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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
5ec1b6b7 96* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
97
597c1866 98* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
99
b31fdeed 100* **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 101
b31fdeed 102* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 103
e75bb0d6 104* **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 105
56ba69e4 106* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 107
3de7c2ce 108* **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 109
597c1866 110* **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 111
112* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
113
418964fa 114* **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 115
8a82af35 116* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 117
08d30158 118* **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 119
86c1a8aa 120* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 121
7a5c1cfe 122* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 123
7a5c1cfe 124See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 125
53ed7066 126### Differences in default behavior
127
0930b11f 128Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 129
96565c7e 130* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 131* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 132* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 133* 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 134* 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 135* 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 136* 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 137* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 138* 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 139* `--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 140* 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 141* `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
142* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 143* 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 144* 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 145* 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 146* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 147* 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 148* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 149* 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 150* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
0bf9dc1e 151* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 152* 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 153
154For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 155
8a82af35 156* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 157* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
158* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 159
f20f5fe5 160
d19bb9c0 161# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 162
7bc877a2 163You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 164
a4211baf 165### Using the release binary
0930b11f 166
fc5fa964 167You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 168
fc5fa964 169<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
24146491 171[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
172[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
fc5fa964 173[![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)
174[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 175[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 176<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
177
178Note: 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)
179
180<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 181In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A		 182
183```
184sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
185sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
186```
187
188```
189sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
190sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
191```
192
193```
b69fd25c 194sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A		 195sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
196```
197
0930b11f 198
a4211baf 199### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 200
201You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
202```
203python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
204```
205
86c1a8aa 206You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 207```
208python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
209```
210
86c1a8aa 211If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 212```
ae6a1b95 213python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 214```
215
216Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
217
fc5fa964 218<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 219### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 220
221macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD		 222
223```
224brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
225```
226
a4211baf 227## UPDATE
0930b11f 228You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
229
230If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
231
232If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 233
ec2e44fc 234<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 235## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 236
733d8e8f 237#### Recommended
238
239File|Description
240:---|:---
ae6a1b95 241[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 242[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 243[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 244
245#### Alternatives
246
0e5927ee
R		 247File|Description
248:---|:---
0930b11f 249[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
24146491 250[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`/`certifi`, needs VC++14
0930b11f 251[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
252[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 253
254#### Misc
255
256File|Description
257:---|:---
0e5927ee
R		 258[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
259[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
260[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 261<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 262
a4211baf 263## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 264Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 265
c9652aa4 266<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
267<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 268On 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 269-->
fac98805 270
e75bb0d6 271While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 272
b69fd25c 273* [**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 274* [**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		 275* [**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)
276* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
0a41f331 277* [**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 278* [**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>
279* [**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 280* [**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 281* [**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 282* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
283* [**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 284* [**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 285* [**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 286* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 287
cf59cd4d 288To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
289
0a41f331 290The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
d710cc6d 291
08d30158 292<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 293**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 294
5f326cf5 295
a4211baf 296## COMPILE
5f326cf5 297
c76eb41b 298**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 299To 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 300
733d8e8f 301 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 302 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 303 py pyinst.py
7581d246 304
fac98805 305Note 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 306
c76eb41b 307**For Unix**:
060ac762 308You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 309Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 310
49a57e70 311**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 312
75b725a7 313You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 314
b31fdeed 315# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 316
ec2e44fc 317<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 318 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 319
c2b5f311 320`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 321<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 322
ec2e44fc 323<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 324## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 325 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
326 --version Print program version and exit
327 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
328 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
329 The download will be considered successful
330 even if the postprocessing fails
331 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
332 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
333 playlist (default)
334 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
335 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
336 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
337 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
338 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
339 extractors and exit
64fa820c 340 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic extractor
2dd5a2e3 341 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
342 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
343 google videos for the search term "python".
344 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
345 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
346 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
347 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
348 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
349 possible instead of searching
350 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
351 except those given by --config-locations.
