]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[extractor/nzherald] Support new video embed (#5493)
[yt-dlp.git] / README.md
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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")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
46d09f87 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/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
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)
50865ca8 52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
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)
8c6f4daa 64* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 65 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 66* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 67* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
68 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
69 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 70* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 71 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 72<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 73
74
034b6215 75# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 76
1ac7f461 77* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/ed5c44e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/ed5c44e7b74ac77f87ca5ed6cb5e964a0c6a0678)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 78
304ad45a 79* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 80
7581d246 81* **[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 82
ae6a1b95 83* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 84
ae61d108 85* **YouTube improvements**:
86 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
88 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
89 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
90 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
86973308 91 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
f20f5fe5 92
304ad45a 93* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
245524e6 94
5ec1b6b7 95* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
96
597c1866 97* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
98
b31fdeed 99* **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 100
b31fdeed 101* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 102
e75bb0d6 103* **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 104
56ba69e4 105* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 106
3de7c2ce 107* **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 108
597c1866 109* **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 110
d4ada357 111* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 112
418964fa 113* **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 114
8a82af35 115* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 116
08d30158 117* **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 118
86c1a8aa 119* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 120
7a5c1cfe 121* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 122
7a5c1cfe 123See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 124
ae61d108 125Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
126
53ed7066 127### Differences in default behavior
128
0930b11f 129Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 130
96565c7e 131* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 132* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 133* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 134* 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 135* 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 136* 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 137* 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 138* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 139* 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 140* `--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 141* 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 142* `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
143* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 144* 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 145* 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 146* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 147* 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 148* 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 149* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 150* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 151* 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 152* `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 153* 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
53ed7066 154
155For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 156
8a82af35 157* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 158* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
159* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 160
f20f5fe5 161
d19bb9c0 162# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 163
fc5fa964 164<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
165[![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 166[![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 167[![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 168[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 169[![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)
170[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 171[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 172<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
173
17ffed18 174You 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 175
b8773e63 176
a4211baf 177## UPDATE
17ffed18 178You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
179
180If 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 181
17ffed18 182For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 183
cf59cd4d 184
ec2e44fc 185<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 186## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 187
733d8e8f 188#### Recommended
189
190File|Description
191:---|:---
962ffcf8 192[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 193[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 194[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 195
196#### Alternatives
197
0e5927ee
R
198File|Description
199:---|:---
0930b11f 200[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 201[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 202[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
203[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
0930b11f 204[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
205[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 206[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 207
208#### Misc
209
210File|Description
211:---|:---
17ffed18 212[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee
R
213[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
214[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 215<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 216
17ffed18 217
218Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
219
a4211baf 220## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 221Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 222
c9652aa4 223<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
224<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 225On 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 226-->
fac98805 227
e75bb0d6 228While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 229
8aa0e7cd 230### Strongly recommended
231
b69fd25c 232* [**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 233
234 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
235 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
236
237### Networking
d5820461 238* [**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 239* [**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>
240* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
241
242### Metadata
243
244* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
245* [**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)
246* [**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 **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
247
248### Misc
249
250* [**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 251* [**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 252* [**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 253* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 254
deae7c17 255### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 256
257* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
258* [**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 259* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
260* [**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 261
cf59cd4d 262To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
263
f2df4071 264The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 265
8aa0e7cd 266If 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 267
5f326cf5 268
a4211baf 269## COMPILE
5f326cf5 270
8aa0e7cd 271### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 272To 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 273
8aa0e7cd 274 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
275 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
276 python3 pyinst.py
277
278On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
279
73ac0e6b 280`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).
281
d2c8aadf 282Note that pyinstaller with 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 283
284**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 285
8aa0e7cd 286### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 287You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 288
8aa0e7cd 289After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 290
a831c2ea 291You 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 292
8aa0e7cd 293### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
294
295While 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.
296
297If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
298
299 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
301 py setup.py py2exe
302
303### Related scripts
304
70b23409 305* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
306* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
8aa0e7cd 307* **`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.
