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b31fdeed 1<div align="center">
2
d9d045e2 3# YT-DLP
b31fdeed 4A command-line program to download videos from YouTube and many other [video platforms](supportedsites.md)
d9d045e2 5
e58c22a0 6<!-- GHA doesn't have for-the-badge style
7a5c1cfe 7[![CI Status](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/workflows/Core%20Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
b31fdeed 8-->
9[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Release&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
10[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
11[![Doc Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/badge/?version=latest&style=for-the-badge)](https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
a7191c6f 12[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=discord&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
b31fdeed 13[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
a7191c6f 15[![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/total?style=for-the-badge&color=blue)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
b31fdeed 16[![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
c76eb41b 17
b31fdeed 18</div>
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
034b6215 22* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 23 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 24* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
e58c22a0 25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 26 * [Update](#update)
27 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 28* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
29 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 30 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 31 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 32 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
33 * [Download Options](#download-options)
34 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 36 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 37 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 38 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
39 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
40 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
41 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
8a51f564 43 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 44 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 45* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 46 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 47* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 48 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
49 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 50* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 51 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
52 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
53 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 54* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
55 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
f74980cb 56* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
e167860c 57* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
c76eb41b 58* [MORE](#more)
b31fdeed 59</div>
50865ca8 60
61
034b6215 62# NEW FEATURES
f20f5fe5 63The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
034b6215 64
7a5c1cfe 65* **[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 66
90505ff1 67* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection that what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 68
3de7c2ce 69* **Merged with youtube-dl [commit/d495292](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/d495292852b6c2f1bd58bc2141ff2b0265c952cf)**: (v2021.05.16) You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
034b6215 70
0fdf490d 71* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 72
f5546c0b 73* **Youtube improvements**:
0fdf490d 74 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) supports downloading multiple pages of content
75 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
76 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
f20f5fe5 77 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
0fdf490d 78 * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
79 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded
f20f5fe5 80
597c1866 81* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
82
b31fdeed 83* **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 84
b31fdeed 85* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 86
3de7c2ce 87* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries
f20f5fe5 88
3de7c2ce 89* **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon
fac98805 90
3de7c2ce 91* **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 92
597c1866 93* **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 94
95* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
96
fac98805 97* **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`
98
99* **Other new options**: `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 100
fac98805 101* **Improvements**: Multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
c69911e4 102
b31fdeed 103* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
104
7a5c1cfe 105* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 106
29b6000e 107
7a5c1cfe 108See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 109
110
90505ff1 111**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
f20f5fe5 112
b9650873 113If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
f20f5fe5 114
53ed7066 115### Differences in default behavior
116
117Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
118
28b0eb0f 119* The options `--id`, `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
120* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
121* 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`
122* 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
123* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
124* 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
125* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
126* 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
127* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-infojson`. Use `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
128* `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
129* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
130* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
09f1580e 131* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 132* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 133* 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
53ed7066 134
135For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 136* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
137* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
138* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 139
f20f5fe5 140
d19bb9c0 141# INSTALLATION
b31fdeed 142yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
50865ca8 143
7bc877a2 144You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
7a5c1cfe 145* Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
a61f4b28 146* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
147* Use pip+git: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
148* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
149
150Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
5f326cf5 151
5ba4a0b6
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152UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
153
154```
155sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
156sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
157```
158
159```
160sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
161sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
162```
163
164```
165sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
166sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
167```
168
e58c22a0 169### DEPENDENCIES
a61f4b28 170Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are officially supported. Other versions and implementations may or maynot work correctly.
b31fdeed 171
fac98805 172On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999) 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.
