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[downloader/aria2c] Native progress for aria2c via RPC (#3724)
[yt-dlp.git] / README.md
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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")
46d09f87 15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge&display_timestamp=committer)](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)
304ad45a 51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
50865ca8 52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
878eac3e 53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 54* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 56* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 60* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 62* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 63* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8e40b9d1
M		 64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
8c6f4daa 66* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 68* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 69* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 72* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 74<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 75
76
034b6215 77# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 78
8b644025 79* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/de39d12](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/de39d128)** <!--([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 80
304ad45a 81* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 82
7581d246 83* **[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 84
ae6a1b95 85* **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 86
ae61d108 87* **YouTube improvements**:
88 * 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`)
89 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
92 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
86973308 93 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
f20f5fe5 94
304ad45a 95* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
245524e6 96
5ec1b6b7 97* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
98
597c1866 99* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
100
b31fdeed 101* **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 102
b31fdeed 103* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 104
e75bb0d6 105* **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 106
56ba69e4 107* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 108
3de7c2ce 109* **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 110
597c1866 111* **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 112
d4ada357 113* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 114
418964fa 115* **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 116
8a82af35 117* **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 118
08d30158 119* **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 120
86c1a8aa 121* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 122
7a5c1cfe 123* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 124
7a5c1cfe 125See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 126
ae61d108 127Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
128
53ed7066 129### Differences in default behavior
130
0930b11f 131Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 132
96565c7e 133* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 134* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 135* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 136* 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 137* 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 138* 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 139* 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 140* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 141* 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 142* `--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 143* 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 144* `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
145* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 146* 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
86973308 147* YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. 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
304ad45a 148* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 149* 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 150* 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 151* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 152* 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 153* 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 154* `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 155* 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
8c53322c 156* yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: `aria2c`). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
53ed7066 157
158For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 159
8a82af35 160* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 161* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
162* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
2a06bb4e 163* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
8c53322c 164* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress`. Use this to enable all future compat options
53ed7066 165
f20f5fe5 166
d19bb9c0 167# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 168
fc5fa964 169<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
17ffed18 171[![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 172[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
17ffed18 173[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 174[![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)
175[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 176[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 177<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
178
17ffed18 179You 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 180
b8773e63 181
a4211baf 182## UPDATE
17ffed18 183You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
184
185If 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 186
17ffed18 187For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 188
cf59cd4d 189
ec2e44fc 190<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 191## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 192
733d8e8f 193#### Recommended
194
195File|Description
196:---|:---
962ffcf8 197[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 198[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 199[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 200
201#### Alternatives
202
0e5927ee
R		 203File|Description
204:---|:---
0930b11f 205[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 206[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 207[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
208[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
17fc3dc4
M		 209[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
210[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
0930b11f 211[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
212[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 213[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 214
215#### Misc
216
217File|Description
218:---|:---
17ffed18 219[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee
R		 220[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
221[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 222<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 223
17ffed18 224
225Note: 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)
226
a4211baf 227## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 228Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 229
c9652aa4 230<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
231<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 232On 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 233-->
fac98805 234
e75bb0d6 235While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 236
8aa0e7cd 237### Strongly recommended
238
b69fd25c 239* [**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 240
241 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
242 **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
243
244### Networking
d5820461 245* [**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 246* [**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>
247* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
248
249### Metadata
250
251* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
252* [**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)
253* [**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
254
255### Misc
256
257* [**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 258* [**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 259* [**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 260* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 261
deae7c17 262### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 263
264* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
265* [**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 266* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
267* [**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 268
cf59cd4d 269To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
270
f2df4071 271The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 272
8aa0e7cd 273If 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 274
5f326cf5 275
a4211baf 276## COMPILE
5f326cf5 277
8aa0e7cd 278### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 279To 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 280
8aa0e7cd 281 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
282 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
283 python3 pyinst.py
284
285On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
286
73ac0e6b 287`pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
288
d2c8aadf 289Note 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 290
291**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 292
8aa0e7cd 293### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
deae7c17 294You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 295
8aa0e7cd 296After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 297
a831c2ea 298You 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 299
8aa0e7cd 300### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
301
302While 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.