308
304ad45a 309You can also fork the project on GitHub and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
59a7a13e 310
b31fdeed 311# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 312
ec2e44fc 313<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 314 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 315
c2b5f311 316`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 317<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 318
ec2e44fc 319<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 320## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 321 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
322 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 323 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
324 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
2dd5a2e3 325 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
326 The download will be considered successful
327 even if the postprocessing fails
328 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
329 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
330 playlist (default)
331 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
332 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
333 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
334 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
335 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
336 extractors and exit
2516cafb 337 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 338 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
339 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
340 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
341 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
342 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 343 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 344 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 345 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
346 google videos for the search term "python".
347 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
348 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
349 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
350 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
351 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
352 possible instead of searching
353 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
354 except those given by --config-locations.
355 For backward compatibility, if this option
356 is found inside the system configuration
357 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
358 (Alias: --no-config)
359 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
360 (default). When given inside a configuration
361 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
362 defined in the current file
363 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
364 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 365 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
366 used multiple times and inside other
367 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 368 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
369 only list them
370 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
371 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
372 Currently only supported for YouTube
373 (Experimental)
374 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
375 (default)
376 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
377 available. Pass the minimum number of
378 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
379 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
380 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
381 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 382 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
383 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 384 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
385 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
386 configurations by reverting some of the
387 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
388 default behavior" for details
389 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
390 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
391 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
392 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 393 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 394 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
395 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
396 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
397 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
398 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
399 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 400 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 401 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
402 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 403 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 404
149f05c7 405## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 406 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
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407 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
408 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
409 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
410 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 411 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
412 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
413 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
414 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 415
b31fdeed 416## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 417 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
418 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
419 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
420 is not present) is used for the actual
421 downloading
422 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
423 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
424 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
425 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
426 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
427 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
428 country code
429 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 430 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 431
cfcec693 432## Video Selection:
962ffcf8 433 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
7e88d7d7 434 to download. You can specify a range using
435 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
436 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
437 Use negative indices to count from the right
438 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 439 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
7e88d7d7 440 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
441 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
62b58c09
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442 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
443 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
444 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE,
445 e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 446 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
447 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
448 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
62b58c09 449 E.g. --date today-2weeks
2dd5a2e3 450 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
452 same as --date
453 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
454 this date. The date formats accepted is the
455 same as --date
456 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
457 field can be compared with a number or a
458 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 459 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 460 specify a field to match if the field is
461 present, use "!field" to check if the field
462 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
463 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
464 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
465 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 466 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 467 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
468 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
469 only videos that are not live OR those that
470 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
471 field is not available) and also has a
472 description that contains the phrase "cats &
473 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
474 interactively ask whether to download each
475 video
476 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
477 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
478 to a video and a playlist
479 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
480 a video and a playlist
481 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
482 age
483 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
484 archive file. Record the IDs of all
485 downloaded videos in it
486 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
487 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
488 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
489 a file that is in the archive
490 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
491 a file that has been filtered out
d2c8aadf 492 --break-per-input --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject,
493 --max-downloads, and autonumber resets per
2dd5a2e3 494 input URL
495 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
496 terminates the entire download queue
497 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
498 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 499
d5a62e4f 500## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 501 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
502 video that should be downloaded concurrently
503 (default is 1)
62b58c09
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504 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
505 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 506 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
507 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 508 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 509 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
510 "infinite"
511 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
512 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
513 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
514 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 515 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
516 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
517 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
518 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
519 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
520 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
521 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 522 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 523 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
524 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
525 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
526 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
527 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
528 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
529 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
530 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
531 downloading is finished
532 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
533 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 534 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 535 (default is 1024)
536 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
537 from an initial value of --buffer-size
538 (default)
539 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
540 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 541 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 542 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
543 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
544 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 545 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 546 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
547 received. This disables n_entries,
548 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
549 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
550 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 551 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
552 expected file size
553 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
554 allowing some players to play the video
555 while downloading, and reducing the chance
556 of file corruption if download is
557 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
558 live streams
559 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
560 videos. This is default when not downloading
561 live streams
5ec1b6b7 562 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
563 the given regular expression. Time ranges
564 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
565 of chapters to download the specified range.