173
07cce701 174Although there are no other required dependencies, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended. Other optional dependencies are `sponskrub`, `AtomicParsley`, `mutagen`, `pycryptodome`, `phantomjs` and any of the supported external downloaders. Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen and pycryptodome included.
b31fdeed 175
c76eb41b 176### UPDATE
b31fdeed 177You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
aa837ddf 178If you are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
5f326cf5 179
c76eb41b 180### COMPILE
5f326cf5 181
c76eb41b 182**For Windows**:
5d25607a 183To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen and pycryptodome)
d19bb9c0 184
a61f4b28 185 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome
e38df8f9 186
a61f4b28 187Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run `py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
5f326cf5 188
e38df8f9 189You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
190
7a5c1cfe 191 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
fac98805 192
193Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
b96a939b 194
c76eb41b 195**For Unix**:
c74d1aa3 196You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `nosetests`
127d0759 197Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 198
e38df8f9 199**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 200
b31fdeed 201# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 202
7a5c1cfe 203 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 204
c2b5f311 205`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
e58c22a0 206<!-- Auto generated -->
c2b5f311 207
c76eb41b 208## General Options:
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209 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
210 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 211 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
212 sure that you have sufficient permissions
213 (run with sudo if needed)
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214 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
215 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
8a51f564 216 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
217 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
218 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
1dc2726f 219 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
4b9f9010 220 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
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221 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
222 extractors
223 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
224 extractor
225 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
226 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
6623ac34 227 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
c4af7684 228 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
6623ac34 229 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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230 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
231 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
232 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 233 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 234 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 235 except the one provided by --config-location.
236 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 237 file, no further configuration files are
238 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
239 compatibility) if this option is found
240 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 241 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 242 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
243 either the path to the config or its
244 containing directory
c4af7684 245 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 246 only list them
6623ac34 247 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
bdf7f139 248 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
597c1866 249 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 250 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 251 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
252 with youtube-dl and youtube-dlc
253 configurations by reverting some of the
254 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
255 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 256
149f05c7 257## Network Options:
28b4f736 258 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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259 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
260 scheme. For example
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261 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
262 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 263 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 264 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 265 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 266 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 267
b31fdeed 268## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
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269 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
270 some geo-restricted sites. The default
271 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 272 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 273 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 274 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 275 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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276 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
277 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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278 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
279 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 280 country code
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281 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
282 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 283 notation
149f05c7 284
cfcec693 285## Video Selection:
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286 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
287 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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288 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
289 indices of the videos in the playlist
290 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
291 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
292 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
293 specify range: "--playlist-items
294 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 295 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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296 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
297 caseless sub-string)
298 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
299 caseless sub-string)
780083db 300 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
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301 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
302 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
303 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
304 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
6623ac34 305 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
306 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
307 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 308 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 309 this date. The date formats accepted is the
310 same as --date
c4af7684 311 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 312 this date. The date formats accepted is the
313 same as --date
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314 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
315 COUNT views
316 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
317 COUNT views
4d2fdb07 318 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
8a51f564 319 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
320 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
321 to check if the key is not present,
277d6ff5 322 key>NUMBER (like "view_count > 12", also
8a51f564 323 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
324 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
325 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
326 !=) to match against a string literal and &
327 to require multiple matches. Values which
328 are not known are excluded unless you put a
329 question mark (?) after the operator. For
330 example, to only match videos that have
8c6c88c7
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331 been liked more than 100 times and disliked
332 less than 50 times (or the dislike
333 functionality is not available at the given
334 service), but who also have a description,
335 use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
8a51f564 336 dislike_count <? 50 & description"
c76eb41b 337 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 338 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 339 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 340 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 341 a video and a playlist
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342 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
343 age
344 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
345 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 346 downloaded videos in it
8b0d7497 347 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 348 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 349 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 350 a file that has been filtered out
26e2805c 351 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
352 of the playlist is skipped
c76eb41b 353 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
6bcd846b 354
d5a62e4f 355## Download Options:
b31fdeed 356 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
357 video that should be download concurrently
358 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 359 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
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360 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
361 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 362 "infinite"
0be8314d 363 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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364 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
365 ISM)
6623ac34 366 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
367 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 368 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 369 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 370 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 371 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 372 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 373 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
374 downloading is finished (default)
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375 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
376 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 377 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
378 from an initial value of --buffer-size
379 (default)
380 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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381 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
382 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
383 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
384 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
385 (experimental)
2101f5d4 386 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 387 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 388 (default)
31487eb9 389 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 390 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 391 expected file size
9bd20204 392 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
393 allowing some players to play the video
394 while downloading, and reducing the chance
395 of file corruption if download is
396 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
397 live streams
398 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
399 videos. This is default when not
400 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 401 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
402 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
403 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
404 use it for. Currently supports native,
405 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
406 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
407 this option multiple times to set different
408 downloaders for different protocols. For
409 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
410 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
411 http/ftp downloads, and the native
412 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
413 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 414 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
415 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
416 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
29b6000e 417 can use this option multiple times
418 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 419
cfcec693 420## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 421 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
e8dfecb3
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422 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
423 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 424 comments and ignored
d818eb74 425 -P, --paths TYPES:PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 426 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 427 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
428 same types as --output are supported.
