]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[docs] Separate notes about environment variables
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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
2fa669f7 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#installation "Installation")
ae6a1b95 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)
deae7c17 28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
17fa3ee2 29 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 32 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 51 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
878eac3e 52 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 53* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 54 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 55* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 56 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
57 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
58 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 59* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
60 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 61* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 62* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 63* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 64 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 65* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 66* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
67 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
68 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 69* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 70 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 71<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 72
73
034b6215 74# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 75
1ac7f461 76* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/ed5c44e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/ed5c44e7b74ac77f87ca5ed6cb5e964a0c6a0678)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [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 77
7a340e0d 78* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 79
7581d246 80* **[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 81
ae6a1b95 82* **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 83
ae61d108 84* **YouTube improvements**:
85 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
86 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
87 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
88 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
f20f5fe5 90 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
91
f59f5ef8 92* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 93
5ec1b6b7 94* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
95
597c1866 96* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
97
b31fdeed 98* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 99
b31fdeed 100* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 101
e75bb0d6 102* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 103
56ba69e4 104* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 105
3de7c2ce 106* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 107
597c1866 108* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 109
d4ada357 110* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 111
418964fa 112* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 113
8a82af35 114* **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 115
08d30158 116* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 117
86c1a8aa 118* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 119
7a5c1cfe 120* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 121
7a5c1cfe 122See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 123
ae61d108 124Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
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`
d4ada357 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
b79f9e30 143* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
64f36541 144* 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 145* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 146* The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
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
168bbc4f 151* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
1e4fca9a 152* yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. 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
fc5fa964 163<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
164[![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)
17ffed18 165[![Unix](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)
24146491 166[![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)
17ffed18 167[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 168[![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)
169[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 170[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 171<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
172
17ffed18 173You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
0930b11f 174
b8773e63 175
a4211baf 176## UPDATE
17ffed18 177You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
178
179If you [installed with PIP](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
0930b11f 180
17ffed18 181For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 182
cf59cd4d 183
ec2e44fc 184<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 185## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 186
733d8e8f 187#### Recommended
188
189File|Description
190:---|:---
962ffcf8 191[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 192[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**)
f2df4071 193[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 194
195#### Alternatives
196
0e5927ee
R
197File|Description
198:---|:---
0930b11f 199[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 200[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
f2df4071 201[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
202[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
0930b11f 203[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
204[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)
6d916fe7 205[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
733d8e8f 206
207#### Misc
208
209File|Description
210:---|:---
17ffed18 211[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee
R
212[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
213[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 214<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 215
17ffed18 216
217Note: 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)
218
a4211baf 219## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 220Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 221
c9652aa4 222<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
223<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 224On 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 225-->
fac98805 226
e75bb0d6 227While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 228
8aa0e7cd 229### Strongly recommended
230
b69fd25c 231* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
8aa0e7cd 232
233 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
234 **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
235
236### Networking
d5820461 237* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 238* [**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>
239* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
240
241### Metadata
242
243* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
244* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
245* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
246
247### Misc
248
249* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
5d0aeac0 250* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
8aa0e7cd 251* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 252* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 253
deae7c17 254### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 255
256* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
257* [**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)
998a3cae 258* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
259* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
8aa0e7cd 260
cf59cd4d 261To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
262
f2df4071 263The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 264
8aa0e7cd 265If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
d710cc6d 266
5f326cf5 267
a4211baf 268## COMPILE
5f326cf5 269
8aa0e7cd 270### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 271To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM, 32/64 bit) as the Python used.