62b58c09
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566 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
567 multiple times to download multiple
568 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 569 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 570 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
571 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
572 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
573 use it for. Currently supports native,
574 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
575 wget. You can use this option multiple times
576 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 577 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 578 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
579 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
580 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
581 (Alias: --external-downloader)
582 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
583 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
584 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
585 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
586 positions using the same syntax as
587 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
588 option multiple times to give different
589 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
590 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 591
cfcec693 592## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 593 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
594 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
595 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
596 comments and ignored
597 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
598 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
599 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
600 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
601 TYPES as --output are supported.
602 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
603 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
604 files are first downloaded to the temp path
605 and then the final files are moved over to
606 the home path after download is finished.
607 This option is ignored if --output is an
608 absolute path
609 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
610 TEMPLATE" for details
611 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
612 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
613 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
614 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
615 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
616 filenames (default)
617 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
618 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
619 using Windows (default)
620 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
621 extension) to the specified number of
622 characters
623 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
624 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
625 option includes --no-continue
626 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
627 related files (default)
628 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
629 (default)
630 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
631 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
632 restart download of the entire file
633 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
634 into output file (default)
635 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
636 output file
637 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
638 modification time (default)
639 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
640 the file modification time
64fa820c 641 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 642 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
643 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
644 (this may contain personal information)
645 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
646 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
647 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
648 --write-description etc. (default)
649 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
650 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
651 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
652 from the infojson. Note that it could still
653 contain some personal information (default)
654 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
655 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
656 infojson. The comments are fetched even
657 without this option if the extraction is
658 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
659 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
660 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
661 --no-get-comments)
662 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 663 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 664 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
665 and dump cookie jar in
666 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
667 (default)
825d3ce3 668 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
669 The name of the browser to load cookies
670 from. Currently supported browsers are:
671 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
672 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
673 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
674 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
675 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
676 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
677 be given with their respective seperators.
678 By default, all containers of the most
679 recently accessed profile are used.
680 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
681 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 682 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 683 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
684 store some downloaded information (such as
685 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 686 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 687 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
688 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 689
b31fdeed 690## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 691 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 692 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 693 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
694 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
695 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 696
732044af 697## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 698 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
699 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
700 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
701 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
702 OS caches the URL based on the file path
703 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
704 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 705
0744a815 706## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 707 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
708 print the log to stderr
709 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
710 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
711 anything to disk
712 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
713 options are used
714 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
715 extracting metadata even if the videos are
716 not actually available for download
717 (experimental)
718 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
719 formats are found (default)
720 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
721 related files (Alias: --no-download)
722 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
723 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
724 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
725 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
726 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
727 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
728 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
729 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 730 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 731 Append given template to the file. The
732 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
733 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
734 output template. This option can be used
735 multiple times
736 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
737 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
738 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
739 description of available keys
740 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
741 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
742 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
743 a playlist, the whole playlist information
744 is dumped in a single line
745 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
746 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
747 another simulation option is used (Alias:
748 --force-download-archive)
749 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
750 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
751 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
752 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 753 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 754 Template for progress outputs, optionally
755 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
756 "download-title:" (the console title),
757 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
758 The video's fields are accessible under the
759 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 760 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 761 --console-title --progress-template
762 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
763 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
764 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
765 to debug problems (very verbose)
766 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
767 in the current directory to debug problems
768 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 769
36f35428 770## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 771 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
772 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
773 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
774 renegotiation
775 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
776 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
777 information about the video (Currently
778 supported only for YouTube)
779 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
780 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
781 option multiple times
782 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
783 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
784 or fribidi executable in PATH
785 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
786 during data extraction
787 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
788 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
789 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
790 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
791 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
792 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
793 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
794 subtitle download
36f35428 795
cfcec693 796## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 797 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
798 for more details
799 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
800 "Sorting Formats" for more details
801 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
802 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
803 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
804 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
805 specified sort order (default)
806 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
807 into a single file
808 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
809 output file (default)
810 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
811 into a single file
812 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
813 output file (default)
814 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
815 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
816 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
817 irrespective of quality
818 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
819 containers (default)
820 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
821 those that are actually downloadable
822 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
823 actually downloadable
824 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
825 downloadable
826 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
827 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 828 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 829 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
830 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
831 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
832
833## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 834 --write-subs Write subtitle file
835 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
836 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
837 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
838 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
839 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
840 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
841 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
842 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 843 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 844 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
845 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
846 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 847 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
848 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
849 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 850 of available language tags
6bcd846b 851
cfcec693 852## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 853 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
854 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
855 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
856 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
857 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
858 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
859 either the path or its containing directory.