429 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
430 and "temp" paths. All intermediary files
431 are first downloaded to the temp path and
432 then the final files are moved over to the
433 home path after download is finished. This
434 option is ignored if --output is an
435 absolute path
d818eb74 436 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 437 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 438 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
439 fields in output filename template
440 (default: "NA")
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441 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
442 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
443 filenames
c76eb41b 444 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
445 filenames (default)
c2934512 446 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
447 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
448 using windows (default)
449 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
450 extension) to the specified number of
451 characters
9b45b9f5 452 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
453 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
454 This option includes --no-continue
455 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
456 related files (default)
c25228e5 457 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
458 (default)
459 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 460 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 461 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 462 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 463 into output file (default)
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464 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
465 into output file
c76eb41b 466 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
467 file modification time (default)
c4af7684
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468 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
469 the file modification time
470 --write-description Write video description to a .description
471 file
6623ac34 472 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 473 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 474 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 475 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
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476 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
477 .annotations.xml file
6623ac34 478 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
cac96421 479 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
480 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
481 --write-description etc. (default)
482 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
483 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 484 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
485 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
486 could still contain some personal
487 information (default)
488 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 489 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
490 infojson. The comments are fetched even
491 without this option if the extraction is
492 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
493 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
494 extraction is known to be quick
495 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 496 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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497 (created with the "--write-info-json"
498 option)
499 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
500 jar in
6623ac34 501 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
502 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
503 can store some downloaded information
82674236 504 permanently. By default
6623ac34 505 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
506 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
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507 YouTube player files (for videos with
508 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
8a51f564 509 may change
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510 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
511 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 512
b31fdeed 513## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 514 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 515 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 516 (default)
1dc2726f 517 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
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518 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
519 formats
2b1bd292 520
732044af 521## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 522 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
523 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
524 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
525 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
526 OS caches the URL based on the file path
527 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
528 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 529
0744a815 530## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
1dc2726f 531 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
6c072e7d 532 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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533 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
534 anything to disk
0cf05715 535 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
536 for extracting metadata even if the video
537 is not actually available for download
538 (experimental)
539 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
540 formats are found (default)
e167860c 541 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
542 related files (Alias: --no-download)
53c18592 543 -O, --print TEMPLATE Simulate, quiet but print the given fields.
544 Either a field name or similar formatting
545 as the output template can be used
c4af7684 546 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
8a51f564 547 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
548 available keys
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549 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
550 for each command-line argument. If the URL
551 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
8a51f564 552 playlist information in a single line
c4af7684 553 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
8a51f564 554 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
555 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 556 written as far as no errors occur, even if
557 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 558 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
1dc2726f
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559 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
560 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
561 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
562 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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563 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
564 to debug problems (very verbose)
565 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
566 files in the current directory to debug
567 problems
780083db 568 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 569
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570## Workarounds:
571 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
1dc2726f 572 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 573 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 574 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 575 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 576 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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577 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
578 access is restricted to one domain
579 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 580 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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581 option multiple times
582 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
583 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
584 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 585 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
586 during data extraction
c4af7684 587 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 588 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
589 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
590 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
591 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
592 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 593 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
594 subtitle download
36f35428 595
cfcec693 596## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 597 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
598 for more details
599 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
600 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 601 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
602 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 603 Formats" for more details
604 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 605 specified sort order (default), see
606 "Sorting Formats" for more details
607 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
608 into a single file
609 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
610 each output file (default)
611 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
612 into a single file
613 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
614 each output file (default)
da9be05e 615 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
616 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
617 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
618 containers irrespective of quality
619 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
620 containers (default)
e8e73840 621 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
622 actually downloadable (Experimental)