352 For backward compatibility, if this option
353 is found inside the system configuration
354 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
355 (Alias: --no-config)
356 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
357 (default). When given inside a configuration
358 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
359 defined in the current file
360 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
361 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 362 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
363 used multiple times and inside other
364 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 365 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
366 only list them
367 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
368 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
369 Currently only supported for YouTube
370 (Experimental)
371 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
372 (default)
373 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
374 available. Pass the minimum number of
375 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
376 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
377 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
378 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
379 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
380 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
381 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
382 configurations by reverting some of the
383 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
384 default behavior" for details
385 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
386 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
387 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
388 according to the Python string formatting
389 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
390 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
391 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
392 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
393 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
394 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
395 output. Alias options can trigger more
396 aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
397 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
398 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 399 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 400
149f05c7 401## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 402 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
403 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
404 Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
405 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
406 connection
407 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
408 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
409 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
410 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 411
b31fdeed 412## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 413 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
414 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
415 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
416 is not present) is used for the actual
417 downloading
418 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
419 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
420 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
421 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
422 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
423 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
424 country code
425 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 426 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 427
cfcec693 428## Video Selection:
2dd5a2e3 429 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
430 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
431 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
432 indices of the videos in the playlist
433 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
434 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
435 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
436 specify range: "--playlist-items
437 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos at
438 index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
439 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
440 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
441 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
442 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
443 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
444 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
445 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
446 Eg: --date today-2weeks
447 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
448 this date. The date formats accepted is the
449 same as --date
450 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
452 same as --date
453 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
454 field can be compared with a number or a
455 string using the operators defined in
456 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
457 specify a field to match if the field is
458 present, use "!field" to check if the field
459 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
460 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
461 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
462 the filter matches if atleast one of the
463 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
464 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
465 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
466 only videos that are not live OR those that
467 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
468 field is not available) and also has a
469 description that contains the phrase "cats &
470 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
471 interactively ask whether to download each
472 video
473 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
474 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
475 to a video and a playlist
476 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
477 a video and a playlist
478 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
479 age
480 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
481 archive file. Record the IDs of all
482 downloaded videos in it
483 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
484 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
485 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
486 a file that is in the archive
487 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
488 a file that has been filtered out
489 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
490 and --max-downloads act only on the current
491 input URL
492 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
493 terminates the entire download queue
494 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
495 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 496
d5a62e4f 497## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 498 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
499 video that should be downloaded concurrently
500 (default is 1)
501 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
502 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
503 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
504 below which throttling is assumed and the
505 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
506 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
507 "infinite"
508 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
509 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
510 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
511 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
512 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
513 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
514 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
515 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
516 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
517 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
518 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
519 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
520 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
521 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
522 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
523 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
524 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
525 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
526 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
527 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
528 downloading is finished
529 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
530 downloading is finished (default)
531 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
532 (default is 1024)
533 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
534 from an initial value of --buffer-size
535 (default)
536 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
537 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
538 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
539 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
540 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
541 (experimental)
542 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
543 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
544 (default)
545 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
546 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
547 expected file size
548 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
549 allowing some players to play the video
550 while downloading, and reducing the chance
551 of file corruption if download is
552 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
553 live streams
554 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
555 videos. This is default when not downloading
556 live streams
5ec1b6b7 557 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
558 the given regular expression. Time ranges
559 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
560 of chapters to download the specified range.
561 Eg: --download-sections "*10:15-15:00"
562 --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
563 This option can be used multiple times to
564 download multiple sections
2dd5a2e3 565 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
566 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
567 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
568 use it for. Currently supports native,
569 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
570 wget. You can use this option multiple times
571 to set different downloaders for different
572 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
573 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
574 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
575 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
576 (Alias: --external-downloader)
577 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
578 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
579 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
580 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
581 positions using the same syntax as
582 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
583 option multiple times to give different
584 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
585 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 586
cfcec693 587## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 588 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
589 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
590 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
591 comments and ignored
592 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
593 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
594 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
595 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
596 TYPES as --output are supported.
597 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
598 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
599 files are first downloaded to the temp path
600 and then the final files are moved over to
601 the home path after download is finished.
