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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
ebc7d3ff 74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
ae6a1b95 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
ca5300c7 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
144a3588 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
6e634cbe 92 * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
f20f5fe5 93
f59f5ef8 94* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 95
597c1866 96* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
97
b31fdeed 98* **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 99
b31fdeed 100* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 101
e75bb0d6 102* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 103
104* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 105
3de7c2ce 106* **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 107
597c1866 108* **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 109
110* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
111
418964fa 112* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 113
144a3588 114* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 115
08d30158 116* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 117
86c1a8aa 118* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 119
7a5c1cfe 120* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 121
7a5c1cfe 122See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
0930b11f 126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 129* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 130* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 131* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 132* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 133* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 134* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 135* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 136* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 137* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 138* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 139* `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
140* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 141* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 142* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
64f36541 143* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 144* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 145* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 146* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 147* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 148* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
d5820461 149* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 150* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 151
152For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 153
28b0eb0f 154* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
155* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 157
f20f5fe5 158
d19bb9c0 159# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 160
7bc877a2 161You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 162
a4211baf 163### Using the release binary
0930b11f 164
fc5fa964 165You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 166
fc5fa964 167<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
169[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
170[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
171[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 172[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 173<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
174
175Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
176
177<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 178In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A		 179
180```
181sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
182sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183```
184
185```
186sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
187sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188```
189
190```
b69fd25c 191sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A		 192sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
193```
194
0930b11f 195
a4211baf 196### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 197
198You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
199```
200python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
201```
202
86c1a8aa 203You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 204```
205python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
206```
207
86c1a8aa 208If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 209```
ae6a1b95 210python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 211```
212
213Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
214
fc5fa964 215<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 216### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 217
218macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD		 219
220```
221brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
222```
223
a4211baf 224## UPDATE
0930b11f 225You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
226
227If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
228
229If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 230
ec2e44fc 231<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 232## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 233
733d8e8f 234#### Recommended
235
236File|Description
237:---|:---
ae6a1b95 238[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 239[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
ae6a1b95 240[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 241
242#### Alternatives
243
0e5927ee
R		 244File|Description
245:---|:---
0930b11f 246[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
96565c7e 247[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
0930b11f 248[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
249[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
733d8e8f 250
251#### Misc
252
253File|Description
254:---|:---
0e5927ee
R		 255[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
256[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
257[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 258<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 259
a4211baf 260## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 261Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 262
c9652aa4 263<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
264<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 265On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
c9652aa4 266-->
fac98805 267
e75bb0d6 268While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 269
b69fd25c 270* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
d5820461 271* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
5d0aeac0
M		 272* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
273* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
0a41f331 274* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
d5820461 275* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
276* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
6f7563be 277* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
08d30158 278* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
0930b11f 279* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
280* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
5d0aeac0 281* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
0930b11f 282* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
cf59cd4d 283* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 284
cf59cd4d 285To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
286
0a41f331 287The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
d710cc6d 288
08d30158 289<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 290**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
d710cc6d 291
5f326cf5 292
a4211baf 293## COMPILE
5f326cf5 294
c76eb41b 295**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 296To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 297
733d8e8f 298 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 299 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 300 py pyinst.py
7581d246 301
fac98805 302Note 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 303
c76eb41b 304**For Unix**:
060ac762 305You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 306Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 307
49a57e70 308**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 309
75b725a7 310You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 311
b31fdeed 312# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 313
ec2e44fc 314<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 315 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 316
c2b5f311 317`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 318<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 319
ec2e44fc 320<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 321## General Options:
1dc2726f
PH		 322 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
323 --version Print program version and exit
3fe75fdc 324 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
b1940459 325 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 326 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 327 even if the postprocessing fails
328 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
329 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
330 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 331 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
332 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 333 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
334 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 335 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 336 extractors and exit
c4af7684
PH		 337 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
338 extractor
339 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
340 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 341 from google videos for the search term
342 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
343 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
c4af7684
PH		 344 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
345 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
346 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 347 this is not possible instead of searching
9e907ebd 348 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
349 except those given by --config-locations.