e38df8f9 272
8aa0e7cd 273 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
274 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
275 python3 pyinst.py
276
277On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
278
d2c8aadf 279Note that pyinstaller with versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
8aa0e7cd 280
281**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 282
8aa0e7cd 283### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 284You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 285
8aa0e7cd 286After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 287
a831c2ea 288You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 289
8aa0e7cd 290### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
291
292While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
293
294If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
295
296 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
297 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
298 py setup.py py2exe
299
300### Related scripts
301
70b23409 302* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
303* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
8aa0e7cd 304* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
305
306You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
59a7a13e 307
b31fdeed 308# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 309
ec2e44fc 310<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 311 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 312
c2b5f311 313`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 314<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 315
ec2e44fc 316<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 317## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 318 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
319 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 320 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
321 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
2dd5a2e3 322 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
323 The download will be considered successful
324 even if the postprocessing fails
325 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
326 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
327 playlist (default)
328 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
329 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
330 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
331 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
332 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
333 extractors and exit
2516cafb 334 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 335 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
336 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
337 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
338 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
339 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 340 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 341 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 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)
f2df4071 379 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
380 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 381 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
382 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
383 configurations by reverting some of the
384 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
385 default behavior" for details
386 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
387 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
388 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
389 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 390 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 391 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
392 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
393 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
394 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
395 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
396 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 397 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 398 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
399 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 400 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 401
149f05c7 402## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 403 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
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404 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
405 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
406 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
407 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 408 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
409 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
410 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
411 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 412
b31fdeed 413## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 414 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
415 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
416 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
417 is not present) is used for the actual
418 downloading
419 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
420 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
421 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
422 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
423 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
424 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
425 country code
426 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 427 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 428
cfcec693 429## Video Selection:
962ffcf8 430 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
7e88d7d7 431 to download. You can specify a range using
432 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
433 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
434 Use negative indices to count from the right
435 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 436 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
7e88d7d7 437 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
438 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
62b58c09
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439 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
440 SIZE, 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
2dd5a2e3 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]].
62b58c09 446 E.g. --date today-2weeks
2dd5a2e3 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
d4ada357 456 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 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
62b58c09 463 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 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
d2c8aadf 489 --break-per-input --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject,
490 --max-downloads, and autonumber resets per
2dd5a2e3 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)
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501 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
502 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 503 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
504 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 505 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 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)
be5c1ae8 512 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
513 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
514 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
515 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
516 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
517 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
518 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 519 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 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)
62b58c09 531 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 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
62b58c09 538 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 539 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
540 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
541 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 542 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 543 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
544 received. This disables n_entries,
545 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
546 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
547 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 548 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
549 expected file size
550 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
551 allowing some players to play the video
552 while downloading, and reducing the chance
553 of file corruption if download is
554 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
555 live streams
556 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
557 videos. This is default when not downloading
558 live streams
5ec1b6b7 559 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
560 the given regular expression. Time ranges
561 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
562 of chapters to download the specified range.
62b58c09
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563 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
564 multiple times to download multiple
565 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 566 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 567 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
568 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
569 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
570 use it for. Currently supports native,
571 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
572 wget. You can use this option multiple times
573 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 574 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 575 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
576 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
577 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
578 (Alias: --external-downloader)
579 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
580 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
581 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
582 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
583 positions using the same syntax as
584 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
585 option multiple times to give different
586 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
587 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 588
cfcec693 589## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 590 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
591 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
592 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
593 comments and ignored
594 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
595 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
596 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
597 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
598 TYPES as --output are supported.
599 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
600 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
601 files are first downloaded to the temp path
602 and then the final files are moved over to
603 the home path after download is finished.
604 This option is ignored if --output is an
605 absolute path
606 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
607 TEMPLATE" for details
608 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
609 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
610 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
611 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
612 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
613 filenames (default)
614 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
615 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
616 using Windows (default)
617 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
618 extension) to the specified number of
619 characters
620 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
621 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
622 option includes --no-continue
623 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
624 related files (default)
625 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
626 (default)
627 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
628 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
629 restart download of the entire file
630 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
631 into output file (default)
632 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
633 output file
634 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
635 modification time (default)
636 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
637 the file modification time
64fa820c 638 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 639 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
640 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
641 (this may contain personal information)
642 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
643 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
644 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
645 --write-description etc. (default)
646 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
647 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
648 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
649 from the infojson. Note that it could still
650 contain some personal information (default)
651 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
652 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
653 infojson. The comments are fetched even
654 without this option if the extraction is
655 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
656 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
657 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
658 --no-get-comments)
659 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 660 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 661 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
662 and dump cookie jar in
663 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
664 (default)
825d3ce3 665 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
666 The name of the browser to load cookies
667 from. Currently supported browsers are:
668 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
669 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
670 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
671 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
672 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
673 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
674 be given with their respective seperators.
675 By default, all containers of the most
676 recently accessed profile are used.