602 This option is ignored if --output is an
603 absolute path
604 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
605 TEMPLATE" for details
606 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
607 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
608 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
609 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
610 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
611 filenames (default)
612 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
613 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
614 using Windows (default)
615 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
616 extension) to the specified number of
617 characters
618 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
619 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
620 option includes --no-continue
621 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
622 related files (default)
623 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
624 (default)
625 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
626 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
627 restart download of the entire file
628 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
629 into output file (default)
630 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
631 output file
632 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
633 modification time (default)
634 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
635 the file modification time
64fa820c 636 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 637 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
638 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
639 (this may contain personal information)
640 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
641 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
642 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
643 --write-description etc. (default)
644 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
645 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
646 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
647 from the infojson. Note that it could still
648 contain some personal information (default)
649 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
650 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
651 infojson. The comments are fetched even
652 without this option if the extraction is
653 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
654 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
655 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
656 --no-get-comments)
657 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 658 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 659 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
660 and dump cookie jar in
661 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
662 (default)
f59f5ef8 663 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
2dd5a2e3 664 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
665 name/path of the profile to load cookies
666 from, separated by a ":". Currently
667 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
668 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
669 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
670 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
671 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
672 be (optionally) specified after the browser
673 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
64fa820c 674 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 675 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
676 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
677 can store some downloaded information (such
678 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
679 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
680 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
681 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
682 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 683
b31fdeed 684## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 685 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 686 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 687 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
688 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
689 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 690
732044af 691## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 692 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
693 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
694 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
695 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
696 OS caches the URL based on the file path
697 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
698 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 699
0744a815 700## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 701 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
702 print the log to stderr
703 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
704 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
705 anything to disk
706 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
707 options are used
708 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
709 extracting metadata even if the videos are
710 not actually available for download
711 (experimental)
712 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
713 formats are found (default)
714 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
715 related files (Alias: --no-download)
716 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
717 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
718 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
719 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
720 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
721 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
722 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
723 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 724 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 725 Append given template to the file. The
726 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
727 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
728 output template. This option can be used
729 multiple times
730 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
731 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
732 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
733 description of available keys
734 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
735 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
736 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
737 a playlist, the whole playlist information
738 is dumped in a single line
739 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
740 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
741 another simulation option is used (Alias:
742 --force-download-archive)
743 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
744 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
745 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
746 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 747 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 748 Template for progress outputs, optionally
749 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
750 "download-title:" (the console title),
751 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
752 The video's fields are accessible under the
753 "info" key and the progress attributes are
754 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
755 --console-title --progress-template
756 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
757 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
758 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
759 to debug problems (very verbose)
760 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
761 in the current directory to debug problems
762 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 763
36f35428 764## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 765 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
766 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
767 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
768 renegotiation
769 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
770 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
771 information about the video (Currently
772 supported only for YouTube)
773 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
774 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
775 option multiple times
776 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
777 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
778 or fribidi executable in PATH
779 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
780 during data extraction
781 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
782 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
783 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
784 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
785 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
786 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
787 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
788 subtitle download
36f35428 789
cfcec693 790## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 791 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
792 for more details
793 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
794 "Sorting Formats" for more details
795 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
796 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
797 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
798 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
799 specified sort order (default)
800 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
801 into a single file
802 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
803 output file (default)
804 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
805 into a single file
806 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
807 output file (default)
808 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
809 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
810 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
811 irrespective of quality
812 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
813 containers (default)
814 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
815 those that are actually downloadable
816 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
817 actually downloadable
818 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
819 downloadable
820 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
821 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
822 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
823 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
824 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
825 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH		 826
827## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 828 --write-subs Write subtitle file
829 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
830 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
831 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
832 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
833 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
834 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
835 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
836 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
837 Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
838 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
839 be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
840 --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
841 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
842 the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
843 all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
844 of available language tags
6bcd846b 845
cfcec693 846## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 847 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
848 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
849 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
850 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
851 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
852 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
853 either the path or its containing directory.
854 Defaults to ~/.netrc
855 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
856 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
857 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
858 a list of available MSOs
859 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
860 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
861 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
862 interactively
863 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
864 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
865 format. May include the private key
866 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
867 Path to private key file for client
868 certificate
bb58c9ed 869 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 870 Password for client certificate private key,
871 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
872 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 873
c76eb41b 874## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 875 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
876 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 877 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
878 used. (currently supported: best (default),
e0ab9854 879 mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac,
880 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
881 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 882 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
883 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
884 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
885 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
886 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
887 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
35faefee 888 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
889 m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 890 target container does not support the
891 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
892 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
893 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 894 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 895 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
896 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
897 are the same as --remux-video
898 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
899 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
900 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
901 to give the argument to the specified
902 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
903 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
904 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
905 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
906 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
907 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
908 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
909 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
910 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
911 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
912 specified executable only when being used by
913 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
914 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
915 appended to the prefix optionally followed
916 by a number to pass the argument before the
917 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
918 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
919 this option multiple times to give different
920 arguments to different postprocessors.