860 Defaults to ~/.netrc
861 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
862 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
863 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
864 a list of available MSOs
865 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
866 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
867 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
868 interactively
869 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
870 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
871 format. May include the private key
872 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
873 Path to private key file for client
874 certificate
bb58c9ed 875 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 876 Password for client certificate private key,
877 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
878 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 879
c76eb41b 880## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 881 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
882 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 883 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
884 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 885 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 886 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
887 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 888 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
889 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
890 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
891 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
892 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 893 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
894 mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
895 m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 896 target container does not support the
897 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
62b58c09 898 can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 899 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 900 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 901 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
902 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
903 are the same as --remux-video
904 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
905 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
906 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
907 to give the argument to the specified
908 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
909 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
910 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
911 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
912 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
913 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
914 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
915 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
916 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
917 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
918 specified executable only when being used by
919 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
920 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
921 appended to the prefix optionally followed
922 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 923 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 924 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
925 this option multiple times to give different
926 arguments to different postprocessors.
927 (Alias: --ppa)
928 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
929 after post-processing
930 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
931 post-processing (default)
932 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
933 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
934 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
935 webm and mkv videos)
936 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
937 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
938 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
939 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
940 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
941 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
942 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
943 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
944 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
945 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
946 (Alias: --add-chapters)
947 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
948 --no-add-chapters)
949 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
950 mkv/mka video files
951 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
952 to the video file
953 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
954 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
955 for details
e9f4ccd1 956 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 957 Replace text in a metadata field using the
958 given regex. This option can be used
959 multiple times
960 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
961 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
962 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
963 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
964 (default; only when the videos form a single
965 show). All the video files must have same
966 codecs and number of streams to be
967 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
968 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
969 the output filename for the concatenated
970 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
971 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
972 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
973 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
974 default; fix file if we can, warn
975 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
976 already exists)
977 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 978 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 979 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
980 when to execute it (after_move if
981 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
982 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
983 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
984 output template can be used to pass any
985 field as arguments to the command. After
986 download, an additional field "filepath"
987 that contains the final path of the
988 downloaded file is also available, and if no
989 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
990 to the end of the command. This option can
991 be used multiple times
992 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
993 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 994 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 995 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
996 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 997 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
998 can specify multiple rules using similar
999 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1000 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1001 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1002 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1003 the output filename for the split files. See
1004 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1005 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1006 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1007 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1008 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1009 be used multiple times
1010 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1011 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1012 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1013 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1014 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1015 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1016 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1017 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1018 when cutting/splitting (default)
1019 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1020 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1021 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1022 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1023 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1024 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1025 The "when" argument determines when the
1026 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1027 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1028 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1029 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1030 "post_process" (after each video download;
1031 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1032 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1033 (after downloading and processing all
1034 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1035 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1036 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1037
1038## SponsorBlock Options:
1039Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1040 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1041 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1042
2dd5a2e3 1043 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1044 for, separated by commas. Available
1045 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1046 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
63c547d7 1047 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all and
2dd5a2e3 1048 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1049 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
62b58c09 1050 description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1051 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1052 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1053 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1054 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1055 category is present in both mark and remove,
1056 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1057 available categories are the same as for
1058 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
63c547d7
AR
1059 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight and
1060 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1061 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1062 An output template for the title of the
1063 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1064 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1065 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1066 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1067 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1068 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1069 --sponsorblock-remove
1070 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1071 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1072
78895bd3 1073## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1074 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1075 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1076 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1077 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1078 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1079 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1080 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1081 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1082 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1083 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1084 (default)
2fa669f7 1085 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1086 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1087 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1088 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1089
b7770046
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1090# CONFIGURATION
1091
7a5c1cfe 1092You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1093
878eac3e 10941. **Main Configuration**:
1095 * The file given by `--config-location`
10961. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1097 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1098 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
10991. **Home Configuration**:
1100 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1101 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11021. **User Configuration**:
