]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[youtube:clips] Support downloading clips
[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
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
6d1b3489 74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/8a158a9](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/8a158a936c8b002ef536e9e2b778ded02c09c0fa)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
ae6a1b95 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
ca5300c7 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
144a3588 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
6e634cbe 92 * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
471d0367 93 * Support for downloading clips
f20f5fe5 94
f59f5ef8 95* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 96
5ec1b6b7 97* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
98
597c1866 99* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
100
b31fdeed 101* **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 102
b31fdeed 103* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 104
e75bb0d6 105* **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 106
56ba69e4 107* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 108
3de7c2ce 109* **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 110
597c1866 111* **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 112
113* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
114
418964fa 115* **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 116
8a82af35 117* **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 118
08d30158 119* **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 120
86c1a8aa 121* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 122
7a5c1cfe 123* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 124
7a5c1cfe 125See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 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`
a44ca5a4 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
3acf6d38 144* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 145* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
64f36541 146* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 147* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
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
0bf9dc1e 152* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 153* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 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
7bc877a2 164You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 165
a4211baf 166### Using the release binary
0930b11f 167
fc5fa964 168You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 169
fc5fa964 170<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
171[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
24146491 172[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
173[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
fc5fa964 174[![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)
175[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 176[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 177<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
178
179Note: 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)
180
181<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 182In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
183
184```
185sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
186sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
187```
188
189```
190sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
191sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
192```
193
194```
b69fd25c 195sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A
196sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
197```
198
0930b11f 199
a4211baf 200### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 201
202You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
203```
204python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
205```
206
86c1a8aa 207You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 208```
209python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
210```
211
86c1a8aa 212If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 213```
ae6a1b95 214python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 215```
216
8aa0e7cd 217On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
0930b11f 218
fc5fa964 219<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 220### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 221
222macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
223
224```
225brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
226```
227
a4211baf 228## UPDATE
0930b11f 229You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
230
231If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
232
233If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 234
ec2e44fc 235<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 236## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 237
733d8e8f 238#### Recommended
239
240File|Description
241:---|:---
8aa0e7cd 242[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 243[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
ae6a1b95 244[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 245
246#### Alternatives
247
0e5927ee
R
248File|Description
249:---|:---
0930b11f 250[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 251[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))
e4afcfde 252[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|UNIX standalone x64 binary
253[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Unix executable (no auto-update)
0930b11f 254[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
255[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
733d8e8f 256
257#### Misc
258
259File|Description
260:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
261[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
262[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
263[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 264<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 265
a4211baf 266## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 267Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 268
c9652aa4 269<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
270<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 271On 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 272-->
fac98805 273
e75bb0d6 274While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 275
8aa0e7cd 276### Strongly recommended
277
b69fd25c 278* [**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 279
280 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
281 **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
282
283### Networking
d5820461 284* [**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 285* [**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>
286* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
287
288### Metadata
289
290* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
291* [**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)
292* [**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
293
294### Misc
295
296* [**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 297* [**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 298* [**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 299* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 300
8aa0e7cd 301#### Deprecated
302
303* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
304* [**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)
305* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
306* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
307
cf59cd4d 308To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
309
8aa0e7cd 310The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 311
8aa0e7cd 312If 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 313
5f326cf5 314
a4211baf 315## COMPILE
5f326cf5 316
8aa0e7cd 317### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
318To build the Windows/MacOS 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 (32/64 bit) as the Python used.
e38df8f9 319
8aa0e7cd 320 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
321 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
322 python3 pyinst.py
323
324On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
325
326Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
327
328**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 329
8aa0e7cd 330### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
331You will need the build tools `python` (3.6+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 332
8aa0e7cd 333After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 334
8aa0e7cd 335You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The dependencies marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 336
8aa0e7cd 337### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
338
339While 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.
340
341If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
342
343 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
344 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
345 py setup.py py2exe
346
347### Related scripts
348
349* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current timestamp
350* **`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.