350 For backward compatibility, if this option
351 is found inside the system configuration
fc5fa964 352 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
353 (Alias: --no-config)
9e907ebd 354 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
355 (default). When given inside a
356 configuration file, ignore all previous
357 --config-locations defined in the current
358 file
359 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
0202b52a 360 either the path to the config or its
9e907ebd 361 containing directory. Can be used multiple
362 times and inside other configuration files
c4af7684 363 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 364 only list them
6623ac34 365 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
adbc4ec4
THD		 366 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
367 Currently only supported for YouTube
9e907ebd 368 (Experimental)
87e04996 369 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
370 (default)
91f071af 371 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
372 available. Pass the minimum number of
373 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
374 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
e248be33 375 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
597c1866 376 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 377 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 378 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 379 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 380 configurations by reverting some of the
381 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
382 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 383
149f05c7 384## Network Options:
28b4f736 385 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
0934c9d4
S		 386 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
387 scheme. For example
88f23a18 388 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
389 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
390 connection
149f05c7 391 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 392 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 393 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 394 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 395
b31fdeed 396## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
S		 397 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
398 some geo-restricted sites. The default
399 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 400 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 401 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 402 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
455a15e2 403 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
8c6c88c7
S		 404 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
405 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S		 406 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
407 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 408 country code
9e18bb4c
S		 409 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
410 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 411 notation
149f05c7 412
cfcec693 413## Video Selection:
1dc2726f
PH		 414 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
415 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
c4af7684
PH		 416 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
417 indices of the videos in the playlist
418 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
419 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
420 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
421 specify range: "--playlist-items
422 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 423 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
c4af7684
PH		 424 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
425 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
426 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
427 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 428 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 429 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
3d38b2d6 430 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
431 Eg: --date today-2weeks
c4af7684 432 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 433 this date. The date formats accepted is the
434 same as --date
c4af7684 435 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 436 this date. The date formats accepted is the
437 same as --date
a44ca5a4 438 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
77b87f05 439 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 440 number or a string using the operators
441 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
442 also simply specify a field to match if the
a44ca5a4 443 field is present, use "!field" to check if
444 the field is not present, and "&" to check
445 multiple conditions. Use a "\" to escape
446 "&" or quotes if needed. If used multiple
447 times, the filter matches if atleast one of
448 the conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
449 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
450 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
451 matches only videos that are not live OR
452 those that have a like count more than 100
453 (or the like field is not available) and
454 also has a description that contains the
492272fe 455 phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
456 "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
457 whether to download each video
c76eb41b 458 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 459 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 460 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 461 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 462 a video and a playlist
c4af7684
PH		 463 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
464 age
465 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
466 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 467 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 468 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
469 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 470 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 471 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 472 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 473 a file that has been filtered out
91f071af 474 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
475 reject act only on the current input URL
476 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
477 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 478 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
479 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 480
d5a62e4f 481## Download Options:
b31fdeed 482 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
87e04996 483 video that should be downloaded
484 concurrently (default is 1)
5e3856a2 485 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 486 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 487 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
488 below which throttling is assumed and the
489 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 490 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 491 "infinite"
87e04996 492 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
3d3bb168 493 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
0be8314d 494 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
b56e41a7
S		 495 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
496 ISM)
6623ac34 497 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
498 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 499 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 500 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 501 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 502 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 503 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 504 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
505 downloading is finished (default)
c4af7684
PH		 506 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
507 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 508 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
509 from an initial value of --buffer-size
510 (default)
511 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
db157d2a
S		 512 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
513 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
514 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
515 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
516 (experimental)
2101f5d4 517 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 518 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 519 (default)
31487eb9 520 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 521 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 522 expected file size
9bd20204 523 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
524 allowing some players to play the video
525 while downloading, and reducing the chance
526 of file corruption if download is
527 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
528 live streams
529 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
530 videos. This is default when not
531 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 532 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
533 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
534 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
535 use it for. Currently supports native,
536 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
0a41f331 537 wget. You can use this option multiple
538 times to set different downloaders for
539 different protocols. For example,
540 --downloader aria2c --downloader
52a8a1e1 541 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
542 http/ftp downloads, and the native
fc5fa964 543 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
544 --external-downloader)
46ee996e 545 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
546 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 547 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
548 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
549 different positions using the same syntax
550 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
551 option multiple times to give different
fc5fa964 552 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
553 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 554
cfcec693 555## Filesystem Options:
940a67a3 556 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
e8dfecb3 557 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
940a67a3 558 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
8a51f564 559 comments and ignored
1e520b55 560 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 561 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 562 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 563 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
6a34813a 564 same TYPES as --output are supported.
