION
987
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988By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
989This 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 990
eff63539 991The 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.
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992
993**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
994
995The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
996
997You 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.
998
999You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1000
e094cec1 1001 - `all`: Select all formats
f8d4ad9a 1002 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1003 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1004 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
909d24dd 1005 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1006 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1007 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1008 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1009 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1010 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1011 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1012 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1013 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1014 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1015
eff63539 1016For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1017
1018You 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 1019
eb8a4433 1020If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
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1021
1022If 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`.
1023
e4172ac9 1024You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg. If `--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if `--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1025
1026## Filtering Formats
1027
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1028You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1029
1030The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1031
1032 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1033 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1034 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1035 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1036 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1037 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1038 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1039 - `fps`: Frame rate
1040
1041Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1042
1043 - `ext`: File extension
1044 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1045 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1046 - `container`: Name of the container format
1047 - `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`)
1048 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1049 - `language`: Language code
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1050
1051Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1052
f96bff99 1053Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the video hoster. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1054
e094cec1 1055Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1056
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1057Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1058
eb8a4433 1059## Sorting Formats
1060
1061You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`. The available fields are:
1062
63be1aab 1063 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1064 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1065 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1066 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1067 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1068 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
a7191c6f 1069 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native` > `m3u8` > `http_dash_segments` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1070 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
63be1aab 1071 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1072 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1073 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1074 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1075 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
eb8a4433 1076 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
63be1aab 1077 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1078 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1079 - `height`: Height of video
1080 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1081 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1082 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1083 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1084 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1085 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1086 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1087 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
eb8a4433 1088
b050d210 1089Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two prefered values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
eb8a4433 1090
dca3ff4a 1091The fields `hasvid`, `ie_pref`, `lang` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `quality,res,fps,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1092
1093If your format selector is `worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all repects. 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`.
1094
1095**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1096
eb8a4433 1097## Format Selection examples
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1098
1099Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1100
1101```bash
909d24dd 1102# Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1103# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1104$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1105
1106# Download best format that contains video,
1107# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1108$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1109
1110# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1111$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1112
6fd35a11 1113# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1114# For this case, an output template should be used since
1115# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1116$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1117
f8d4ad9a 1118# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1119# and all audio-only formats into one file
1120$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1121
1122# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1123# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1124$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1125
6fd35a11 1126
1127# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1128# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1129
1130# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1131$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1132
1133# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1134$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1135
1136# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1137$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1138
1139
909d24dd 1140
eb8a4433 1141# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1142$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1143
1144# Download the best video with the best extension
1145# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1146$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1147
1148
909d24dd 1149
eb8a4433 1150# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1151# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1152$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1153
eb8a4433 1154# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1155# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1156$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1157
eb8a4433 1158# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1159# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1160# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1161# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1162$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1163
b7770046 1164
909d24dd 1165
eb8a4433 1166# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1167# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1168$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1169
1170# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1171# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1172$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1173
1174# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1175$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1176
1177
909d24dd 1178
eb8a4433 1179# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1180# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1181$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1182
1183# Download best video available via the best protocol
1184# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1185$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1186
1187
909d24dd 1188
eb8a4433 1189# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1190$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1191
1192# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1193# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1194$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1195
1196# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1197# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1198$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1199
1200
1201
1202# More complex examples
1203
1204# Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
2af884ff 1205# or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1206$ 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 1207
1208# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1209# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
eb8a4433 1210# prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1211$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1212
1213
909d24dd 1214
eb8a4433 1215# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1216# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1217# prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1218$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1219```
eb8a4433 1220
73cd218f 1221# MODIFYING METADATA
1222
b31fdeed 1223The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata FROM:TO`. The general syntax is to give the name of a field or a template (with similar syntax to [output template](#output-template)) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1224
1225Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1226
1227You can also use this to change only 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", for example.
1228
1229## Modifying metadata examples
1230
1231Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1232
1233```bash
1234# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1235$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1236
1237# Regex example
02aabd45 1238$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1239
1240# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1241$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1242
1243# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1244$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1245
1246```
1247
f74980cb 1248# PLUGINS
b7770046 1249
f74980cb 1250Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only `extractor` plugins are supported. Support for `downloader` and `postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
b7770046 1251
7a5c1cfe 1252**Note**: `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`)
b7770046 1253
e167860c 1254# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1255
1256These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1257
1258 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1259 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1260 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1261 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1262 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
d9aa2332 1263 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1264 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
e167860c 1265 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
73cd218f 1266 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
e167860c 1267 --prefer-avconv avconv is no longer officially supported (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1268 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
52a8a1e1 1269 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1270 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
e167860c 1271 --avconv-location avconv is no longer officially supported
1272 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1273 --no-call-home Default
d9aa2332 1274 --include-ads Not implemented
1275 --no-include-ads Default
e167860c 1276 --write-srt --write-subs
1277 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1278 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1279 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1280 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1281 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1282 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1283 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1284 --youtube-print-sig-code No longer supported
1285 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1286 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1287 --load-info --load-info-json
1288 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1289 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1290 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1291 --test Only used for testing extractors
1292
1293
c2b5f311 1294# MORE
5bfa4862 1295For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the [original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)