351
352You 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 353
b31fdeed 354# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 355
ec2e44fc 356<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 357 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 358
c2b5f311 359`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 360<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 361
ec2e44fc 362<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 363## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 364 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
365 --version Print program version and exit
366 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
d32f30ac 367 --no-update Do not update (default)
2dd5a2e3 368 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
369 The download will be considered successful
370 even if the postprocessing fails
371 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
372 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
373 playlist (default)
374 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
375 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
376 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
377 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
378 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
379 extractors and exit
64fa820c 380 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic extractor
2dd5a2e3 381 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
382 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
383 google videos for the search term "python".
384 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
385 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
386 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
387 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
388 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
389 possible instead of searching
390 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
391 except those given by --config-locations.
392 For backward compatibility, if this option
393 is found inside the system configuration
394 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
395 (Alias: --no-config)
396 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
397 (default). When given inside a configuration
398 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
399 defined in the current file
400 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
401 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 402 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
403 used multiple times and inside other
404 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 405 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
406 only list them
407 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
408 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
409 Currently only supported for YouTube
410 (Experimental)
411 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
412 (default)
413 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
414 available. Pass the minimum number of
415 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
416 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
417 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
418 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
419 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
420 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
421 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
422 configurations by reverting some of the
423 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
424 default behavior" for details
425 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
426 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
427 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
428 according to the Python string formatting
429 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
430 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
431 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
432 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
433 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
434 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
435 output. Alias options can trigger more
436 aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
437 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
438 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 439 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 440
149f05c7 441## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 442 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
443 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
444 Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
445 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
446 connection
447 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
448 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
449 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
450 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 451
b31fdeed 452## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 453 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
454 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
455 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
456 is not present) is used for the actual
457 downloading
458 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
459 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
460 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
461 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
462 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
463 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
464 country code
465 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 466 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 467
cfcec693 468## Video Selection:
7e88d7d7 469 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma seperated playlist_index of the videos
470 to download. You can specify a range using
471 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
472 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
473 Use negative indices to count from the right
474 and negative STEP to download in reverse
475 order. Eg: "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
476 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
477 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
2dd5a2e3 478 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
479 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
480 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
481 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
482 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
483 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
484 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
485 Eg: --date today-2weeks
486 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
487 this date. The date formats accepted is the
488 same as --date
489 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
490 this date. The date formats accepted is the
491 same as --date
492 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
493 field can be compared with a number or a
494 string using the operators defined in
495 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
496 specify a field to match if the field is
497 present, use "!field" to check if the field
498 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
499 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
500 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
501 the filter matches if atleast one of the
502 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
503 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
504 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
505 only videos that are not live OR those that
506 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
507 field is not available) and also has a
508 description that contains the phrase "cats &
509 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
510 interactively ask whether to download each
511 video
512 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
513 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
514 to a video and a playlist
515 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
516 a video and a playlist
517 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
518 age
519 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
520 archive file. Record the IDs of all
521 downloaded videos in it
522 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
523 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
524 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
525 a file that is in the archive
526 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
527 a file that has been filtered out
528 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
529 and --max-downloads act only on the current
530 input URL
531 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
532 terminates the entire download queue
533 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
534 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 535
d5a62e4f 536## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 537 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
538 video that should be downloaded concurrently
539 (default is 1)
540 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
541 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
542 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
543 below which throttling is assumed and the
544 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
545 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
546 "infinite"
547 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
548 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
549 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
550 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
551 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
552 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
553 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
554 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
555 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
556 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
557 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
558 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
559 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
560 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
561 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
562 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
563 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
564 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
565 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
566 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
567 downloading is finished
568 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
569 downloading is finished (default)
570 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
571 (default is 1024)
572 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
573 from an initial value of --buffer-size
574 (default)
575 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
576 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
577 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
578 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
579 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
580 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 581 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 582 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
583 received. This disables n_entries,
584 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
585 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
586 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 587 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
588 expected file size
589 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
590 allowing some players to play the video
591 while downloading, and reducing the chance
592 of file corruption if download is
593 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
594 live streams
595 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
596 videos. This is default when not downloading
597 live streams
5ec1b6b7 598 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
599 the given regular expression. Time ranges
600 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
601 of chapters to download the specified range.