677 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
678 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 679 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 680 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
681 store some downloaded information (such as
682 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 683 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 684 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
685 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 686
b31fdeed 687## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 688 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 689 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 690 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
691 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
692 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 693
732044af 694## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 695 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
696 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
697 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
698 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
699 OS caches the URL based on the file path
700 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
701 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 702
0744a815 703## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 704 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
705 print the log to stderr
706 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
707 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
708 anything to disk
709 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
710 options are used
711 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
712 extracting metadata even if the videos are
713 not actually available for download
714 (experimental)
715 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
716 formats are found (default)
717 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
718 related files (Alias: --no-download)
719 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
720 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
721 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
722 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
723 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
724 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
725 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
726 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 727 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 728 Append given template to the file. The
729 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
730 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
731 output template. This option can be used
732 multiple times
733 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
734 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
735 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
736 description of available keys
737 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
738 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
739 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
740 a playlist, the whole playlist information
741 is dumped in a single line
742 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
743 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
744 another simulation option is used (Alias:
745 --force-download-archive)
746 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
747 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
748 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
749 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 750 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 751 Template for progress outputs, optionally
752 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
753 "download-title:" (the console title),
754 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
755 The video's fields are accessible under the
756 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 757 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 758 --console-title --progress-template
759 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
760 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
761 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
762 to debug problems (very verbose)
763 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
764 in the current directory to debug problems
765 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 766
36f35428 767## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 768 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
769 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
770 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
771 renegotiation
772 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
773 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
774 information about the video (Currently
775 supported only for YouTube)
776 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
777 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
778 option multiple times
779 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
780 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
781 or fribidi executable in PATH
782 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
783 during data extraction
784 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
785 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
786 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
787 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
788 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
789 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
790 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
791 subtitle download
36f35428 792
cfcec693 793## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 794 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
795 for more details
796 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
797 "Sorting Formats" for more details
798 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
799 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
800 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
801 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
802 specified sort order (default)
803 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
804 into a single file
805 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
806 output file (default)
807 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
808 into a single file
809 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
810 output file (default)
811 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
812 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
813 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
814 irrespective of quality
815 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
816 containers (default)
817 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
818 those that are actually downloadable
819 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
820 actually downloadable
821 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
822 downloadable
823 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
824 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 825 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 826 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
827 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
828 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
829
830## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 831 --write-subs Write subtitle file
832 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
833 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
834 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
835 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
836 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
837 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
838 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
839 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 840 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 841 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
842 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
843 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 844 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
845 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
846 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 847 of available language tags
6bcd846b 848
cfcec693 849## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 850 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
851 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
852 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
853 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
854 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
855 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
856 either the path or its containing directory.
857 Defaults to ~/.netrc
858 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
859 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
860 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
861 a list of available MSOs
862 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
863 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
864 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
865 interactively
866 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
867 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
868 format. May include the private key
869 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
870 Path to private key file for client
871 certificate
bb58c9ed 872 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 873 Password for client certificate private key,
874 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
875 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 876
c76eb41b 877## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 878 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
879 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 880 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
881 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 882 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 883 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
884 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 885 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
886 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
887 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
888 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
889 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 890 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
891 mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
892 m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 893 target container does not support the
894 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
62b58c09 895 can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 896 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 897 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 898 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
899 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
900 are the same as --remux-video
901 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
902 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
903 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
904 to give the argument to the specified
905 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
906 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
907 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
908 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
909 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
910 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
911 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
912 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
913 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
914 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
915 specified executable only when being used by
916 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
917 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
918 appended to the prefix optionally followed
919 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 920 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 921 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
922 this option multiple times to give different
923 arguments to different postprocessors.