303
304If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
305
306 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
307 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
308 py setup.py py2exe
309
310### Related scripts
311
70b23409 312* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
313* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
8aa0e7cd 314* **`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.
315
304ad45a 316You 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 317
b31fdeed 318# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 319
ec2e44fc 320<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 321 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 322
c2b5f311 323`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 324<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 325
ec2e44fc 326<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 327## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 328 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
329 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 330 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
331 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
2dd5a2e3 332 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
333 The download will be considered successful
334 even if the postprocessing fails
335 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
336 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
337 playlist (default)
338 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
339 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
340 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
341 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
342 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
343 extractors and exit
2516cafb 344 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 345 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
346 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
347 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
348 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
349 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 350 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 351 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 352 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
353 google videos for the search term "python".
354 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
355 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
356 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
357 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
358 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
359 possible instead of searching
360 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
361 except those given by --config-locations.
362 For backward compatibility, if this option
363 is found inside the system configuration
364 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
365 (Alias: --no-config)
366 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
367 (default). When given inside a configuration
368 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
369 defined in the current file
370 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
371 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 372 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
373 used multiple times and inside other
374 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 375 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
376 only list them
377 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
378 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
379 Currently only supported for YouTube
380 (Experimental)
381 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
382 (default)
383 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
384 available. Pass the minimum number of
385 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
386 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
387 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
388 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 389 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
390 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 391 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
392 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
393 configurations by reverting some of the
394 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
395 default behavior" for details
396 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
397 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
398 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
399 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 400 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 401 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
402 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
403 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
404 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
405 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
406 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 407 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 408 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
409 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 410 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 411
149f05c7 412## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 413 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
L		 414 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
415 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
416 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
417 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 418 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
419 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
420 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
421 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 422
b31fdeed 423## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 424 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
425 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
426 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
427 is not present) is used for the actual
428 downloading
429 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
430 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
431 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
432 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
433 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
434 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
435 country code
436 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 437 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 438
cfcec693 439## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 440 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 441 to download. You can specify a range using
442 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
443 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
444 Use negative indices to count from the right
445 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 446 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 447 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 448 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 449 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
450 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
451 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 452 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 453 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
454 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
455 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
62b58c09 456 E.g. --date today-2weeks
2dd5a2e3 457 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
458 this date. The date formats accepted is the
459 same as --date
460 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
461 this date. The date formats accepted is the
462 same as --date
463 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
464 field can be compared with a number or a
465 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 466 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 467 specify a field to match if the field is
468 present, use "!field" to check if the field
469 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
470 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
471 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
472 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 473 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 474 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
475 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
476 only videos that are not live OR those that
477 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
478 field is not available) and also has a
479 description that contains the phrase "cats &
480 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
481 interactively ask whether to download each
482 video
483 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
484 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
485 to a video and a playlist
486 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
487 a video and a playlist
488 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
489 age
490 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
491 archive file. Record the IDs of all
492 downloaded videos in it
493 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
494 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
495 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
496 a file that is in the archive
497 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
498 a file that has been filtered out
71df9b7f 499 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
500 --break-on-reject, and autonumber to reset
501 per input URL
2dd5a2e3 502 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
503 terminates the entire download queue
504 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
505 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 506
d5a62e4f 507## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 508 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
509 video that should be downloaded concurrently
510 (default is 1)
62b58c09
L		 511 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
512 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 513 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
514 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 515 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 516 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
517 "infinite"
518 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
519 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
520 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
521 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 522 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
523 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
524 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
525 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
526 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
527 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
528 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 529 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 530 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
531 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
532 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
533 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
534 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
535 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
536 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
537 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
538 downloading is finished
539 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
540 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 541 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 542 (default is 1024)
543 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
544 from an initial value of --buffer-size
545 (default)
546 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
547 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 548 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 549 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
550 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
551 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 552 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 553 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
554 received. This disables n_entries,
555 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
556 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
557 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 558 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
559 expected file size
560 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
561 allowing some players to play the video
562 while downloading, and reducing the chance
563 of file corruption if download is
564 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
565 live streams
566 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
567 videos. This is default when not downloading
568 live streams
5ec1b6b7 569 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
570 the given regular expression. Time ranges
571 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
572 of chapters to download the specified range.