602 Eg: --download-sections "*10:15-15:00"
603 --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
604 This option can be used multiple times to
605 download multiple sections
2dd5a2e3 606 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
607 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
608 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
609 use it for. Currently supports native,
610 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
611 wget. You can use this option multiple times
612 to set different downloaders for different
613 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
614 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
615 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
616 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
617 (Alias: --external-downloader)
618 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
619 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
620 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
621 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
622 positions using the same syntax as
623 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
624 option multiple times to give different
625 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
626 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 627
cfcec693 628## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 629 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
630 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
631 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
632 comments and ignored
633 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
634 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
635 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
636 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
637 TYPES as --output are supported.
638 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
639 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
640 files are first downloaded to the temp path
641 and then the final files are moved over to
642 the home path after download is finished.
643 This option is ignored if --output is an
644 absolute path
645 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
646 TEMPLATE" for details
647 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
648 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
649 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
650 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
651 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
652 filenames (default)
653 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
654 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
655 using Windows (default)
656 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
657 extension) to the specified number of
658 characters
659 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
660 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
661 option includes --no-continue
662 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
663 related files (default)
664 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
665 (default)
666 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
667 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
668 restart download of the entire file
669 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
670 into output file (default)
671 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
672 output file
673 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
674 modification time (default)
675 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
676 the file modification time
64fa820c 677 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 678 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
679 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
680 (this may contain personal information)
681 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
682 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
683 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
684 --write-description etc. (default)
685 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
686 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
687 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
688 from the infojson. Note that it could still
689 contain some personal information (default)
690 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
691 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
692 infojson. The comments are fetched even
693 without this option if the extraction is
694 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
695 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
696 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
697 --no-get-comments)
698 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 699 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 700 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
701 and dump cookie jar in
702 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
703 (default)
f59f5ef8 704 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
2dd5a2e3 705 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
706 name/path of the profile to load cookies
707 from, separated by a ":". Currently
708 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
709 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
710 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
711 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
712 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
713 be (optionally) specified after the browser
714 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
64fa820c 715 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 716 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
717 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
718 can store some downloaded information (such
719 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
720 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
721 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
722 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
723 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 724
b31fdeed 725## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 726 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 727 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 728 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
729 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
730 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 731
732044af 732## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 733 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
734 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
735 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
736 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
737 OS caches the URL based on the file path
738 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
739 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 740
0744a815 741## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 742 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
743 print the log to stderr
744 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
745 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
746 anything to disk
747 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
748 options are used
749 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
750 extracting metadata even if the videos are
751 not actually available for download
752 (experimental)
753 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
754 formats are found (default)
755 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
756 related files (Alias: --no-download)
757 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
758 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
759 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
760 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
761 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
762 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
763 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
764 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 765 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 766 Append given template to the file. The
767 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
768 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
769 output template. This option can be used
770 multiple times
771 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
772 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
773 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
774 description of available keys
775 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
776 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
777 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
778 a playlist, the whole playlist information
779 is dumped in a single line
780 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
781 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
782 another simulation option is used (Alias:
783 --force-download-archive)
784 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
785 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
786 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
787 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 788 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 789 Template for progress outputs, optionally
790 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
791 "download-title:" (the console title),
792 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
793 The video's fields are accessible under the
794 "info" key and the progress attributes are
795 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
796 --console-title --progress-template
797 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
798 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
799 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
800 to debug problems (very verbose)
801 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
802 in the current directory to debug problems
803 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 804
36f35428 805## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 806 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
807 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
808 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
809 renegotiation
810 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
811 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
812 information about the video (Currently
813 supported only for YouTube)
814 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
815 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
816 option multiple times
817 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
818 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
819 or fribidi executable in PATH
820 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
821 during data extraction
822 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
823 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
824 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
825 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
826 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
827 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
828 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
829 subtitle download
36f35428 830
cfcec693 831## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 832 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
833 for more details
834 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
835 "Sorting Formats" for more details
836 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
837 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
838 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
839 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
840 specified sort order (default)
841 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
842 into a single file
843 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
844 output file (default)
845 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
846 into a single file
847 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
848 output file (default)
849 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
850 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
851 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
852 irrespective of quality
853 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
854 containers (default)
855 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
856 those that are actually downloadable
857 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
858 actually downloadable
859 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
860 downloadable
861 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
862 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
863 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
864 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
865 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
866 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH
867
868## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 869 --write-subs Write subtitle file
870 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
871 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
872 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
873 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
874 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
875 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
876 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
877 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
878 Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
879 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
880 be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
881 --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
882 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
883 the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
884 all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
885 of available language tags
6bcd846b 886
cfcec693 887## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 888 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
889 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
890 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
891 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
892 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
893 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
894 either the path or its containing directory.