924 (Alias: --ppa)
925 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
926 after post-processing
927 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
928 post-processing (default)
929 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
930 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
931 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
932 webm and mkv videos)
933 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
934 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
935 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
936 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
937 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
938 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
939 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
940 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
941 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
942 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
943 (Alias: --add-chapters)
944 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
945 --no-add-chapters)
946 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
947 mkv/mka video files
948 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
949 to the video file
950 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
951 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
952 for details
e9f4ccd1 953 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 954 Replace text in a metadata field using the
955 given regex. This option can be used
956 multiple times
957 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
958 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
959 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
960 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
961 (default; only when the videos form a single
962 show). All the video files must have same
963 codecs and number of streams to be
964 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
965 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
966 the output filename for the concatenated
967 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
968 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
969 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
970 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
971 default; fix file if we can, warn
972 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
973 already exists)
974 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 975 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 976 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
977 when to execute it (after_move if
978 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
979 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
980 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
981 output template can be used to pass any
982 field as arguments to the command. After
983 download, an additional field "filepath"
984 that contains the final path of the
985 downloaded file is also available, and if no
986 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
987 to the end of the command. This option can
988 be used multiple times
989 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
990 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 991 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 992 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
993 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 994 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
995 can specify multiple rules using similar
996 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 997 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
998 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
999 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1000 the output filename for the split files. See
1001 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1002 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1003 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1004 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1005 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1006 be used multiple times
1007 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1008 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1009 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1010 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1011 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1012 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1013 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1014 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1015 when cutting/splitting (default)
1016 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1017 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1018 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1019 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1020 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1021 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1022 The "when" argument determines when the
1023 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1024 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1025 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1026 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1027 "post_process" (after each video download;
1028 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1029 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1030 (after downloading and processing all
1031 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1032 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1033 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1034
1035## SponsorBlock Options:
1036Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1037 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1038 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1039
2dd5a2e3 1040 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1041 for, separated by commas. Available
1042 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1043 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1044 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1045 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1046 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
62b58c09 1047 description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1048 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1049 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1050 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1051 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1052 category is present in both mark and remove,
1053 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1054 available categories are the same as for
1055 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1056 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1057 not available
7a340e0d 1058 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1059 An output template for the title of the
1060 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1061 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1062 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1063 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1064 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1065 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1066 --sponsorblock-remove
1067 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1068 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1069
78895bd3 1070## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1071 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1072 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1073 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1074 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1075 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1076 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1077 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1078 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1079 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1080 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1081 (default)
2fa669f7 1082 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1083 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1084 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1085 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1086
b7770046
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1087# CONFIGURATION
1088
7a5c1cfe 1089You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1090
878eac3e 10911. **Main Configuration**:
1092 * The file given by `--config-location`
10931. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1094 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1095 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
10961. **Home Configuration**:
1097 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1098 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 10991. **User Configuration**:
878eac3e 1100 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1101 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1102 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1103 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1104 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1105 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1106
878eac3e 1107 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11081. **System Configuration**:
1109 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1110
62b58c09 1111E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1112```
1113# Lines starting with # are comments
1114
1115# Always extract audio
1116-x
1117
1118# Do not copy the mtime
1119--no-mtime
1120
1121# Use this proxy
1122--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1123
298f597b 1124# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1125-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1126```
1127
2fa669f7 1128Note 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`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1129
a4211baf 1130You 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 1131
88f60feb 1132### Config file encoding
a904a7f8 1133
88f60feb 1134The config files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1135
88f60feb 1136If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
a904a7f8 1137
b7770046
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1138### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1139
0001fcb5 1140You 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 1141```
878eac3e 1142touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1143chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
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1144```
1145After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1146```
0001fcb5 1147machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1148```
62b58c09 1149E.g.
b7770046
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1150```
1151machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1152machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1153```
7a5c1cfe 1154To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1155
878eac3e 1156The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1157
1158### Notes about environment variables
1159* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1160* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1161* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1162* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1163* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
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1164
1165# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1166
0202b52a 1167The `-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 1168
ec2e44fc 1169<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1170**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1171<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1172
e58c22a0 1173The 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 1174
62b58c09 1175It 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), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1176
1177The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1178
07a1250e 11791. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1180
62b58c09 11811. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1182
62b58c09 11831. **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 `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1184
62b58c09 11851. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1186
e978789f
P
11871. **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.