535d7b68 623 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
bb6ac836 624 videos
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625 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
626 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
627 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
628 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
63ad4d43 629 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
e58c22a0 630 downloaded. All video post-processing will
63ad4d43 631 also be turned off
632 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
633 listed or downloaded (default)
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634
635## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 636 --write-subs Write subtitle file
637 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
638 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 639 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
640 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
641 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
1dc2726f 642 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
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643 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
644 preference, for example: "srt" or
645 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 646 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
647 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
648 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
649 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
650 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
651 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
652 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 653
cfcec693 654## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 655 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 656 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 657 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 658 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 659 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
29f7c58a 660 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 661 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 662 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
663 a list of available MSOs
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664 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
665 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 666 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
667 interactively
f5e008d1
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668 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
669 operators
670
c76eb41b 671## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 672 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 673 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 674 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
675 to when -x is used. Currently supported
676 formats are: best (default) or one of
677 aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
e4172ac9 678 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
679 value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
680 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 681 (default 5)
c76eb41b 682 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 683 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
684 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
685 target container does not support the
06167fbb 686 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 687 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 688 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
689 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 690 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 691 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
692 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 693 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 694 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 695 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
696 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 697 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
698 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
699 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
700 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
701 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
702 FixupStretched, FixupM4a and FixupM3u8. The
703 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
704 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
705 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
706 arguments to the specified executable only
707 when being used by the specified
708 postprocessor. Additionally, for
709 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
710 to the prefix optionally followed by a
711 number to pass the argument before the
712 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
713 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
714 this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 715 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 716 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 717 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 718 after post-processing
c76eb41b 719 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 720 post-processing (default)
721 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
722 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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723 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
724 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 725 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
1dc2726f 726 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
6623ac34 727 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
1dc2726f 728 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
6623ac34 729 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
73cd218f 730 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
731 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
732 for details
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733 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
734 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
735 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
736 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
737 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
738 default; fix file if we can, warn
739 otherwise)
e4172ac9 740 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
741 path to the binary or its containing
742 directory
c4af7684 743 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
9de3ea31 744 downloading and post-processing. Similar
745 syntax to the output template can be used
746 to pass any field as arguments to the
747 command. An additional field "filepath"
748 that contains the final path of the
749 downloaded file is also available. If no
750 fields are passed, "%(filepath)s" is
751 appended to the end of the command
e167860c 752 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 753 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 754 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 755 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
3de7c2ce 756 (currently supported: jpg|png)
72755351 757 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
758 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
759 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
760 to set the output filename for the split
761 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
762 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
763 (default)
6bcd846b 764
8a51f564 765## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
7a5c1cfe 766[SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
8a51f564 767 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
768 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
769
770 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
771 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
772 binary exists (Youtube only)
c76eb41b 773 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
a9e7f546 774 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
775 simply marking them
6623ac34 776 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
777 them out (default)
c76eb41b 778 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
779 downloaded
6623ac34 780 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
781 video was already downloaded (default)
c76eb41b 782 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
783 the path to the binary or its containing
8a51f564 784 directory
a9e7f546 785
78895bd3 786## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 787 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 788 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 789 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 790 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
791 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
792 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 793 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
794 discontinuities such as ad breaks
795 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
796 formats at discontinuities such as ad
797 breaks (default)
798 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
799 data on YouTube videos (default)
800 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
801 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
802 related data on YouTube videos
803 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
804 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
805 on YouTube videos (default)
806 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
807 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
808 related data on YouTube videos
809 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
17cb02d0 810
b7770046
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811# CONFIGURATION
812
7a5c1cfe 813You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 814
0202b52a 8151. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
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8161. **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.