878eac3e 1103 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1104 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1105 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1106 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1107 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1108 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1109
878eac3e 1110 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11111. **System Configuration**:
1112 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1113
62b58c09 1114E.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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1115```
1116# Lines starting with # are comments
1117
1118# Always extract audio
1119-x
1120
1121# Do not copy the mtime
1122--no-mtime
1123
1124# Use this proxy
1125--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1126
298f597b 1127# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1128-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1129```
1130
2fa669f7 1131Note 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`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1132
a4211baf 1133You 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 1134
304ad45a 1135### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1136
304ad45a 1137The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1138
88f60feb 1139If 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 1140
b7770046
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1141### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1142
304ad45a 1143You 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 1144```
878eac3e 1145touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1146chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
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1147```
1148After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1149```
0001fcb5 1150machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1151```
62b58c09 1152E.g.
b7770046
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1153```
1154machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1155machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1156```
7a5c1cfe 1157To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1158
878eac3e 1159The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1160
1161### Notes about environment variables
1162* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1163* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1164* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1165* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1166* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
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1167
1168# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1169
0202b52a 1170The `-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 1171
ec2e44fc 1172<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1173**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1174<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1175
e58c22a0 1176The 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 1177
62b58c09 1178It 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 1179
1180The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1181
07a1250e 11821. **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 1183
62b58c09 11841. **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 1185
62b58c09 11861. **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 1187
62b58c09 11881. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1189
304ad45a 11901. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
e978789f 1191
17ffed18 11921. **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 1193
9b9dad11 11941. **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 1195
d5d1df8a 11961. **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 1197
1198To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1199```
e978789f 1200%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1201```
de6000d9 1202
62b58c09 1203Additionally, 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 1204
1205The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1206
1207 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1208 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1209 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1210 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1211 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1212 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1213 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1214 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1215 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1216 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1217 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1218 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1219 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1220 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1221 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1222 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1223 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1224 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1225 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1226 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U
1227 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1228 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1229 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1230 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1231 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U
1232 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1233 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1234 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1235 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1236 - `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 1237 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1238 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1239 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1240 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1241 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1242 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U
1243 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1244 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1245 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1246 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1247 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1248 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1249 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1250 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1251 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1252 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1253 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1254 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1255 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1256 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
U
1257 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1258 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1259 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1260 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1261 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1262 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1263
1264All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U
1265
1266Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1267
1268 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1269 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1270 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1271
1272Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1273
1274 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1275 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1276 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1277 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1278 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1279 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1280 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1281
1282Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1283
1284 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1285 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1286 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1287 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1288 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1289 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1290 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1291 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1292 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1293 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1294
5ec1b6b7 1295Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1296
1297 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1298 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1299 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1300 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1301
53c18592 1302Available only when used in `--print`:
1303
1304 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1305 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1306 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1307 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1308 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1309 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1310
7a340e0d
NA
1311
1312Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1313
1314 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1315 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1316 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA
1317 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1318 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1319 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1320 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1321
62b58c09 1322Each 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 1323
1324Note 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 1325
0930b11f 1326**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1327
62b58c09 1328For 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 1329
940a67a3 1330Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
U
1331
1332To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1333
91ebc640 1334The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1335
f304da8a 1336In 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 1337
b7770046
U
1338#### Output template examples
1339
b7770046 1340```bash
d2c8aadf 1341$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1342test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1343
d2c8aadf 1344$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1345youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1346
d2c8aadf 1347$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1348youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1349
1350# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1351$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1352
b050d210 1353# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1354$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1355
e978789f 1356# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1357$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1358
b7770046 1359# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1360$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1361
1362# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1363$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
U
1364
1365# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1366$ 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 1367
6a34813a 1368# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1369# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1370$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1371
1372# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1373$ 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
1374
b7770046 1375# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1376$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1377```
1378
1379# FORMAT SELECTION
1380
7a5c1cfe
P
1381By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1382This 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 1383
c111cefa 1384**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.