de6000d9 565 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 566 (default) and "temp" paths. All
567 intermediary files are first downloaded to
568 the temp path and then the final files are
569 moved over to the home path after download
570 is finished. This option is ignored if
571 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 572 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 573 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 574 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
575 fields in output filename template
576 (default: "NA")
c4af7684
PH		 577 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
578 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
579 filenames
c76eb41b 580 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
581 filenames (default)
0930b11f 582 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
583 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
584 using Windows (default)
c2934512 585 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
586 extension) to the specified number of
587 characters
9b45b9f5 588 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
589 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
590 This option includes --no-continue
591 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
592 related files (default)
c25228e5 593 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
594 (default)
595 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 596 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 597 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 598 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 599 into output file (default)
c4af7684
PH		 600 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
601 into output file
c76eb41b 602 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
603 file modification time (default)
c4af7684
PH		 604 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
605 the file modification time
606 --write-description Write video description to a .description
607 file
6623ac34 608 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 609 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 610 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 611 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 612 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
613 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
614 --write-description etc. (default)
615 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
616 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
08d30158 617 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
75d43ca0 618 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
619 could still contain some personal
620 information (default)
08d30158 621 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 622 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
623 infojson. The comments are fetched even
624 without this option if the extraction is
625 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
626 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
fc5fa964 627 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
628 --no-get-comments)
d845622b 629 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
c4af7684
PH		 630 (created with the "--write-info-json"
631 option)
91f071af 632 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
633 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
MB		 634 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
635 (default)
f59f5ef8
MB		 636 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
637 The name of the browser and (optionally)
638 the name/path of the profile to load
639 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
640 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
641 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
642 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
643 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
644 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
645 can be (optionally) specified after the
646 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
647 supported keyrings are: basictext,
648 gnomekeyring, kwallet
982ee69a 649 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 650 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 651 can store some downloaded information (such
652 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 653 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
654 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
36f35428
PH		 655 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
656 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 657
b31fdeed 658## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 659 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 660 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 661 (default)
1dc2726f 662 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 663 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
664 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 665
732044af 666## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 667 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
668 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
669 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
670 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
671 OS caches the URL based on the file path
672 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
673 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 674
0744a815 675## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 676 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
677 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 678 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
c4af7684
PH		 679 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
680 anything to disk
34488702 681 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
682 options are used
0930b11f 683 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
684 extracting metadata even if the videos are
685 not actually available for download
0cf05715 686 (experimental)
687 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
688 formats are found (default)
e167860c 689 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
690 related files (Alias: --no-download)
ca30f449 691 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
ed5835b4 692 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
693 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
694 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
695 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
62f6f1cb 696 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
697 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
698 used. This option can be used multiple
699 times
bb66c247 700 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
701 Append given template to the file. The
702 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
703 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
704 as the output template. This option can be
705 used multiple times
34488702 706 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
707 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
708 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
709 description of available keys
710 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
711 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
712 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
713 a playlist, the whole playlist information
714 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 715 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 716 written as far as no errors occur, even if
717 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 718 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
1dc2726f
PH		 719 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
720 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 721 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 722 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 723 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
724 Template for progress outputs, optionally
725 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
726 "download-title:" (the console title),
727 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
728 The video's fields are accessible under the
729 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 730 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 731 --console-title --progress-template
732 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 733 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
c4af7684
PH		 734 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
735 to debug problems (very verbose)
736 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
737 files in the current directory to debug
738 problems
780083db 739 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 740
36f35428
PH		 741## Workarounds:
742 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
144a3588 743 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
744 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
745 renegotiation
0930b11f 746 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 747 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 748 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 749 supported only for YouTube)
c4af7684 750 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 751 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
c4af7684
PH		 752 option multiple times
753 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
754 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
755 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 756 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
757 during data extraction
c4af7684 758 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 759 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
760 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
761 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
762 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
763 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 764 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
765 subtitle download
36f35428 766
cfcec693 767## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 768 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
769 for more details
770 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
771 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 772 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
773 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 774 Formats" for more details
775 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 776 specified sort order (default), see
777 "Sorting Formats" for more details
778 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