8171. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 8181. **User Configuration**:
819 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
820 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
821 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
822 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
823 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
824 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
825
7a5c1cfe 826 Note that `~` points to `C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also, `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined
07cce701 8271. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 828
7a5c1cfe 829For 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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830```
831# Lines starting with # are comments
832
833# Always extract audio
834-x
835
836# Do not copy the mtime
837--no-mtime
838
839# Use this proxy
840--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
841
298f597b 842# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
843-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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844```
845
e2e43aea 846Note 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 847
7a5c1cfe 848You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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849
850### Authentication with `.netrc` file
851
7a5c1cfe 852You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
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853```
854touch $HOME/.netrc
855chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
856```
857After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
858```
859machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
860```
861For example:
862```
863machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
864machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
865```
7a5c1cfe 866To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
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867
868On Windows you may also need to setup the `%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
869```
870set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
871```
872
873# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
874
0202b52a 875The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
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876
877**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
878
e58c22a0 879The 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 880
881It 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/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
882
883The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
e625be0d 8841. **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)`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`. Note that the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
8851. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
8861. **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`
8871. **Default**: A default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
a439a3a4 888
889To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
890```
e625be0d 891%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 892```
de6000d9 893
5112f26a 894Additionally, 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`, `infojson`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video.
e29663c6 895
896The available fields are:
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897
898 - `id` (string): Video identifier
899 - `title` (string): Video title
900 - `url` (string): Video URL
901 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
902 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 903 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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904 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
905 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
906 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
907 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
908 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
909 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
910 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
911 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
912 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
913 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
914 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
915 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 916 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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917 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
918 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
919 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
920 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
921 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 922 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
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923 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
924 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 925 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 926 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 927 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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928 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
929 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 930 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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931 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
932 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
933 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
934 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
935 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
936 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
937 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
938 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
939 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
940 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
941 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
942 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
943 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
944 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
945 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
946 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
947 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
948 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
949 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
950 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
951 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
952 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
953 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
954 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
955 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
956 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
957
958Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
959
960 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
961 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
962 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
963
964Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
965
966 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
967 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
968 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
969 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
970 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
971 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
972 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
973
974Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
975
976 - `track` (string): Title of the track
977 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
978 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
979 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
980 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
981 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
982 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
983 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
984 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
985 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
986
b050d210 987Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 988
989 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
990 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
991 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
992 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
993
53c18592 994Available only when used in `--print`:
995
996 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
997 - `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
998
a820dc72 999Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1000
7a5c1cfe 1001For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
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1002
1003For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1004
1005Output 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.
1006
1007To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1008
91ebc640 1009The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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1010
1011In 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:
1012
1013#### Output template and Windows batch files
1014
1015If 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"`.
1016
1017#### Output template examples
1018
de6000d9 1019Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
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1020
1021```bash
7a5c1cfe
P
1022$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1023youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1024
7a5c1cfe
P
1025$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1026youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
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1027
1028# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 1029$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 1030
b050d210 1031# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 1032$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 1033
b7770046 1034# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 1035$ 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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1036
1037# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 1038$ 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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1039
1040# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 1041$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
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1042
1043# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1044$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1045```
1046
1047# FORMAT SELECTION
1048
7a5c1cfe
P
1049By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1050This 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 1051
eff63539 1052The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
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1053
1054**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1055
a439a3a4 1056The 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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1057
1058You 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.
1059
1060You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1061
e094cec1 1062 - `all`: Select all formats
f8d4ad9a 1063 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1064 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1065 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
909d24dd 1066 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1067 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1068 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1069 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1070 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1071 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1072 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1073 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1074 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1075 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1076
e58c22a0 1077For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1078
1079You 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.
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eb8a4433 1081If 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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1082
1083If 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`.
1084
e4172ac9 1085You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg. If `--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if `--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1086
1087## Filtering Formats
1088
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1089You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1090
1091The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1092
1093 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1094 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1095 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1096 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1097 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1098 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1099 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1100 - `fps`: Frame rate
1101
1102Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1103
1104 - `ext`: File extension
1105 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1106 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1107 - `container`: Name of the container format
1108 - `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`)
1109 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1110 - `language`: Language code
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1111
1112Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1113
e58c22a0 1114Note 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 1115
e094cec1 1116Formats 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 1117
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1118Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1119
eb8a4433 1120## Sorting Formats
1121
1122You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`. The available fields are:
1123
63be1aab 1124 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1125 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1126 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1127 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1128 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1129 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
a7191c6f 1130 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native` > `m3u8` > `http_dash_segments` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1131 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
63be1aab 1132 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1133 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1134 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1135 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1136 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
eb8a4433 1137 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
63be1aab 1138 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1139 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1140 - `height`: Height of video
1141 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1142 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1143 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1144 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1145 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1146 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1147 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1148 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
eb8a4433 1149
e58c22a0 1150Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All 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.