921 (Alias: --ppa)
922 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
923 after post-processing
924 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
925 post-processing (default)
926 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
927 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
928 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
929 webm and mkv videos)
930 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
931 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
932 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
933 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
934 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
935 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
936 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
937 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
938 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
939 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
940 (Alias: --add-chapters)
941 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
942 --no-add-chapters)
943 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
944 mkv/mka video files
945 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
946 to the video file
947 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
948 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
949 for details
e9f4ccd1 950 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 951 Replace text in a metadata field using the
952 given regex. This option can be used
953 multiple times
954 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
955 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
956 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
957 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
958 (default; only when the videos form a single
959 show). All the video files must have same
960 codecs and number of streams to be
961 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
962 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
963 the output filename for the concatenated
964 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
965 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
966 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
967 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
968 default; fix file if we can, warn
969 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
970 already exists)
971 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 972 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 973 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
974 when to execute it (after_move if
975 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
976 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
977 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
978 output template can be used to pass any
979 field as arguments to the command. After
980 download, an additional field "filepath"
981 that contains the final path of the
982 downloaded file is also available, and if no
983 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
984 to the end of the command. This option can
985 be used multiple times
986 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
987 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
988 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
989 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
990 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 991 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
992 can specify multiple rules using similar
993 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 994 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
995 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
996 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
997 the output filename for the split files. See
998 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 999 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1000 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1001 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1002 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1003 be used multiple times
1004 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1005 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1006 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1007 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1008 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1009 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1010 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1011 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1012 when cutting/splitting (default)
1013 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1014 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1015 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1016 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1017 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1018 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1019 The "when" argument determines when the
1020 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1021 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1022 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1023 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1024 "post_process" (after each video download;
1025 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1026 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1027 (after downloading and processing all
1028 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1029 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1030 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1031
1032## SponsorBlock Options:
1033Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1034 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1035 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1036
2dd5a2e3 1037 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1038 for, separated by commas. Available
1039 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1040 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1041 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1042 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1043 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
1044 description of the categories. Eg:
1045 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1046 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1047 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1048 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1049 category is present in both mark and remove,
1050 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1051 available categories are the same as for
1052 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1053 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1054 not available
7a340e0d 1055 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1056 An output template for the title of the
1057 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1058 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1059 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1060 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1061 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1062 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1063 --sponsorblock-remove
1064 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1065 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1066
78895bd3 1067## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1068 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1069 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1070 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1071 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1072 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1073 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1074 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1075 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1076 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1077 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1078 (default)
1079 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1080 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1081 use this option multiple times to give
1082 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1083
b7770046
U		 1084# CONFIGURATION
1085
7a5c1cfe 1086You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1087
0202b52a 10881. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10891. **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 10901. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10911. **User Configuration**:
1092 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1093 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1094 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1095 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1096 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1097 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1098
ec2e44fc 1099 `%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 1100
07cce701 11011. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1102
7a5c1cfe 1103For 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		 1104```
1105# Lines starting with # are comments
1106
1107# Always extract audio
1108-x
1109
1110# Do not copy the mtime
1111--no-mtime
1112
1113# Use this proxy
1114--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1115
298f597b 1116# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1117-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1118```
1119
e2e43aea 1120Note 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 1121
a4211baf 1122You 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		 1123
1124### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1125
0001fcb5 1126You 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		 1127```
1128touch $HOME/.netrc
1129chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1130```
1131After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1132```
0001fcb5 1133machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
U		 1134```
1135For example:
1136```
1137machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1138machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1139```
7a5c1cfe 1140To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1141
0001fcb5 1142The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
U		 1143
1144# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1145
0202b52a 1146The `-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 1147
ec2e44fc 1148<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1149**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1150<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1151
e58c22a0 1152The 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 1153
0930b11f 1154It 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 1155
1156The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1157
2b8a2973 11581. **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 1159
e625be0d 11601. **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 1161
e625be0d 11621. **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 1163
e75bb0d6 11641. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1165
e978789f
P		 11661. **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.