895 Defaults to ~/.netrc
896 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
897 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
898 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
899 a list of available MSOs
900 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
901 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
902 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
903 interactively
904 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
905 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
906 format. May include the private key
907 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
908 Path to private key file for client
909 certificate
bb58c9ed 910 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 911 Password for client certificate private key,
912 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
913 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 914
c76eb41b 915## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 916 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
917 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 918 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
919 used. (currently supported: best (default),
e0ab9854 920 mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac,
921 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
922 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 923 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
924 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
925 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
926 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
927 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
928 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
35faefee 929 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
930 m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 931 target container does not support the
932 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
933 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
934 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 935 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 936 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
937 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
938 are the same as --remux-video
939 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
940 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
941 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
942 to give the argument to the specified
943 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
944 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
945 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
946 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
947 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
948 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
949 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
950 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
951 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
952 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
953 specified executable only when being used by
954 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
955 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
956 appended to the prefix optionally followed
957 by a number to pass the argument before the
958 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
959 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
960 this option multiple times to give different
961 arguments to different postprocessors.
962 (Alias: --ppa)
963 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
964 after post-processing
965 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
966 post-processing (default)
967 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
968 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
969 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
970 webm and mkv videos)
971 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
972 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
973 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
974 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
975 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
976 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
977 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
978 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
979 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
980 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
981 (Alias: --add-chapters)
982 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
983 --no-add-chapters)
984 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
985 mkv/mka video files
986 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
987 to the video file
988 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
989 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
990 for details
e9f4ccd1 991 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 992 Replace text in a metadata field using the
993 given regex. This option can be used
994 multiple times
995 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
996 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
997 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
998 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
999 (default; only when the videos form a single
1000 show). All the video files must have same
1001 codecs and number of streams to be
1002 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1003 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1004 the output filename for the concatenated
1005 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1006 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1007 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1008 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1009 default; fix file if we can, warn
1010 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1011 already exists)
1012 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 1013 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 1014 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
1015 when to execute it (after_move if
1016 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
1017 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
1018 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
1019 output template can be used to pass any
1020 field as arguments to the command. After
1021 download, an additional field "filepath"
1022 that contains the final path of the
1023 downloaded file is also available, and if no
1024 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
1025 to the end of the command. This option can
1026 be used multiple times
1027 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1028 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1029 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
1030 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1031 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1032 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1033 can specify multiple rules using similar
1034 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1035 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1036 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1037 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1038 the output filename for the split files. See
1039 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1040 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1041 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1042 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1043 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1044 be used multiple times
1045 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1046 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1047 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1048 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1049 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1050 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1051 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1052 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1053 when cutting/splitting (default)
1054 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1055 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1056 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1057 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1058 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1059 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1060 The "when" argument determines when the
1061 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1062 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1063 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1064 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1065 "post_process" (after each video download;
1066 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1067 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1068 (after downloading and processing all
1069 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1070 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1071 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1072
1073## SponsorBlock Options:
1074Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1075 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1076 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1077
2dd5a2e3 1078 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1079 for, separated by commas. Available
1080 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1081 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1082 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1083 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1084 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
1085 description of the categories. Eg:
1086 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1087 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1088 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1089 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1090 category is present in both mark and remove,
1091 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1092 available categories are the same as for
1093 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1094 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1095 not available
7a340e0d 1096 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1097 An output template for the title of the
1098 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1099 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1100 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1101 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1102 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1103 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1104 --sponsorblock-remove
1105 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1106 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1107
78895bd3 1108## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1109 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1110 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1111 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1112 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1113 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1114 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1115 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1116 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1117 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1118 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1119 (default)