1385
eff63539 1386The 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 1387
ec2e44fc 1388<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1389**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1390<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1391
62b58c09 1392The 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
1393
1394You 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.
1395
fa9f30b8 1396You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1397
b7770046
U
1398You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1399
59a7a13e 1400 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1401 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1402 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1403 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1404 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1405 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1406 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1407 - `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 1408 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1409 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1410 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1411 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1412 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1413 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1414
d4ada357 1415For 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 1416
1417You 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 1418
304ad45a 1419If 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
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1420
1421If 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`.
1422
62b58c09 1423You 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 1424
1425**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
1426
304ad45a 1427Unless `--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 1428
1429## Filtering Formats
1430
b7770046
U
1431You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1432
1433The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1434
1435 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1436 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1437 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1438 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1439 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1440 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1441 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1442 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1443 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1444 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1445 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1446
1ce9a3cb 1447Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1448
d2c8aadf 1449 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1450 - `ext`: File extension
1451 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1452 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1453 - `container`: Name of the container format
1454 - `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 1455 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1456 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1457 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1458 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1459 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1460 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1461
1ce9a3cb 1462Any 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 1463
e58c22a0 1464Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1465
62b58c09 1466Formats 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, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1467
62b58c09 1468Format 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 1469
eb8a4433 1470## Sorting Formats
1471
2e7781a9 1472You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1473
1474The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1475
304ad45a 1476 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1477 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1478 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1479 - `lang`: The language preference
1480 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1481 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1482 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1483 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1484 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1485 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1486 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1487 - `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 1488 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1489 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1490 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1491 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1492 - `height`: Height of video
1493 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1494 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1495 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1496 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1497 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1498 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1499 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1500 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1501 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1502 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1503
1504**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 1505
62b58c09 1506All 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 1507
7e798d72 1508The 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 1509
7e798d72 1510Note 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 1511
e58c22a0 1512If 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 1513
1514**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1515
eb8a4433 1516## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1517
b7770046 1518```bash
e58c22a0 1519# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1520# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1521$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1522
1523# Download best format that contains video,
1524# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1525$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1526
1527# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1528$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1529
6fd35a11 1530# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1531# For this case, an output template should be used since
1532# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1533$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1534
f8d4ad9a 1535# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1536# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1537$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1538
1539# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1540# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1541$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1542
6fd35a11 1543
1544# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1545# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1546
1547# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1548$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1549
1550# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1551$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1552
1553# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1554$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1555
1556
909d24dd 1557
eb8a4433 1558# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1559$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1560
1561# Download the best video with the best extension
1562# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1563$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1564
1565
909d24dd 1566
eb8a4433 1567# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1568# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1569$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1570
eb8a4433 1571# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1572# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1573$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1574
eb8a4433 1575# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1576# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1577# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1578# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1579$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1580
b7770046 1581
909d24dd 1582
eb8a4433 1583# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1584# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1585$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1586
1587# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1588# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1590
1591# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1592$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1593
1594
909d24dd 1595
eb8a4433 1596# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1597# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1598$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1599
1600# Download best video available via the best protocol
1601# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1602$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1603
1604
909d24dd 1605
1ce9a3cb
LF
1606# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1607# or the best video if there is no such video
1608$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1609
1610# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1611# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1612$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1613
1614# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1615# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1616$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1617
1618
1619
1620# More complex examples
1621
e58c22a0 1622# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1623# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1624$ 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 1625
1626# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1627# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1628# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1629$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1630
1631
909d24dd 1632
eb8a4433 1633# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1634# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1635# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1636$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1637```
eb8a4433 1638
73cd218f 1639# MODIFYING METADATA
1640
a4211baf 1641The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1642
418964fa 1643`--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 1644
46d09f87 1645The 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 1646
46d09f87 1647Note 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 1648
9c2b75b5 1649This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1650
62b58c09 1651* 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 1652
62b58c09 1653* 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 1654
08d30158 1655**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.