62b58c09
L		 573 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
574 multiple times to download multiple
575 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 576 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 577 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
578 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
579 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
580 use it for. Currently supports native,
581 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
582 wget. You can use this option multiple times
583 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 584 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 585 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
586 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
587 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
588 (Alias: --external-downloader)
589 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
590 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
591 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
592 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
593 positions using the same syntax as
594 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
595 option multiple times to give different
596 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
597 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 598
cfcec693 599## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 600 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
601 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
602 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
603 comments and ignored
604 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
605 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
606 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
607 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
608 TYPES as --output are supported.
609 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
610 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
611 files are first downloaded to the temp path
612 and then the final files are moved over to
613 the home path after download is finished.
614 This option is ignored if --output is an
615 absolute path
616 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
617 TEMPLATE" for details
618 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
619 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
620 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
621 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
622 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
623 filenames (default)
624 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
625 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
626 using Windows (default)
627 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
628 extension) to the specified number of
629 characters
630 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
631 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
632 option includes --no-continue
633 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
634 related files (default)
635 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
636 (default)
637 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
638 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
639 restart download of the entire file
640 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
641 into output file (default)
642 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
643 output file
644 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
645 modification time (default)
646 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
647 the file modification time
64fa820c 648 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 649 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
650 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
651 (this may contain personal information)
652 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
653 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
654 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
655 --write-description etc. (default)
656 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
657 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
658 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
659 from the infojson. Note that it could still
660 contain some personal information (default)
661 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
662 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
663 infojson. The comments are fetched even
664 without this option if the extraction is
665 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
666 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
667 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
668 --no-get-comments)
669 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 670 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 671 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
672 and dump cookie jar in
673 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
674 (default)
825d3ce3 675 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
676 The name of the browser to load cookies
677 from. Currently supported browsers are:
678 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
679 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
680 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
681 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
682 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
683 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
684 be given with their respective seperators.
685 By default, all containers of the most
686 recently accessed profile are used.
687 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
688 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 689 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 690 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
691 store some downloaded information (such as
692 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 693 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 694 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
695 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 696
b31fdeed 697## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 698 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 699 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 700 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
701 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
702 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 703
732044af 704## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 705 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
706 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
707 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
708 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
709 OS caches the URL based on the file path
710 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
711 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 712
0744a815 713## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 714 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
715 print the log to stderr
716 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
717 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
718 anything to disk
719 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
720 options are used
721 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
722 extracting metadata even if the videos are
723 not actually available for download
724 (experimental)
725 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
726 formats are found (default)
727 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
728 related files (Alias: --no-download)
729 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
730 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
731 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
732 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 733 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 734 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
735 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
736 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 737 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 738 Append given template to the file. The
739 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
740 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
741 output template. This option can be used
742 multiple times
743 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
744 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
745 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
746 description of available keys
747 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
748 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
749 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
750 a playlist, the whole playlist information
751 is dumped in a single line
752 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
753 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
754 another simulation option is used (Alias:
755 --force-download-archive)
756 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
757 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
758 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
759 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 760 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 761 Template for progress outputs, optionally
762 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
763 "download-title:" (the console title),
764 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
765 The video's fields are accessible under the
766 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 767 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 768 --console-title --progress-template
769 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
770 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
771 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
772 to debug problems (very verbose)
773 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
774 in the current directory to debug problems
775 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 776
36f35428 777## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 778 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
779 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
780 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
781 renegotiation
782 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
783 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
784 information about the video (Currently
785 supported only for YouTube)
786 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
787 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
788 option multiple times
789 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
790 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
791 or fribidi executable in PATH
792 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
793 during data extraction
794 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
795 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
796 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
797 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
798 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
799 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
800 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
801 subtitle download
36f35428 802
cfcec693 803## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 804 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
805 for more details
806 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
807 "Sorting Formats" for more details
808 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
809 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
810 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
811 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
812 specified sort order (default)
813 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
814 into a single file
815 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
816 output file (default)
817 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
818 into a single file
819 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
820 output file (default)
821 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
822 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
823 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
824 irrespective of quality
825 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
826 containers (default)
827 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
828 those that are actually downloadable
829 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
830 actually downloadable
831 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
832 downloadable
833 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
834 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 835 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 836 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL		 837 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
838 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH		 839
840## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 841 --write-subs Write subtitle file
842 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
843 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
844 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
845 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
846 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
847 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
848 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
849 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 850 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 851 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L		 852 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
853 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 854 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L		 855 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
856 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 857 of available language tags
6bcd846b 858
cfcec693 859## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 860 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
861 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
862 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
863 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
864 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
865 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
866 either the path or its containing directory.