1167
e75bb0d6 11681. **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 1169
abbeeebc 11701. **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 1171
524e2e4f 11721. **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 1173
1174To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1175```
e978789f 1176%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1177```
de6000d9 1178
dbcea058 1179Additionally, 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 1180
1181The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1182
1183 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1184 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1185 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1186 - `url` (string): Video URL
1187 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1188 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1189 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1190 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1191 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1192 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1193 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1194 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1195 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1196 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1197 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1198 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1199 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1200 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1201 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1202 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1203 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1204 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1205 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1206 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U		 1207 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1208 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1209 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1210 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1211 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1212 - `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 1213 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1214 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1215 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1216 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1217 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1218 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1219 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1220 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1221 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
b7770046
U		 1222 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1223 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1224 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1225 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1226 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1227 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1228 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1229 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1230 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1231 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1232 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1233 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
b7770046
U		 1234 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1235 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1236 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1237 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1238 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1239 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1240 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1241 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1242 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1243 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1244 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1245 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1246 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1247 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1248 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1249 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1250 - `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		 1251 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1252 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1253 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1254 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1255 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1256 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
b7770046
U		 1257
1258Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1259
1260 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1261 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1262 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1263
1264Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1265
1266 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1267 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1268 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1269 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1270 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1271 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1272 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1273
1274Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1275
1276 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1277 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1278 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1279 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1280 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1281 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1282 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1283 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1284 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1285 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1286
5ec1b6b7 1287Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1288
1289 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1290 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1291 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1292 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1293
53c18592 1294Available only when used in `--print`:
1295
1296 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1297 - `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 1298 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1299 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1300 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1301 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1302
7a340e0d
NA		 1303
1304Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1305
1306 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1307 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1308 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1309 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1310 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1311 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1312
49a57e70 1313Each 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.
1314
1315Note 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 1316
0930b11f 1317**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1318
49a57e70 1319For 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 1320
940a67a3 1321Output 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		 1322
1323To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1324
91ebc640 1325The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1326
f304da8a 1327In 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 1328
ec2e44fc 1329<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1330#### Output template and Windows batch files
1331
1332If 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 1333<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1334
1335#### Output template examples
1336
b7770046 1337```bash
940a67a3 1338$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1339test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1340
940a67a3 1341$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1342youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1343
940a67a3 1344$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1345youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1346
1347# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1348$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1349
b050d210 1350# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1351$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1352
e978789f 1353# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1354$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1355
b7770046 1356# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1357$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1358
1359# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1360$ 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		 1361
1362# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1363$ 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 1364
6a34813a 1365# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1366# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1367$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1368
1369# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1370$ 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
1371
b7770046 1372# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1373$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1374```
1375
1376# FORMAT SELECTION
1377
7a5c1cfe
P		 1378By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1379This 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 1380
c111cefa 1381**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.
1382
eff63539 1383The 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 1384
ec2e44fc 1385<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1386**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1387<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1388
a439a3a4 1389The 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		 1390
1391You 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.
1392
fa9f30b8 1393You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1394
b7770046
U		 1395You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1396
59a7a13e 1397 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1398 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1399 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1400 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1401 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1402 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1403 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1404 - `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 1405 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1406 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1407 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1408 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1409 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1410 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1411
ae6a1b95 1412For 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 1413
1414You 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 1415
eb8a4433 1416If 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		 1417
1418If 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`.
1419
d806c9fd 1420You 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.
1421
1422**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
1423
1424Unless `--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 1425
1426## Filtering Formats
1427
b7770046
U		 1428You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1429
1430The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1431
1432 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1433 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1434 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1435 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1436 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1437 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1438 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1439 - `fps`: Frame rate
1440
1ce9a3cb 1441Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
U		 1442
1443 - `ext`: File extension
1444 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1445 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1446 - `container`: Name of the container format
1447 - `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`)
1448 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1449 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1450
1ce9a3cb 1451Any 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 1452
e58c22a0 1453Note 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 1454
e094cec1 1455Formats 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 1456
940a67a3 1457Format 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 1458
eb8a4433 1459## Sorting Formats
1460
2e7781a9 1461You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1462
1463The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1464
63be1aab 1465 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1466 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1467 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1468 - `lang`: The language preference
1469 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1470 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1471 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1472 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1473 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1474 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1475 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1476 - `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 1477 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1478 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1479 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1480 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1481 - `height`: Height of video
1482 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1483 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1484 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1485 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1486 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1487 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1488 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1489 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1490 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1491
1492**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 1493
9ee4f0bb 1494All 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.