1120 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1121 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1122 use this option multiple times to give
1123 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1124
b7770046
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1125# CONFIGURATION
1126
7a5c1cfe 1127You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1128
0202b52a 11291. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 11301. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 11311. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 11321. **User Configuration**:
1133 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1134 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1135 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1136 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1137 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1138 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1139
ec2e44fc 1140 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1141
07cce701 11421. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1143
7a5c1cfe 1144For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1145```
1146# Lines starting with # are comments
1147
1148# Always extract audio
1149-x
1150
1151# Do not copy the mtime
1152--no-mtime
1153
1154# Use this proxy
1155--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1156
298f597b 1157# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1158-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1159```
1160
e2e43aea 1161Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
b7770046 1162
a4211baf 1163You 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
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1164
1165### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1166
0001fcb5 1167You 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
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1168```
1169touch $HOME/.netrc
1170chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1171```
1172After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1173```
0001fcb5 1174machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
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1175```
1176For example:
1177```
1178machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1179machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1180```
7a5c1cfe 1181To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1182
0001fcb5 1183The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
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1184
1185# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1186
0202b52a 1187The `-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 1188
ec2e44fc 1189<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1190**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1191<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1192
e58c22a0 1193The 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 1194
0930b11f 1195It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1196
1197The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1198
2b8a2973 11991. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1200
e625be0d 12011. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1202
e625be0d 12031. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1204
e75bb0d6 12051. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1206
e978789f
P
12071. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1208
e75bb0d6 12091. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1210
abbeeebc 12111. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1212
524e2e4f 12131. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1214
1215To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1216```
e978789f 1217%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1218```
de6000d9 1219
dbcea058 1220Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1221
1222The available fields are:
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1223
1224 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1225 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1226 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
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1227 - `url` (string): Video URL
1228 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1229 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1230 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1231 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1232 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1233 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1234 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1235 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1236 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1237 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1238 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1239 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1240 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
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1241 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1242 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1243 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1244 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
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1245 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1246 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1247 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1248 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1249 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1250 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1251 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1252 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1253 - `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 1254 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1255 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1256 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1257 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1258 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1259 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
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1260 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1261 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1262 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1263 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1264 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1265 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1266 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1267 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1268 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1269 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1270 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1271 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1272 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1273 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1274 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
8aa0e7cd 1275 - `stretched_ratio` (float): `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
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1276 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1277 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1278 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1279 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1280 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1281 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1282 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1283 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1284 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1285 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1286 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1287 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1288 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1289 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1290 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1291 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1292 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
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1293 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1294 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1295 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1296 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1297 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1298 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1299
1300Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1301
1302 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1303 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1304 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1305
1306Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1307
1308 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1309 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1310 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1311 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1312 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1313 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1314 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1315
1316Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1317
1318 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1319 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1320 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1321 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1322 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1323 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1324 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1325 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1326 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1327 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1328
5ec1b6b7 1329Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1330
1331 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1332 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1333 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1334 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1335
53c18592 1336Available only when used in `--print`:
1337
1338 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1339 - `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 1340 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1341 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1342 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1343 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1344
7a340e0d
NA
1345
1346Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1347
1348 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1349 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1350 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1351 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1352 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1353 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1354
49a57e70 1355Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1356
1357Note 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 1358
0930b11f 1359**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1360
49a57e70 1361For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1362
940a67a3 1363Output 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.