779 into a single file
780 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
781 each output file (default)
782 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
783 into a single file
784 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
785 each output file (default)
da9be05e 786 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
787 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
788 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
789 containers irrespective of quality
790 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
791 containers (default)
ebc7d3ff 792 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
793 those that are actually downloadable
0930b11f 794 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 795 actually downloadable
0930b11f 796 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
797 downloadable
34488702 798 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
799 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
c4af7684
PH		 800 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
801 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
802 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
803 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH		 804
805## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 806 --write-subs Write subtitle file
807 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
808 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 809 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
810 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
811 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 812 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
813 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
c4af7684
PH		 814 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
815 preference, for example: "srt" or
816 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 817 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
818 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 819 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 820 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
fc5fa964 821 from the requested languages. (Eg:
822 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
823 for a list of available language tags
6bcd846b 824
cfcec693 825## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 826 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 827 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 828 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 829 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 830 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 831 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
832 either the path or its containing
833 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 834 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 835 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 836 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
837 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S		 838 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
839 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 840 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
841 interactively
f5e008d1
S		 842 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
843 operators
bb58c9ed 844 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
845 format. May include the private key
846 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE Path to private key file for client
847 certificate
848 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
849 Password for client certificate private
850 key, if encrypted. If not provided and the
851 key is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask
852 interactively
f5e008d1 853
c76eb41b 854## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 855 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 856 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 857 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
858 to when -x is used. Currently supported
a44ca5a4 859 formats are: best (default) or one of aac,
860 flac, mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
861 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
862 converting the audio with -x. Insert a
86c1a8aa 863 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 864 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 865 (default 5)
c76eb41b 866 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
a44ca5a4 867 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
868 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
869 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
29b6000e 870 target container does not support the
06167fbb 871 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 872 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 873 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
874 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 875 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 876 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
877 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 878 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 879 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 880 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
881 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 882 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
7a340e0d
NA		 883 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
884 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 885 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
886 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 887 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
888 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 889 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 890 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
NA		 891 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
892 specified executable only when being used
893 by the specified postprocessor.
894 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
895 can be appended to the prefix optionally
896 followed by a number to pass the argument
897 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
898 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
899 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 900 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 901 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 902 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 903 after post-processing
c76eb41b 904 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 905 post-processing (default)
906 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
907 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
0be8314d
PH		 908 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
909 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 910 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 911 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 912 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 913 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
914 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
915 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
916 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 917 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 918 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
7a340e0d
NA		 919 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
920 (Alias: --add-chapters)
921 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
922 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 923 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
924 mkv/mka video files
925 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
926 to the video file
73cd218f 927 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
928 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
929 for details
e9f4ccd1 930 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
931 Replace text in a metadata field using the
932 given regex. This option can be used
933 multiple times
c4af7684
PH		 934 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
935 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
3b603dbd 936 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
fc5fa964 937 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
938 (default; only when the videos form a
3b603dbd 939 single show). All the video files must have
940 same codecs and number of streams to be
941 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
942 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
3d3bb168 943 the output filename for the concatenated
944 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
c4af7684
PH		 945 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
946 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
947 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
948 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 949 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
87e04996 950 already exists)
e4172ac9 951 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
952 path to the binary or its containing
953 directory
1e43a6f7 954 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
955 when to execute it (after_move if
956 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
957 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
958 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
959 output template can be used to pass any
960 field as arguments to the command. After
961 download, an additional field "filepath"
9de3ea31 962 that contains the final path of the
1e43a6f7 963 downloaded file is also available, and if
964 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
965 appended to the end of the command. This
34488702 966 option can be used multiple times
1e43a6f7 967 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
e167860c 968 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
a44ca5a4 969 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
e167860c 970 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 971 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
a44ca5a4 972 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
72755351 973 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
974 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
975 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
976 to set the output filename for the split
977 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
978 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
979 (default)
7a340e0d 980 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 981 given regular expression. Time ranges
982 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
983 of chapters to remove the specified range.