1495
176f1866 1496The 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 1497
e75bb0d6 1498Note 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 1499
e58c22a0 1500If 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 1501
1502**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1503
eb8a4433 1504## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1505
b7770046 1506```bash
e58c22a0 1507# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1508# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1509$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1510
1511# Download best format that contains video,
1512# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1513$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1514
1515# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1516$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1517
6fd35a11 1518# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1519# For this case, an output template should be used since
1520# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1521$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1522
f8d4ad9a 1523# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1524# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1525$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1526
1527# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1528# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1529$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1530
6fd35a11 1531
1532# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1533# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1534
1535# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1536$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1537
1538# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1539$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1540
1541# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1542$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1543
1544
909d24dd 1545
eb8a4433 1546# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1547$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1548
1549# Download the best video with the best extension
1550# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1551$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1552
1553
909d24dd 1554
eb8a4433 1555# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1556# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1557$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1558
eb8a4433 1559# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1560# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1561$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1562
eb8a4433 1563# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1564# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1565# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1566# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1568
b7770046 1569
909d24dd 1570
eb8a4433 1571# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1572# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1573$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1574
1575# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1576# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1577$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1578
1579# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1580$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1581
1582
909d24dd 1583
eb8a4433 1584# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1585# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1586$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1587
1588# Download best video available via the best protocol
1589# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1590$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1591
1592
909d24dd 1593
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1594# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1595# or the best video if there is no such video
1596$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1597
1598# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1599# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1600$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1601
1602# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1603# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1604$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1605
1606
1607
1608# More complex examples
1609
e58c22a0 1610# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1611# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1612$ 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 1613
1614# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1615# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1616# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1617$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1618
1619
909d24dd 1620
eb8a4433 1621# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1622# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1623# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1625```
eb8a4433 1626
73cd218f 1627# MODIFYING METADATA
1628
a4211baf 1629The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1630
418964fa 1631`--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 1632
2e7781a9 1633The 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 1634
1635Note 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`.
1636
9c2b75b5 1637This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1638
28b0eb0f 1639* 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 1640
88968992 1641* 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 1642
08d30158 1643**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.
1644
c31be5b0 1645For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1646
08d30158 1647Metadata fields | From
1648:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1649`title` | `track` or `title`
1650`date` | `upload_date`
1651`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1652`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1653`track` | `track_number`
1654`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1655`genre` | `genre`
1656`album` | `album`
1657`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1658`disc` | `disc_number`
1659`show` | `series`
1660`season_number` | `season_number`
1661`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1662`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1663`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1664
c31be5b0 1665**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1666
73cd218f 1667
1668## Modifying metadata examples
1669
73cd218f 1670```bash
1671# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1672$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1673
1674# Regex example
940a67a3 1675$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1676
1677# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1678$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1679
a44ca5a4 1680# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1681$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1682
1683# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1684# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1685$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1686
0930b11f 1687# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1688$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1689
e9f4ccd1 1690# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1691$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1692
73cd218f 1693```
1694
5d3a0e79 1695# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1696
a44ca5a4 1697Some 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 1698
1699The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1700
1701#### youtube
18e49408 1702* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
56ba69e4 1703* `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 1704* `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 1705* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1706* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1707* `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`
1708 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
2ae778b8 1709* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
1710 * e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`
1711 * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com`
1712* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1713
1714#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1715* `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 1716* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1717
1718#### funimation
1719* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1720* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1721
a9d4da60 1722#### crunchyroll
1723* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1724* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1725
ae6a1b95 1726#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH		 1727* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1728 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1729* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1730
96565c7e 1731#### vikichannel
1732* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1733
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1734#### niconico
1735* `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.**
1736
aa4b0545 1737#### youtubewebarchive
1738* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1739
d43de682
M		 1740#### gamejolt
1741* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1742
26f2aa3d
AG		 1743#### hotstar
1744* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1745* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1746* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1747
046cab39
M		 1748#### tiktok
1749* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1750* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1751
7eaf7f9a 1752#### rokfinchannel
1753* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1754
1755
bc97cdae 1756NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1757
ec2e44fc 1758<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1759
3acf6d38 1760
f74980cb 1761# PLUGINS
b7770046 1762
3ae5e797 1763Plugins 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
1764
1765Plugins 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`.
1766
1767See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1768
1769Note 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
1770
1771If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1772
b7770046 1773
8c6f4daa 1774
1775# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1776
1777yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1778
1779Your 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.