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1364
1365To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1366
91ebc640 1367The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1368
f304da8a 1369In 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 1370
ec2e44fc 1371<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1372#### Output template and Windows batch files
1373
1374If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1375<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1376
1377#### Output template examples
1378
b7770046 1379```bash
940a67a3 1380$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1381test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1382
940a67a3 1383$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1384youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1385
940a67a3 1386$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1387youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1388
1389# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1390$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1391
b050d210 1392# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1393$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1394
e978789f 1395# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1396$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1397
b7770046 1398# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1399$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
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1400
1401# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1402$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
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1403
1404# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1405$ 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 1406
6a34813a 1407# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1408# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1409$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1410
1411# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1412$ 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
1413
b7770046 1414# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1415$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1416```
1417
1418# FORMAT SELECTION
1419
7a5c1cfe
P
1420By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1421This 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 1422
c111cefa 1423**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.
1424
eff63539 1425The 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 1426
ec2e44fc 1427<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1428**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1429<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1430
a439a3a4 1431The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
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1432
1433You 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.
1434
fa9f30b8 1435You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1436
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1437You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1438
59a7a13e 1439 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1440 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1441 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1442 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1443 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1444 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1445 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1446 - `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 1447 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1448 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1449 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1450 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1451 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1452 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1453
ae6a1b95 1454For 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 1455
1456You 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 1457
eb8a4433 1458If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
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1459
1460If 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`.
1461
d806c9fd 1462You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1463
1464**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
1465
1466Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1467
1468## Filtering Formats
1469
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1470You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1471
1472The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1473
1474 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1475 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1476 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1477 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1478 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1479 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1480 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1481 - `fps`: Frame rate
1482
1ce9a3cb 1483Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
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1484
1485 - `ext`: File extension
1486 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1487 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1488 - `container`: Name of the container format
1489 - `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`)
1490 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1491 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1492
1ce9a3cb 1493Any 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 1494
e58c22a0 1495Note 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 1496
e094cec1 1497Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1498
940a67a3 1499Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1500
eb8a4433 1501## Sorting Formats
1502
2e7781a9 1503You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1504
1505The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1506
63be1aab 1507 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1508 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1509 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1510 - `lang`: The language preference
1511 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1512 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1513 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1514 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1515 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1516 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1517 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1518 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1519 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1520 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1521 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1522 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1523 - `height`: Height of video
1524 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1525 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1526 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1527 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1528 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1529 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1530 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1531 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1532 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1533
1534**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 1535
9ee4f0bb 1536All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1537
176f1866 1538The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1539
e75bb0d6 1540Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1541
e58c22a0 1542If 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 1543
1544**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1545
eb8a4433 1546## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1547
b7770046 1548```bash
e58c22a0 1549# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1550# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1551$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1552
1553# Download best format that contains video,
1554# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1555$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1556
1557# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1558$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1559
6fd35a11 1560# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1561# For this case, an output template should be used since
1562# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1563$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1564
f8d4ad9a 1565# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1566# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1568
1569# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1570# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1571$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1572
6fd35a11 1573
1574# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1575# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1576
1577# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1578$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1579
1580# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1581$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1582
1583# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1584$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1585
1586
909d24dd 1587
eb8a4433 1588# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1590
1591# Download the best video with the best extension
1592# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1593$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1594
1595
909d24dd 1596
eb8a4433 1597# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1598# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1599$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1600
eb8a4433 1601# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1602# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1603$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1604
eb8a4433 1605# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1606# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1607# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1608# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1609$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1610
b7770046 1611
909d24dd 1612
eb8a4433 1613# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1614# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1615$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1616
1617# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1618# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1619$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1620
1621# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1622$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1623
1624
909d24dd 1625
eb8a4433 1626# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1627# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1628$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1629
1630# Download best video available via the best protocol
1631# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1632$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1633
1634
909d24dd 1635
1ce9a3cb
LF
1636# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1637# or the best video if there is no such video
1638$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1639
1640# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1641# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1642$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1643
1644# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1645# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1646$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1647
1648
1649
1650# More complex examples
1651
e58c22a0 1652# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1653# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1654$ 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 1655
1656# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1657# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1658# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1659$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1660
1661
909d24dd 1662
eb8a4433 1663# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1664# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1665# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1666$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1667```
eb8a4433 1668
73cd218f 1669# MODIFYING METADATA
1670
a4211baf 1671The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1672
418964fa 1673`--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 1674
2e7781a9 1675The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1676
1677Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1678
9c2b75b5 1679This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1680
28b0eb0f 1681* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1682
88968992 1683* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1684
08d30158 1685**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.