984 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
985 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 986 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 987 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
988 (default)
7a340e0d
NA		 989 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
990 removing/splitting them. Requires a
e75bb0d6 991 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
7a340e0d
NA		 992 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
993 around the cuts
994 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
995 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 996 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
997 postprocessors to be enabled, and
998 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
e75bb0d6 999 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
3ae5e797 1000 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1001 The "when" argument determines when the
1002 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
09b49e1f 1003 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1004 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1005 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1006 "post_process" (after each video download;
1007 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1008 file to it's final locations),
1009 "after_video" (after downloading and
1010 processing all formats of a video), or
1011 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
1012 option can be used multiple times to add
1013 different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1014
1015## SponsorBlock Options:
1016Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1017 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1018 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1019
7a340e0d
NA		 1020 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1021 for, separated by commas. Available
8157a09d
NA		 1022 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1023 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1024 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1025 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1026 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1027 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1028 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
7a340e0d
NA		 1029 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1030 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1031 category is present in both mark and
1032 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1033 and available categories are the same as
8157a09d
NA		 1034 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1035 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1036 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
NA		 1037 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1038 The title template for SponsorBlock
1039 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1040 The same syntax as the output template is
1041 used, but the only available fields are
1042 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1043 name, category_names. Defaults to
1044 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1045 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1046 --sponsorblock-remove
1047 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1048 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1049
78895bd3 1050## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 1051 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 1052 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 1053 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 1054 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1055 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1056 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 1057 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1058 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1059 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1060 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1061 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 1062 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1063 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1064 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 1065 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1066
b7770046
U		 1067# CONFIGURATION
1068
7a5c1cfe 1069You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1070
0202b52a 10711. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10721. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10731. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10741. **User Configuration**:
1075 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1076 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1077 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1078 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1079 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1080 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1081
ec2e44fc 1082 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1083
07cce701 10841. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1085
7a5c1cfe 1086For 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
U		 1087```
1088# Lines starting with # are comments
1089
1090# Always extract audio
1091-x
1092
1093# Do not copy the mtime
1094--no-mtime
1095
1096# Use this proxy
1097--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1098
298f597b 1099# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1100-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1101```
1102
e2e43aea 1103Note 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 1104
a4211baf 1105You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
b7770046
U		 1106
1107### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1108
0001fcb5 1109You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
b7770046
U		 1110```
1111touch $HOME/.netrc
1112chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1113```
1114After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1115```
0001fcb5 1116machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
U		 1117```
1118For example:
1119```
1120machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1121machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1122```
7a5c1cfe 1123To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1124
0001fcb5 1125The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
U		 1126
1127# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1128
0202b52a 1129The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1130
ec2e44fc 1131<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1132**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1133<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1134
e58c22a0 1135The 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 1136
0930b11f 1137It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1138
1139The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1140
2b8a2973 11411. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1142
e625be0d 11431. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1144
e625be0d 11451. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1146
e75bb0d6 11471. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1148
e978789f
P		 11491. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1150
e75bb0d6 11511. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1152
abbeeebc 11531. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1154
524e2e4f 11551. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1156
1157To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1158```
e978789f 1159%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1160```
de6000d9 1161
dbcea058 1162Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1163
1164The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1165
1166 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1167 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1168 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1169 - `url` (string): Video URL
1170 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1171 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1172 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1173 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1174 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1175 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1176 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1177 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1178 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1179 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1180 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1181 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1182 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1183 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1184 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1185 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1186 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1187 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1188 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1189 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U		 1190 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1191 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1192 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1193 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1194 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1195 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
b7770046 1196 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1197 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1198 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1199 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1200 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1201 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1202 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1203 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1204 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
b7770046
U		 1205 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1206 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1207 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1208 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1209 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1210 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1211 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1212 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1213 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1214 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1215 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1216 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
b7770046
U		 1217 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1218 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1219 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1220 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1221 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1222 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1223 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1224 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1225 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1226 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1227 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1228 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1229 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1230 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1231 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1232 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1233 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