1780
1781From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1782
1783```python
59a7a13e 1784from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1785
3d3bb168 1786URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1787with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1788 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1789```
1790
1890fc63 1791Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
8c6f4daa 1792
43cc91ad 1793**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 1794
1795## Embedding examples
1796
43cc91ad 1797#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1798
1799```python
1800import json
8c6f4daa 1801import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1802
3d3bb168 1803URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1804
1805# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1806ydl_opts = {}
1807with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1808 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1809
1810 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1811 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1812```
43cc91ad 1813#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1814
1815```python
1816import yt_dlp
1817
1818INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1819
1820with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1821 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1822
1823print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1824 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1825```
1826
43cc91ad 1827#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1828
1829```python
1830import yt_dlp
1831
1832URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1833
1834ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1835 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1836 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1837 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1838 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1839 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1840 }]
1841}
1842
1843with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1844 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1845```
0a41f331 1846
1847#### Filter videos
1848
1849```python
1850import yt_dlp
1851
1852URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1853
1854def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1855 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1856 duration = info.get('duration')
1857 if duration and duration < 60:
1858 return 'The video is too short'
1859
1860ydl_opts = {
1861 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1862}
1863
1864with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1865 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1866```
1867
43cc91ad 1868#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1869
1870```python
1871import yt_dlp
1872
1873URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1874
1875class MyLogger:
1876 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1877 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1878 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1879 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1880 pass
1881 else:
1882 self.info(msg)
1883
1884 def info(self, msg):
1885 pass
1886
1887 def warning(self, msg):
1888 pass
1889
1890 def error(self, msg):
1891 print(msg)
1892
1893
3d3bb168 1894# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1895def my_hook(d):
1896 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1897 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1898
1899
1900ydl_opts = {
1901 'logger': MyLogger(),
1902 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1903}
1904
1905with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1906 ydl.download(URLS)
1907```
1908
43cc91ad 1909#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1910
1911```python
1912import yt_dlp
1913
1914URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1915
1916# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1917class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1918 def run(self, info):
1919 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1920 return [], info
1921
1922
3d3bb168 1923with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1924 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1925 ydl.download(URLS)
1926```
8c6f4daa 1927
1928
43cc91ad 1929#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1930
1931```python
1932import yt_dlp
1933
1934URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1935
093a1710 1936def format_selector(ctx):
1937 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1938 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1939
1940 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1941 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1942
1943 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1944 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1945 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1946
1947 # find compatible audio extension
1948 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1949 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1950 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1951 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1952
3d3bb168 1953 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1954 yield {
093a1710 1955 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1956 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1957 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1958 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1959 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1960 }
1961
1962
8c6f4daa 1963ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1964 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1965}
1966
1967with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1968 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1969```
1970
ec2e44fc 1971<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1972
e167860c 1973# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1974
1975These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1976
8130779d 1977#### Almost redundant options
1978While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1979
1980 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1981 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1982 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1983 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1984
6ccf351a 1985#### Redundant options
1986While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1987
53c18592 1988 --get-description --print description
1989 --get-duration --print duration_string
1990 --get-filename --print filename
1991 --get-format --print format
1992 --get-id --print id
1993 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1994 -e, --get-title --print title
1995 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1996 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1997 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1998 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1999 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2000 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2001 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
6ccf351a 2002
2003
2004#### Not recommended
2005While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2006
1e43a6f7 2007 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2008 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2009 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2010 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2011 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2012 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2013 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2014 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2015 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2016 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2017 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2018 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2019 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2020 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2021 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2022 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2023 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2024
2025
2026#### Developer options
2027These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2028
34488702 2029 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2030 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2031 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2032 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2033 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2034
2035
2036#### Old aliases
2037These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2038
2039 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2040 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2041 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2042 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2043 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2044 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2045 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2046 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2047 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2048 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2049 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2050 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2051 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2052 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2053 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2054 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2055 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2056
7a340e0d 2057#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2058Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2059
2060 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2061 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2062 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2063 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2064 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2065 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2066 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2067 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2068
f4536226 2069#### No longer supported
2070These options may no longer work as intended
2071
2072 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2073 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2074 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2075 --no-call-home Default
2076 --include-ads No longer supported
2077 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2078 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2079 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2080
2081#### Removed
2082These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2083
f4536226 2084 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2085 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2086
8c6f4daa 2087# CONTRIBUTING
2088See [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 2089
c2b5f311 2090# MORE
8c6f4daa 2091For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/