1686
c31be5b0 1687For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1688
08d30158 1689Metadata fields | From
1690:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1691`title` | `track` or `title`
1692`date` | `upload_date`
1693`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1694`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1695`track` | `track_number`
1696`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1697`genre` | `genre`
1698`album` | `album`
1699`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1700`disc` | `disc_number`
1701`show` | `series`
1702`season_number` | `season_number`
1703`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1704`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1705`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1706
c31be5b0 1707**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1708
73cd218f 1709
1710## Modifying metadata examples
1711
73cd218f 1712```bash
1713# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1714$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1715
1716# Regex example
940a67a3 1717$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1718
1719# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1720$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1721
a44ca5a4 1722# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1723$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1724
1725# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1726# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1727$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1728
8aa0e7cd 1729# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1730$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1731
0930b11f 1732# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1733$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1734
e9f4ccd1 1735# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1736$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1737
73cd218f 1738```
1739
5d3a0e79 1740# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1741
a44ca5a4 1742Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1743
1744The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1745
1746#### youtube
8aa0e7cd 1747* `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
56ba69e4 1748* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1749* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1750* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1751* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1752* `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`
1753 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
2ae778b8 1754* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
1755 * e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`
1756 * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com`
1757* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1758
1759#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1760* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1761* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1762
1763#### funimation
1764* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1765* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1766
a9d4da60 1767#### crunchyroll
1768* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1769* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1770
ae6a1b95 1771#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH
1772* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1773 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1774* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1775
96565c7e 1776#### vikichannel
1777* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1778
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1779#### niconico
1780* `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.**
1781
aa4b0545 1782#### youtubewebarchive
1783* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1784
d43de682
M
1785#### gamejolt
1786* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1787
26f2aa3d
AG
1788#### hotstar
1789* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1790* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1791* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1792
046cab39
M
1793#### tiktok
1794* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1795* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1796
7eaf7f9a 1797#### rokfinchannel
1798* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1799
1800
bc97cdae 1801NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1802
ec2e44fc 1803<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1804
3acf6d38 1805
f74980cb 1806# PLUGINS
b7770046 1807
3ae5e797 1808Plugins 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
1809
1810Plugins 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`.
1811
1812See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1813
1814Note 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
1815
1816If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1817
b7770046 1818
8c6f4daa 1819
1820# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1821
1822yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1823
1824Your 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.