U		 1234 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1235 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1236 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1237 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1238 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1239 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
b7770046
U		 1240
1241Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1242
1243 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1244 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1245 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1246
1247Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1248
1249 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1250 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1251 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1252 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1253 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1254 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1255 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1256
1257Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1258
1259 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1260 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1261 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1262 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1263 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1264 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1265 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1266 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1267 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1268 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1269
b050d210 1270Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1271
1272 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1273 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1274 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1275 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1276
53c18592 1277Available only when used in `--print`:
1278
1279 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1280 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1281 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1282 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1283 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1284 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1285
7a340e0d
NA		 1286
1287Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1288
1289 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1290 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1291 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1292 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1293 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1294 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1295
49a57e70 1296Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1297
1298Note 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 1299
0930b11f 1300**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1301
49a57e70 1302For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1303
940a67a3 1304Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
U		 1305
1306To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1307
91ebc640 1308The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1309
f304da8a 1310In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
b7770046 1311
ec2e44fc 1312<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1313#### Output template and Windows batch files
1314
1315If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1316<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1317
1318#### Output template examples
1319
b7770046 1320```bash
940a67a3 1321$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1322test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1323
940a67a3 1324$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1325youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1326
940a67a3 1327$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1328youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1329
1330# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1331$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1332
b050d210 1333# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1334$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1335
e978789f 1336# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1337$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1338
b7770046 1339# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1340$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1341
1342# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1343$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
U		 1344
1345# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1346$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
b7770046 1347
6a34813a 1348# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1349# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1350$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1351
1352# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1353$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1354
b7770046 1355# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1356$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1357```
1358
1359# FORMAT SELECTION
1360
7a5c1cfe
P		 1361By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1362This 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 1363
c111cefa 1364**Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to `-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the `-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1365
eff63539 1366The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
b7770046 1367
ec2e44fc 1368<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1369**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1370<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1371
a439a3a4 1372The 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.
b7770046
U		 1373
1374You 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.
1375
fa9f30b8 1376You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1377
b7770046
U		 1378You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1379
59a7a13e 1380 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1381 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1382 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1383 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1384 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1385 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1386 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1387 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
59a7a13e 1388 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1389 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1390 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1391 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1392 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1393 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1394
ae6a1b95 1395For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1396
1397You can select the n'th best format of a type by using `best<type>.<n>`. For example, `best.2` will select the 2nd best combined format. Similarly, `bv*.3` will select the 3rd best format that contains a video stream.
b7770046 1398
eb8a4433 1399If 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.
b7770046
U		 1400
1401If 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`.
1402
d806c9fd 1403You 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.
1404
1405**Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1406
1407Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1408
1409## Filtering Formats
1410
b7770046
U		 1411You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1412
1413The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1414
1415 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1416 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1417 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1418 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1419 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1420 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1421 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1422 - `fps`: Frame rate
1423
1ce9a3cb 1424Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
U		 1425
1426 - `ext`: File extension
1427 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1428 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1429 - `container`: Name of the container format
1430 - `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`)
1431 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1432 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1433
1ce9a3cb 1434Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
b7770046 1435
e58c22a0 1436Note 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 1437
e094cec1 1438Formats 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 1439
940a67a3 1440Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1441
eb8a4433 1442## Sorting Formats
1443
2e7781a9 1444You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1445
1446The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1447
63be1aab 1448 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1449 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1450 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1451 - `lang`: The language preference
1452 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1453 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1454 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1455 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1456 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1457 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1458 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1459 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1460 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1461 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1462 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1463 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1464 - `height`: Height of video
1465 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1466 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1467 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1468 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1469 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1470 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1471 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1472 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1473 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1474
1475**Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
eb8a4433 1476
9ee4f0bb 1477All 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.