1656
c31be5b0 1657For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1658
08d30158 1659Metadata fields | From
1660:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1661`title` | `track` or `title`
1662`date` | `upload_date`
1663`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1664`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1665`track` | `track_number`
1666`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1667`genre` | `genre`
1668`album` | `album`
1669`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1670`disc` | `disc_number`
1671`show` | `series`
1672`season_number` | `season_number`
1673`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1674`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1675`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1676
c31be5b0 1677**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1678
73cd218f 1679
1680## Modifying metadata examples
1681
73cd218f 1682```bash
1683# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1684$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1685
1686# Regex example
940a67a3 1687$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1688
1689# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1690$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1691
a44ca5a4 1692# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1693$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1694
1695# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1696# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1697$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1698
8aa0e7cd 1699# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1700$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1701
0930b11f 1702# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1703$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1704
e9f4ccd1 1705# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1706$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1707
73cd218f 1708```
1709
5d3a0e79 1710# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1711
62b58c09 1712Some 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 1713
1714The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1715
1716#### youtube
2fa669f7 1717* `lang`: Language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (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 1718* `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
304ad45a 1719* `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` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1720* `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
96565c7e 1721* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1722* `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`
1723 * 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
4d37720a 1724* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1725* `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 1726* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1727
1728#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1729* `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 1730* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1731
1732#### funimation
304ad45a 1733* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1734* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1735
cb1553e9 1736#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
62b58c09 1737* `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 1738* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1739
96565c7e 1740#### vikichannel
1741* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1742
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1743#### niconico
1744* `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.**
1745
aa4b0545 1746#### youtubewebarchive
1747* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1748
d43de682
M
1749#### gamejolt
1750* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1751
26f2aa3d
AG
1752#### hotstar
1753* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1754* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1755* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1756
046cab39 1757#### tiktok
62b58c09
L
1758* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1759* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1760
7eaf7f9a 1761#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1762* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1763
7a26ce26
SS
1764#### twitter
1765* `force_graphql`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
7eaf7f9a 1766
bc97cdae 1767NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1768
ec2e44fc 1769<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1770
3acf6d38 1771
f74980cb 1772# PLUGINS
b7770046 1773
3ae5e797 1774Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1775
1776Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1777
1778See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1779
1780Note 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
1781
1782If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1783
deae7c17 1784See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1785
b7770046 1786
8c6f4daa 1787
1788# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1789
1790yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1791
1792Your 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.