1188
17ffed18 11891. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1190
62b58c09 11911. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1192
62b58c09 11931. **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. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1194
1195To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1196```
e978789f 1197%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1198```
de6000d9 1199
62b58c09 1200Additionally, 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`. E.g. `-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. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1201
1202The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1203
1204 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1205 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1206 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1207 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1208 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1209 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1210 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1211 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1212 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1213 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1214 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1215 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1216 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1217 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1218 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1219 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1220 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1221 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1222 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1223 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U
1224 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1225 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1226 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U
1227 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1228 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1229 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1230 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1231 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1232 - `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 1233 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1234 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1235 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1236 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1237 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1238 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U
1239 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1240 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1241 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1242 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1243 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1244 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1245 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1246 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1247 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1248 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1249 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1250 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1251 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1252 - `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
1253 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1254 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1255 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1256 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1257 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1258 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1259
1260All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U
1261
1262Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1263
1264 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1265 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1266 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1267
1268Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1269
1270 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1271 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1272 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1273 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1274 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1275 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1276 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1277
1278Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1279
1280 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1281 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1282 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1283 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1284 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1285 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1286 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1287 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1288 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1289 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1290
5ec1b6b7 1291Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1292
1293 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1294 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1295 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1296 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1297
53c18592 1298Available only when used in `--print`:
1299
1300 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1301 - `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 1302 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1303 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1304 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1305 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1306
7a340e0d
NA
1307
1308Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1309
1310 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1311 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1312 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1313 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1314 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1315 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1316
62b58c09 1317Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. 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.
49a57e70 1318
1319Note 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 1320
0930b11f 1321**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1322
62b58c09 1323For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1324
940a67a3 1325Output 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
1326
1327To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1328
91ebc640 1329The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1330
f304da8a 1331In 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 1332
b7770046
U
1333#### Output template examples
1334
b7770046 1335```bash
d2c8aadf 1336$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1337test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1338
d2c8aadf 1339$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1340youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1341
d2c8aadf 1342$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1343youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1344
1345# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1346$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1347
b050d210 1348# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1349$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1350
e978789f 1351# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1352$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1353
b7770046 1354# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1355$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1356
1357# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1358$ 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
1359
1360# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1361$ 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 1362
6a34813a 1363# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1364# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1365$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1366
1367# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1368$ 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
1369
b7770046 1370# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1371$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1372```
1373
1374# FORMAT SELECTION
1375
7a5c1cfe
P
1376By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1377This 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 1378
c111cefa 1379**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.
1380
eff63539 1381The 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 1382
ec2e44fc 1383<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1384**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1385<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1386
62b58c09 1387The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. 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
1388
1389You 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.
1390
fa9f30b8 1391You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1392
b7770046
U
1393You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1394
59a7a13e 1395 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1396 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1397 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1398 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1399 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1400 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1401 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1402 - `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 1403 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1404 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1405 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1406 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1407 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1408 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1409
d4ada357 1410For 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 1411
1412You 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 1413
62b58c09 1414If 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; e.g. `-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
1415
1416If 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`.
1417
62b58c09 1418You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
d806c9fd 1419
1420**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
1421
62b58c09 1422Unless `--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. E.g. `-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 1423
1424## Filtering Formats
1425
b7770046
U
1426You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1427
1428The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1429
1430 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1431 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1432 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1433 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1434 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1435 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1436 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1437 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1438 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1439 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1440 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1441
1ce9a3cb 1442Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1443
d2c8aadf 1444 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1445 - `ext`: File extension
1446 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1447 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1448 - `container`: Name of the container format
1449 - `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`)
29f7c58a 1450 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1451 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1452 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1453 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1454 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1455 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1456
1ce9a3cb 1457Any 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 1458
e58c22a0 1459Note 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 1460
62b58c09 1461Formats 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, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1462
62b58c09 1463Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
b7770046 1464
eb8a4433 1465## Sorting Formats
1466
2e7781a9 1467You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1468
1469The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1470
