[yt-dlp.git] / README.md

# youtube-dl

## USAGE
youtube-dl [options] url [url...]

## DESCRIPTION
**youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.x (x being at least 5), and it is not platform specific. It should work in
your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.

## OPTIONS
    -h, --help               print this help text and exit
    -v, --version            print program version and exit
    -U, --update             update this program to latest version
    -i, --ignore-errors      continue on download errors
    -r, --rate-limit LIMIT   download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
    -R, --retries RETRIES    number of retries (default is 10)
    --dump-user-agent        display the current browser identification
    --list-extractors        List all supported extractors and the URLs they
                             would handle

### Video Selection:
    --playlist-start NUMBER  playlist video to start at (default is 1)
    --playlist-end NUMBER    playlist video to end at (default is last)
    --match-title REGEX      download only matching titles (regex or caseless
                             sub-string)
    --reject-title REGEX     skip download for matching titles (regex or
                             caseless sub-string)
    --max-downloads NUMBER   Abort after downloading NUMBER files

### Filesystem Options:
    -t, --title              use title in file name
    -l, --literal            use literal title in file name
    -A, --auto-number        number downloaded files starting from 00000
    -o, --output TEMPLATE    output filename template. Use %(stitle)s to get the
                             title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
                             %(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented
                             number, %(ext)s for the filename extension,
                             %(upload_date)s for the upload date (YYYYMMDD), and
                             %% for a literal percent
    -a, --batch-file FILE    file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
    -w, --no-overwrites      do not overwrite files
    -c, --continue           resume partially downloaded files
    --no-continue            do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
                             from beginning)
    --cookies FILE           file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
    --no-part                do not use .part files
    --no-mtime               do not use the Last-modified header to set the file
                             modification time
    --write-description      write video description to a .description file
    --write-info-json        write video metadata to a .info.json file

### Verbosity / Simulation Options:
    -q, --quiet              activates quiet mode
    -s, --simulate           do not download the video and do not write anything
                             to disk
    --skip-download          do not download the video
    -g, --get-url            simulate, quiet but print URL
    -e, --get-title          simulate, quiet but print title
    --get-thumbnail          simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
    --get-description        simulate, quiet but print video description
    --get-filename           simulate, quiet but print output filename
    --get-format             simulate, quiet but print output format
    --no-progress            do not print progress bar
    --console-title          display progress in console titlebar

### Video Format Options:
    -f, --format FORMAT      video format code
    --all-formats            download all available video formats
    --max-quality FORMAT     highest quality format to download
    -F, --list-formats       list all available formats (currently youtube only)

### Authentication Options:
    -u, --username USERNAME  account username
    -p, --password PASSWORD  account password
    -n, --netrc              use .netrc authentication data

### Post-processing Options:
    --extract-audio          convert video files to audio-only files (requires
                             ffmpeg and ffprobe)
    --audio-format FORMAT    "best", "aac", "vorbis" or "mp3"; best by default
    --audio-quality QUALITY  ffmpeg audio bitrate specification, 128k by default
    -k, --keep-video         keeps the video file on disk after the post-
                             processing; the video is erased by default

## FAQ

### Can you please put the -b option back?

Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the -b option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you''re interested in. In that case, simply request it with the -f option and youtube-dl will try to download it.

### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?

Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We''re [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.

### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?

Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).

### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore

The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file.

### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info

youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.

## COPYRIGHT

youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.

This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.