1825
1826From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1827
1828```python
59a7a13e 1829from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1830
3d3bb168 1831URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1832with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1833 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1834```
1835
1890fc63 1836Most 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 1837
43cc91ad 1838**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 1839
1840## Embedding examples
1841
43cc91ad 1842#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1843
1844```python
1845import json
8c6f4daa 1846import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1847
3d3bb168 1848URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1849
1850# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1851ydl_opts = {}
1852with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1853 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1854
1855 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1856 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1857```
43cc91ad 1858#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1859
1860```python
1861import yt_dlp
1862
1863INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1864
1865with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1866 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1867
1868print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1869 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1870```
1871
43cc91ad 1872#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1873
1874```python
1875import yt_dlp
1876
1877URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1878
1879ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1880 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1881 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1882 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1883 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1884 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1885 }]
1886}
1887
1888with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1889 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1890```
0a41f331 1891
1892#### Filter videos
1893
1894```python
1895import yt_dlp
1896
1897URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1898
1899def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1900 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1901 duration = info.get('duration')
1902 if duration and duration < 60:
1903 return 'The video is too short'
1904
1905ydl_opts = {
1906 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1907}
1908
1909with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1910 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1911```
1912
43cc91ad 1913#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1914
1915```python
1916import yt_dlp
1917
1918URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1919
1920class MyLogger:
1921 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1922 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1923 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1924 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1925 pass
1926 else:
1927 self.info(msg)
1928
1929 def info(self, msg):
1930 pass
1931
1932 def warning(self, msg):
1933 pass
1934
1935 def error(self, msg):
1936 print(msg)
1937
1938
3d3bb168 1939# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1940def my_hook(d):
1941 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1942 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1943
1944
1945ydl_opts = {
1946 'logger': MyLogger(),
1947 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1948}
1949
1950with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1951 ydl.download(URLS)
1952```
1953
43cc91ad 1954#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1955
1956```python
1957import yt_dlp
1958
1959URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1960
1961# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1962class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1963 def run(self, info):
1964 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1965 return [], info
1966
1967
3d3bb168 1968with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 1969 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1970 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 1971 ydl.download(URLS)
1972```
8c6f4daa 1973
1974
43cc91ad 1975#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1976
1977```python
1978import yt_dlp
1979
1980URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1981
093a1710 1982def format_selector(ctx):
1983 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1984 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1985
1986 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1987 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1988
1989 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1990 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1991 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1992
1993 # find compatible audio extension
1994 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1995 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1996 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1997 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1998
3d3bb168 1999 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2000 yield {
093a1710 2001 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2002 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2003 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2004 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2005 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2006 }
2007
2008
8c6f4daa 2009ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2010 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2011}
2012
2013with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2014 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2015```
2016
ec2e44fc 2017<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2018
e167860c 2019# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2020
2021These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2022
8130779d 2023#### Almost redundant options
2024While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2025
2026 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2027 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2028 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2029 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2030
6ccf351a 2031#### Redundant options
2032While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2033
53c18592 2034 --get-description --print description
2035 --get-duration --print duration_string
2036 --get-filename --print filename
2037 --get-format --print format
2038 --get-id --print id
2039 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2040 -e, --get-title --print title
2041 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2042 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2043 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2044 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2045 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2046 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2047 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2048 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2049 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2050 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2051 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2052
2053
2054#### Not recommended
2055While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2056
1e43a6f7 2057 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2058 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2059 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2060 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2061 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2062 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2063 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2064 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2065 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2066 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2067 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2068 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2069 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2070 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2071 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2072 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2073 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2074
2075
2076#### Developer options
2077These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2078
34488702 2079 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2080 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2081 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2082 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2083 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2084
2085
2086#### Old aliases
2087These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2088
2089 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2090 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2091 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2092 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2093 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2094 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2095 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2096 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2097 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2098 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2099 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2100 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2101 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2102 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2103 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2104 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2105 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2106
7a340e0d 2107#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2108Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2109
2110 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2111 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2112 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2113 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2114 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2115 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2116 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2117 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2118
f4536226 2119#### No longer supported
2120These options may no longer work as intended
2121
2122 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2123 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2124 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2125 --no-call-home Default
2126 --include-ads No longer supported
2127 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2128 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2129 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2130
2131#### Removed
2132These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2133
f4536226 2134 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2135 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2136
8c6f4daa 2137# CONTRIBUTING
2138See [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 2139
c2b5f311 2140# MORE
8c6f4daa 2141For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)