63be1aab 1471 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1472 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1473 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1474 - `lang`: The language preference
1475 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1476 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1477 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1478 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1479 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1480 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1481 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1482 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
63be1aab 1483 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1484 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1485 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1486 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1487 - `height`: Height of video
1488 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1489 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1490 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1491 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1492 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1493 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1494 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1495 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1496 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1497 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1498
1499**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 1500
62b58c09 1501All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `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. E.g. `+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. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
9ee4f0bb 1502
7e798d72 1503The 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,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1504
7e798d72 1505Note that the default has `vcodec: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 1506
e58c22a0 1507If 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 1508
1509**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1510
eb8a4433 1511## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1512
b7770046 1513```bash
e58c22a0 1514# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1515# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1516$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1517
1518# Download best format that contains video,
1519# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1520$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1521
1522# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1523$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1524
6fd35a11 1525# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1526# For this case, an output template should be used since
1527# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1528$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1529
f8d4ad9a 1530# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1531# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1532$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1533
1534# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1535# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1536$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1537
6fd35a11 1538
1539# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1540# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1541
1542# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1543$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1544
1545# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1546$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1547
1548# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1549$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1550
1551
909d24dd 1552
eb8a4433 1553# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1554$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1555
1556# Download the best video with the best extension
1557# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1558$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1559
1560
909d24dd 1561
eb8a4433 1562# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1563# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1564$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1565
eb8a4433 1566# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1567# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1568$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1569
eb8a4433 1570# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1571# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1572# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1573# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1575
b7770046 1576
909d24dd 1577
eb8a4433 1578# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1579# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1580$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1581
1582# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1583# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1584$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1585
1586# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1588
1589
909d24dd 1590
eb8a4433 1591# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1592# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1593$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1594
1595# Download best video available via the best protocol
1596# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1597$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1598
1599
909d24dd 1600
1ce9a3cb
LF
1601# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1602# or the best video if there is no such video
1603$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1604
1605# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1606# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1607$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1608
1609# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1610# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1611$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1612
1613
1614
1615# More complex examples
1616
e58c22a0 1617# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1618# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1619$ 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 1620
1621# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1622# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1623# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1625
1626
909d24dd 1627
eb8a4433 1628# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1629# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1630# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1631$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1632```
eb8a4433 1633
73cd218f 1634# MODIFYING METADATA
1635
a4211baf 1636The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1637
418964fa 1638`--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 1639
2e7781a9 1640The 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 1641
2fa669f7 1642Note 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 `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1643
9c2b75b5 1644This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1645
62b58c09 1646* 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. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1647
62b58c09 1648* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1649
08d30158 1650**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.
1651
c31be5b0 1652For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1653
08d30158 1654Metadata fields | From
1655:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1656`title` | `track` or `title`
1657`date` | `upload_date`
1658`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1659`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1660`track` | `track_number`
1661`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1662`genre` | `genre`
1663`album` | `album`
1664`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1665`disc` | `disc_number`
1666`show` | `series`
1667`season_number` | `season_number`
1668`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1669`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1670`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1671
c31be5b0 1672**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1673
73cd218f 1674
1675## Modifying metadata examples
1676
73cd218f 1677```bash
1678# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1679$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1680
1681# Regex example
940a67a3 1682$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1683
1684# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1685$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1686
a44ca5a4 1687# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1688$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1689
1690# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1691# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1692$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1693
8aa0e7cd 1694# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1695$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1696
0930b11f 1697# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1698$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1699
e9f4ccd1 1700# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1701$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1702
73cd218f 1703```
1704
5d3a0e79 1705# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1706
62b58c09 1707Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1708
1709The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1710
1711#### youtube
2fa669f7 1712* `lang`: Language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
8aa0e7cd 1713* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
62b58c09 1714* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `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 1715* `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
96565c7e 1716* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1717* `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`
1718 * 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
4d37720a 1719* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1720* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
2ae778b8 1721* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1722
1723#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1724* `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 1725* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1726
1727#### funimation
62b58c09 1728* `language`: Languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1729* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1730
a9d4da60 1731#### crunchyroll
62b58c09
L
1732* `language`: Languages to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1733* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
a9d4da60 1734
ae6a1b95 1735#### crunchyrollbeta
62b58c09 1736* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `download_dash`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2`
dfea94f8 1737* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1738
96565c7e 1739#### vikichannel
1740* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1741
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1742#### niconico
1743* `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.**
1744
aa4b0545 1745#### youtubewebarchive
1746* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1747
d43de682
M
1748#### gamejolt
1749* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1750
26f2aa3d
AG
1751#### hotstar
1752* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1753* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1754* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1755
046cab39 1756#### tiktok
62b58c09
L
1757* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1758* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1759
7eaf7f9a 1760#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1761* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1762
1763
bc97cdae 1764NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1765
ec2e44fc 1766<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1767
3acf6d38 1768
f74980cb 1769# PLUGINS
b7770046 1770
3ae5e797 1771Plugins 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
1772
1773Plugins 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`.
1774
1775See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1776
1777Note 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
1778
1779If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1780
deae7c17 1781See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1782
b7770046 1783
8c6f4daa 1784
1785# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1786
1787yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1788
1789Your 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.