1793
1794From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1795
1796```python
59a7a13e 1797from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1798
3d3bb168 1799URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1800with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1801 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1802```
1803
1890fc63 1804Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
8c6f4daa 1805
43cc91ad 1806**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 1807
1808## Embedding examples
1809
43cc91ad 1810#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1811
1812```python
1813import json
8c6f4daa 1814import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1815
3d3bb168 1816URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1817
1818# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1819ydl_opts = {}
1820with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1821 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1822
1823 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1824 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1825```
43cc91ad 1826#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1827
1828```python
1829import yt_dlp
1830
1831INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1832
1833with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1834 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1835
1836print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1837 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1838```
1839
43cc91ad 1840#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1841
1842```python
1843import yt_dlp
1844
1845URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1846
1847ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1848 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1849 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1850 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1851 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1852 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1853 }]
1854}
1855
1856with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1857 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1858```
0a41f331 1859
1860#### Filter videos
1861
1862```python
1863import yt_dlp
1864
1865URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1866
1867def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1868 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1869 duration = info.get('duration')
1870 if duration and duration < 60:
1871 return 'The video is too short'
1872
1873ydl_opts = {
1874 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1875}
1876
1877with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1878 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1879```
1880
43cc91ad 1881#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1882
1883```python
1884import yt_dlp
1885
1886URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1887
1888class MyLogger:
1889 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1890 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1891 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1892 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1893 pass
1894 else:
1895 self.info(msg)
1896
1897 def info(self, msg):
1898 pass
1899
1900 def warning(self, msg):
1901 pass
1902
1903 def error(self, msg):
1904 print(msg)
1905
1906
3d3bb168 1907# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1908def my_hook(d):
1909 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1910 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1911
1912
1913ydl_opts = {
1914 'logger': MyLogger(),
1915 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1916}
1917
1918with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1919 ydl.download(URLS)
1920```
1921
43cc91ad 1922#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1923
1924```python
1925import yt_dlp
1926
1927URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1928
1929# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1930class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1931 def run(self, info):
1932 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1933 return [], info
1934
1935
3d3bb168 1936with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 1937 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1938 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 1939 ydl.download(URLS)
1940```
8c6f4daa 1941
1942
43cc91ad 1943#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1944
1945```python
1946import yt_dlp
1947
1948URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1949
093a1710 1950def format_selector(ctx):
1951 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1952 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1953
1954 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1955 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1956
1957 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1958 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1959 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1960
1961 # find compatible audio extension
1962 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1963 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1964 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1965 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1966
3d3bb168 1967 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1968 yield {
093a1710 1969 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1970 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1971 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1972 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1973 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1974 }
1975
1976
8c6f4daa 1977ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1978 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1979}
1980
1981with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1982 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1983```
1984
ec2e44fc 1985<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1986
e167860c 1987# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1988
1989These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1990
8130779d 1991#### Almost redundant options
1992While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1993
1994 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1995 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1996 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1997 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1998
6ccf351a 1999#### Redundant options
2000While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2001
53c18592 2002 --get-description --print description
2003 --get-duration --print duration_string
2004 --get-filename --print filename
2005 --get-format --print format
2006 --get-id --print id
2007 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2008 -e, --get-title --print title
2009 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2010 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2011 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2012 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2013 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2014 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2015 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2016 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2017 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2018 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2019 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2020
2021
2022#### Not recommended
2023While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2024
fe7866d0 2025 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2026 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2027 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2028 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2029 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2030 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2031 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2032 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2033 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2034 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2035 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2036 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2037 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2038 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2039 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2040 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2041 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2042 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2043
2044
2045#### Developer options
2046These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2047
34488702 2048 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2049 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2050 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2051 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2052 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2053
2054
2055#### Old aliases
2056These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2057
2058 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2059 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2060 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2061 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2062 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2063 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2064 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2065 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2066 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2067 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2068 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2069 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2070 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2071 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2072 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2073 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2074 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2075
7a340e0d 2076#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2077Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2078
2079 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2080 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2081 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2082 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2083 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2084 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2085 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2086 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2087
f4536226 2088#### No longer supported
2089These options may no longer work as intended
2090
2091 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2092 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2093 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2094 --no-call-home Default
2095 --include-ads No longer supported
2096 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2097 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2098 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2099 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2100
2101#### Removed
2102These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2103
f4536226 2104 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2105 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2106
8c6f4daa 2107# CONTRIBUTING
2108See [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 2109
17ffed18 2110# WIKI
2111See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information