1478
176f1866 1479The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1480
e75bb0d6 1481Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1482
e58c22a0 1483If 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 1484
1485**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1486
eb8a4433 1487## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1488
b7770046 1489```bash
e58c22a0 1490# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1491# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1492$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1493
1494# Download best format that contains video,
1495# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1496$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1497
1498# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1499$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1500
6fd35a11 1501# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1502# For this case, an output template should be used since
1503# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1504$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1505
f8d4ad9a 1506# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1507# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1508$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1509
1510# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1511# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1512$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1513
6fd35a11 1514
1515# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1516# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1517
1518# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1519$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1520
1521# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1522$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1523
1524# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1525$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1526
1527
909d24dd 1528
eb8a4433 1529# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1530$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1531
1532# Download the best video with the best extension
1533# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1534$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1535
1536
909d24dd 1537
eb8a4433 1538# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1539# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1540$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1541
eb8a4433 1542# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1543# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1544$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1545
eb8a4433 1546# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1547# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1548# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1549# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1550$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1551
b7770046 1552
909d24dd 1553
eb8a4433 1554# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1555# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1556$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1557
1558# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1559# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1560$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1561
1562# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1563$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1564
1565
909d24dd 1566
eb8a4433 1567# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1568# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1569$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1570
1571# Download best video available via the best protocol
1572# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1573$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1574
1575
909d24dd 1576
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1577# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1578# or the best video if there is no such video
1579$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1580
1581# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1582# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1583$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1584
1585# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1586# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1588
1589
1590
1591# More complex examples
1592
e58c22a0 1593# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1594# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1595$ 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 1596
1597# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1598# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1599# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1600$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1601
1602
909d24dd 1603
eb8a4433 1604# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1605# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1606# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1607$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1608```
eb8a4433 1609
73cd218f 1610# MODIFYING METADATA
1611
a4211baf 1612The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1613
418964fa 1614`--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE` is used to replace text in any metadata field using [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax). [Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
e9f4ccd1 1615
2e7781a9 1616The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1617
1618Note 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`.
1619
9c2b75b5 1620This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1621
28b0eb0f 1622* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1623
88968992 1624* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1625
08d30158 1626**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1627
c31be5b0 1628For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1629
08d30158 1630Metadata fields | From
1631:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1632`title` | `track` or `title`
1633`date` | `upload_date`
1634`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1635`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1636`track` | `track_number`
1637`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1638`genre` | `genre`
1639`album` | `album`
1640`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1641`disc` | `disc_number`
1642`show` | `series`
1643`season_number` | `season_number`
1644`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1645`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1646`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1647
c31be5b0 1648**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1649
73cd218f 1650
1651## Modifying metadata examples
1652
73cd218f 1653```bash
1654# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1655$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1656
1657# Regex example
940a67a3 1658$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1659
1660# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1661$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1662
a44ca5a4 1663# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1664$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1665
1666# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1667# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1668$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1669
0930b11f 1670# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1671$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1672
e9f4ccd1 1673# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1674$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1675
73cd218f 1676```
1677
5d3a0e79 1678# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1679
a44ca5a4 1680Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1681
1682The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1683
1684#### youtube
18e49408 1685* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
e7870111 1686* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1687* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1688* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1689* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1690* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`
1691 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
96565c7e 1692
1693#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1694* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1695* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1696
1697#### funimation
1698* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1699* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1700
a9d4da60 1701#### crunchyroll
1702* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1703* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1704
ae6a1b95 1705#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH		 1706* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1707 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1708* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1709
96565c7e 1710#### vikichannel
1711* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1712
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1713#### niconico
1714* `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1715
aa4b0545 1716#### youtubewebarchive
1717* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1718
d43de682
M		 1719#### gamejolt
1720* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1721
26f2aa3d
AG		 1722#### hotstar
1723* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1724* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1725* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1726
046cab39
M		 1727#### tiktok
1728* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1729* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1730
7eaf7f9a 1731#### rokfinchannel
1732* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1733
1734
bc97cdae 1735NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1736
ec2e44fc 1737<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1738
3acf6d38 1739
f74980cb 1740# PLUGINS
b7770046 1741
3ae5e797 1742Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1743
1744Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1745
1746See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1747
1748Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
1749
1750If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1751
b7770046 1752
8c6f4daa 1753
1754# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1755
1756yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1757
1758Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J`, `--print`, `--progress-template`, `--exec` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1759
1760From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1761
1762```python
59a7a13e 1763from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1764
3d3bb168 1765URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1766with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1767 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1768```
1769
e5a998f3 1770Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L181).