1790
1791From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1792
1793```python
59a7a13e 1794from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1795
3d3bb168 1796URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1797with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1798 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1799```
1800
1890fc63 1801Most 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 1802
43cc91ad 1803**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 1804
1805## Embedding examples
1806
43cc91ad 1807#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1808
1809```python
1810import json
8c6f4daa 1811import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1812
3d3bb168 1813URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1814
1815# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1816ydl_opts = {}
1817with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1818 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1819
1820 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1821 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1822```
43cc91ad 1823#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1824
1825```python
1826import yt_dlp
1827
1828INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1829
1830with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1831 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1832
1833print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1834 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1835```
1836
43cc91ad 1837#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1838
1839```python
1840import yt_dlp
1841
1842URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1843
1844ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1845 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1846 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1847 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1848 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1849 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1850 }]
1851}
1852
1853with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1854 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1855```
0a41f331 1856
1857#### Filter videos
1858
1859```python
1860import yt_dlp
1861
1862URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1863
1864def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1865 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1866 duration = info.get('duration')
1867 if duration and duration < 60:
1868 return 'The video is too short'
1869
1870ydl_opts = {
1871 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1872}
1873
1874with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1875 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1876```
1877
43cc91ad 1878#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1879
1880```python
1881import yt_dlp
1882
1883URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1884
1885class MyLogger:
1886 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1887 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1888 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1889 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1890 pass
1891 else:
1892 self.info(msg)
1893
1894 def info(self, msg):
1895 pass
1896
1897 def warning(self, msg):
1898 pass
1899
1900 def error(self, msg):
1901 print(msg)
1902
1903
3d3bb168 1904# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1905def my_hook(d):
1906 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1907 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1908
1909
1910ydl_opts = {
1911 'logger': MyLogger(),
1912 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1913}
1914
1915with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1916 ydl.download(URLS)
1917```
1918
43cc91ad 1919#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1920
1921```python
1922import yt_dlp
1923
1924URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1925
1926# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1927class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1928 def run(self, info):
1929 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1930 return [], info
1931
1932
3d3bb168 1933with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 1934 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1935 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 1936 ydl.download(URLS)
1937```
8c6f4daa 1938
1939
43cc91ad 1940#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1941
1942```python
1943import yt_dlp
1944
1945URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1946
093a1710 1947def format_selector(ctx):
1948 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1949 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1950
1951 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1952 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1953
1954 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1955 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1956 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1957
1958 # find compatible audio extension
1959 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1960 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1961 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1962 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1963
3d3bb168 1964 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1965 yield {
093a1710 1966 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1967 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1968 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1969 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1970 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1971 }
1972
1973
8c6f4daa 1974ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1975 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1976}
1977
1978with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1979 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1980```
1981
ec2e44fc 1982<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1983
e167860c 1984# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1985
1986These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1987
8130779d 1988#### Almost redundant options
1989While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1990
1991 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1992 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1993 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1994 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1995
6ccf351a 1996#### Redundant options
1997While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1998
53c18592 1999 --get-description --print description
2000 --get-duration --print duration_string
2001 --get-filename --print filename
2002 --get-format --print format
2003 --get-id --print id
2004 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2005 -e, --get-title --print title
2006 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2007 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2008 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2009 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2010 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2011 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2012 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2013 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2014 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2015 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2016 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2017
2018
2019#### Not recommended
2020While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2021
fe7866d0 2022 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2023 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2024 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2025 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2026 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2027 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2028 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2029 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2030 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2031 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2032 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2033 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2034 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2035 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2036 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2037 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2038 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2039 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2040
2041
2042#### Developer options
2043These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2044
34488702 2045 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2046 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2047 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2048 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2049 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2050
2051
2052#### Old aliases
2053These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2054
2055 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2056 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2057 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2058 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2059 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2060 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2061 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2062 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2063 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2064 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2065 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2066 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2067 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2068 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2069 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2070 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2071 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2072
7a340e0d 2073#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2074Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2075
2076 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2077 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2078 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2079 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2080 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2081 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2082 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2083 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2084
f4536226 2085#### No longer supported
2086These options may no longer work as intended
2087
2088 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2089 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2090 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2091 --no-call-home Default
2092 --include-ads No longer supported
2093 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2094 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2095 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2096 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2097
2098#### Removed
2099These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2100
f4536226 2101 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2102 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2103
8c6f4daa 2104# CONTRIBUTING
2105See [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 2106
17ffed18 2107# WIKI
2108See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information