eb8a4433 1151
dca3ff4a 1152The fields `hasvid`, `ie_pref`, `lang` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `quality,res,fps,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1153
e58c22a0 1154If 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 1155
1156**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1157
eb8a4433 1158## Format Selection examples
b7770046
U
1159
1160Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1161
1162```bash
e58c22a0 1163# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1164# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1165$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1166
1167# Download best format that contains video,
1168# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1169$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1170
1171# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1172$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1173
6fd35a11 1174# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1175# For this case, an output template should be used since
1176# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1177$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1178
f8d4ad9a 1179# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1180# and all audio-only formats into one file
1181$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1182
1183# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1184# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1185$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1186
6fd35a11 1187
1188# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1189# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1190
1191# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1192$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1193
1194# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1195$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1196
1197# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1198$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1199
1200
909d24dd 1201
eb8a4433 1202# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1203$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1204
1205# Download the best video with the best extension
1206# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1207$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1208
1209
909d24dd 1210
eb8a4433 1211# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1212# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1213$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1214
eb8a4433 1215# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1216# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1217$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1218
eb8a4433 1219# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1220# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1221# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1222# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1223$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1224
b7770046 1225
909d24dd 1226
eb8a4433 1227# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1228# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1229$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1230
1231# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1232# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1233$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1234
1235# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1236$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1237
1238
909d24dd 1239
eb8a4433 1240# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1241# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1242$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1243
1244# Download best video available via the best protocol
1245# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1246$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1247
1248
909d24dd 1249
eb8a4433 1250# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1251$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1252
1253# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1254# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1255$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1256
1257# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1258# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1259$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1260
1261
1262
1263# More complex examples
1264
e58c22a0 1265# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1266# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1267$ 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 1268
1269# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1270# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1271# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1272$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1273
1274
909d24dd 1275
eb8a4433 1276# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1277# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1278# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1279$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1280```
eb8a4433 1281
73cd218f 1282# MODIFYING METADATA
1283
b31fdeed 1284The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata FROM:TO`. The general syntax is to give the name of a field or a template (with similar syntax to [output template](#output-template)) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1285
1286Note 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`.
1287
9c2b75b5 1288This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1289* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. You can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis", for example
1290* 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
73cd218f 1291
1292## Modifying metadata examples
1293
1294Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1295
1296```bash
1297# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1298$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1299
1300# Regex example
02aabd45 1301$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1302
1303# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1304$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1305
1306# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1307$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1308
1309```
1310
f74980cb 1311# PLUGINS
b7770046 1312
f74980cb 1313Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only `extractor` plugins are supported. Support for `downloader` and `postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
b7770046 1314
7a5c1cfe 1315**Note**: `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`)
b7770046 1316
e167860c 1317# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1318
1319These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1320
f4536226 1321#### Not recommended
e58c22a0 1322While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
f4536226 1323
53c18592 1324 --get-description --print description
1325 --get-duration --print duration_string
1326 --get-filename --print filename
1327 --get-format --print format
1328 --get-id --print id
1329 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1330 -e, --get-title --print title
1331 -g, --get-url --print urls
d9aa2332 1332 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1333 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
e167860c 1334 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1335 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
73cd218f 1336 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1337 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1338 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1339 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1340 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
f4536226 1341 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1342 --test Used by developers for testing extractors. Not intended for the end user
a06916d9 1343 --youtube-print-sig-code Used for testing youtube signatures
f4536226 1344
1345
1346#### Old aliases
1347These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1348
1349 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1350 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1351 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1352 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1353 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1354 --load-info --load-info-json
1355 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1356 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1357 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1358 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1359 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1360 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1361 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1362 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1363 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1364
1365#### No longer supported
1366These options may no longer work as intended
1367
1368 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1369 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1370 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1371 --no-call-home Default
1372 --include-ads No longer supported
1373 --no-include-ads Default
486fb179 1374
1375#### Removed
1376These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1377
f4536226 1378 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1379 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1380 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1381 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1382
e167860c 1383
c2b5f311 1384# MORE
5bfa4862 1385For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the [original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)