## BUGS

Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>

Please include:

* Your exact command line, like `youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the `&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
* The output of `youtube-dl --version`
* The output of `python --version`
* The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).
Commit	Line	Data
6bcd846b DB	1	# youtube-dl
	2
	3	## USAGE
1d2e86ae	4	youtube-dl [options] url [url...]
6bcd846b DB	5
6bcd846b DB	6	## DESCRIPTION
6bcd846b DB	7	youtube-dl is a small command-line program to download videos from
	8	YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
	9	2.x (x being at least 5), and it is not platform specific. It should work in
	10	your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
	11	which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
	12
	13	## OPTIONS
4618f3da PH	14	-h, --help print this help text and exit
4618f3da PH	15	-v, --version print program version and exit
8f88eb1f	16	-U, --update update this program to latest version
4618f3da PH	17	-i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors
	18	-r, --rate-limit LIMIT download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
	19	-R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
08c1d0d3	20	--dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
6a1ca41e PH	21	--list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
6a1ca41e PH	22	would handle
08c1d0d3 PH	23
08c1d0d3 PH	24	### Video Selection:
4618f3da PH	25	--playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
4618f3da PH	26	--playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
08c1d0d3 PH	27	--match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or caseless
	28	sub-string)
	29	--reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
	30	caseless sub-string)
b88a5250	31	--max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
6bcd846b	32
4618f3da PH	33	### Filesystem Options:
	34	-t, --title use title in file name
	35	-l, --literal use literal title in file name
	36	-A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
9baa2ef5 PH	37	-o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(stitle)s to get the
	38	title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
	39	%(autonumber)s to get an automatically incremented
31a2ec2d PH	40	number, %(ext)s for the filename extension,
	41	%(upload_date)s for the upload date (YYYYMMDD), and
	42	%% for a literal percent
4618f3da PH	43	-a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
	44	-w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
	45	-c, --continue resume partially downloaded files
eca1b76f PH	46	--no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
eca1b76f PH	47	from beginning)
3ce59dae	48	--cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
4618f3da PH	49	--no-part do not use .part files
	50	--no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set the file
	51	modification time
	52	--write-description write video description to a .description file
	53	--write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
6bcd846b	54
4618f3da PH	55	### Verbosity / Simulation Options:
4618f3da PH	56	-q, --quiet activates quiet mode
6a1ca41e PH	57	-s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write anything
	58	to disk
	59	--skip-download do not download the video
4618f3da PH	60	-g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
	61	-e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
	62	--get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
	63	--get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
	64	--get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
6a1ca41e	65	--get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
4618f3da PH	66	--no-progress do not print progress bar
4618f3da PH	67	--console-title display progress in console titlebar
6bcd846b	68
4618f3da PH	69	### Video Format Options:
	70	-f, --format FORMAT video format code
	71	--all-formats download all available video formats
	72	--max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
2761012f	73	-F, --list-formats list all available formats (currently youtube only)
6bcd846b	74
4618f3da PH	75	### Authentication Options:
	76	-u, --username USERNAME account username
	77	-p, --password PASSWORD account password
	78	-n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
6bcd846b DB	79
6bcd846b DB	80	### Post-processing Options:
4618f3da PH	81	--extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
4618f3da PH	82	ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3ce59dae	83	--audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis" or "mp3"; best by default
6a1ca41e PH	84	--audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg audio bitrate specification, 128k by default
	85	-k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
	86	processing; the video is erased by default
6bcd846b	87
447b1d71 PH	88	## FAQ
	89
	90	### Can you please put the -b option back?
	91
	92	Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the -b option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you''re interested in. In that case, simply request it with the -f option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
	93
f2a3a352	94	### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
447b1d71	95
8236e851	96	Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We''re [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
447b1d71 PH	97
	98	### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
	99
	100	Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
	101
	102	### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
	103
	104	The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file.
	105
454d6691 PH	106	### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
454d6691 PH	107
5a2ba45e	108	youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
454d6691	109
6bcd846b	110	## COPYRIGHT
803abae2 PH	111
	112	youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
	113
	114	This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
6bcd846b DB	115
6bcd846b DB	116	## BUGS
e133e121	117
8236e851	118	Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
e133e121 PH	119
	120	Please include:
	121
	122	* Your exact command line, like `youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the `&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
	123	* The output of `youtube-dl --version`
	124	* The output of `python --version`
	125	* The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).