8c6f4daa 1771
43cc91ad 1772**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
3d3bb168 1773
1774## Embedding examples
1775
43cc91ad 1776#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1777
1778```python
1779import json
8c6f4daa 1780import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1781
3d3bb168 1782URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1783
1784# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1785ydl_opts = {}
1786with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1787 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1788
1789 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1790 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1791```
43cc91ad 1792#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1793
1794```python
1795import yt_dlp
1796
1797INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1798
1799with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1800 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1801
1802print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1803 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1804```
1805
43cc91ad 1806#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1807
1808```python
1809import yt_dlp
1810
1811URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1812
1813ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1814 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1815 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1816 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1817 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1818 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1819 }]
1820}
1821
1822with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1823 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1824```
0a41f331 1825
1826#### Filter videos
1827
1828```python
1829import yt_dlp
1830
1831URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1832
1833def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1834 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1835 duration = info.get('duration')
1836 if duration and duration < 60:
1837 return 'The video is too short'
1838
1839ydl_opts = {
1840 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1841}
1842
1843with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1844 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1845```
1846
43cc91ad 1847#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1848
1849```python
1850import yt_dlp
1851
1852URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1853
1854class MyLogger:
1855 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1856 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1857 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1858 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1859 pass
1860 else:
1861 self.info(msg)
1862
1863 def info(self, msg):
1864 pass
1865
1866 def warning(self, msg):
1867 pass
1868
1869 def error(self, msg):
1870 print(msg)
1871
1872
3d3bb168 1873# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1874def my_hook(d):
1875 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1876 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1877
1878
1879ydl_opts = {
1880 'logger': MyLogger(),
1881 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1882}
1883
1884with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1885 ydl.download(URLS)
1886```
1887
43cc91ad 1888#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1889
1890```python
1891import yt_dlp
1892
1893URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1894
1895# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1896class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1897 def run(self, info):
1898 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1899 return [], info
1900
1901
3d3bb168 1902with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1903 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1904 ydl.download(URLS)
1905```
8c6f4daa 1906
1907
43cc91ad 1908#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1909
1910```python
1911import yt_dlp
1912
1913URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1914
093a1710 1915def format_selector(ctx):
1916 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1917 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1918
1919 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1920 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1921
1922 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1923 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1924 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1925
1926 # find compatible audio extension
1927 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1928 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1929 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1930 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1931
3d3bb168 1932 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1933 yield {
093a1710 1934 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1935 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1936 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1937 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1938 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1939 }
1940
1941
8c6f4daa 1942ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1943 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1944}
1945
1946with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1947 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1948```
1949
ec2e44fc 1950<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1951
e167860c 1952# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1953
1954These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1955
8130779d 1956#### Almost redundant options
1957While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1958
1959 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1960 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1961 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1962 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1963
6ccf351a 1964#### Redundant options
1965While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1966
53c18592 1967 --get-description --print description
1968 --get-duration --print duration_string
1969 --get-filename --print filename
1970 --get-format --print format
1971 --get-id --print id
1972 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1973 -e, --get-title --print title
1974 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1975 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1976 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1977 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1978 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1979 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1980 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
6ccf351a 1981
1982
1983#### Not recommended
1984While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1985
1e43a6f7 1986 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1987 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 1988 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1989 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1990 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1991 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1992 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1993 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1994 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1995 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1996 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1997 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1998 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1999 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2000 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2001 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2002 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2003
2004
2005#### Developer options
2006These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2007
34488702 2008 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 2009 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2010 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2011 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2012
2013
2014#### Old aliases
2015These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2016
2017 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2018 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2019 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2020 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2021 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2022 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2023 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2024 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2025 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2026 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2027 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2028 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2029 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2030 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2031 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2032 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2033 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2034
7a340e0d 2035#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2036Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2037
2038 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2039 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2040 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2041 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2042 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2043 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2044 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2045 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2046
f4536226 2047#### No longer supported
2048These options may no longer work as intended
2049
2050 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2051 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2052 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2053 --no-call-home Default
2054 --include-ads No longer supported
2055 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2056 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2057 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2058
2059#### Removed
2060These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2061
f4536226 2062 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2063 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2064
8c6f4daa 2065# CONTRIBUTING
2066See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
e167860c 2067
c2b5f311 2068# MORE
8c6f4daa 2069For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/