867 Defaults to ~/.netrc
868 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
869 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
870 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
871 a list of available MSOs
872 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
873 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
874 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
875 interactively
876 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
877 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
878 format. May include the private key
879 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
880 Path to private key file for client
881 certificate
bb58c9ed 882 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 883 Password for client certificate private key,
884 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
885 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 886
c76eb41b 887## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 888 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
889 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 890 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
891 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 892 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 893 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
894 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 895 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
896 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
897 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
898 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
899 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 900 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 901 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
902 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
903 wav). If target container does not support
904 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
905 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 906 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 907 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 908 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
909 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
910 are the same as --remux-video
911 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
912 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
913 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
914 to give the argument to the specified
915 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
916 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
917 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
918 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
919 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
920 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
921 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
922 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
923 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
924 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
925 specified executable only when being used by
926 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
927 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
928 appended to the prefix optionally followed
929 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 930 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 931 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
932 this option multiple times to give different
933 arguments to different postprocessors.
934 (Alias: --ppa)
935 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
936 after post-processing
937 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
938 post-processing (default)
939 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
940 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
941 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
942 webm and mkv videos)
943 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
944 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
945 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
946 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
947 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
948 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
949 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
950 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
951 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
952 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
953 (Alias: --add-chapters)
954 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
955 --no-add-chapters)
956 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
957 mkv/mka video files
958 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
959 to the video file
fe74d5b5 960 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
961 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 962 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 963 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
964 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
965 (default: pre_process)
966 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 967 Replace text in a metadata field using the
968 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 969 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
970 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
971 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 972 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
973 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
974 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
975 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
976 (default; only when the videos form a single
977 show). All the video files must have same
978 codecs and number of streams to be
979 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
980 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
981 the output filename for the concatenated
982 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
983 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
984 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
985 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
986 default; fix file if we can, warn
987 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
988 already exists)
989 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 990 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 991 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 992 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
993 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
994 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
995 after_move). Same syntax as the output
996 template can be used to pass any field as
997 arguments to the command. After download, an
998 additional field "filepath" that contains
999 the final path of the downloaded file is
1000 also available, and if no fields are passed,
1001 %(filepath)q is appended to the end of the
1002 command. This option can be used multiple
1003 times
2dd5a2e3 1004 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1005 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 1006 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 1007 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1008 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1009 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1010 can specify multiple rules using similar
1011 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1012 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1013 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1014 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1015 the output filename for the split files. See
1016 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1017 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1018 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1019 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1020 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1021 be used multiple times
1022 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1023 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1024 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1025 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1026 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1027 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1028 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1029 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1030 when cutting/splitting (default)
1031 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1032 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1033 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1034 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1035 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1036 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1037 The "when" argument determines when the
1038 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1039 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1040 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1041 "video" (after --format; before
1042 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1043 video download), "post_process" (after each
1044 video download; default), "after_move"
1045 (after moving video file to it's final
1046 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1047 and processing all formats of a video), or
1048 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1049 can be used multiple times to add different
1050 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1051
1052## SponsorBlock Options:
1053Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1054 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1055 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1056
2dd5a2e3 1057 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1058 for, separated by commas. Available
1059 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1060 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1061 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1062 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1063 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1064 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1065 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1066 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1067 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1068 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1069 category is present in both mark and remove,
1070 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1071 available categories are the same as for
1072 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1073 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1074 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1075 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1076 An output template for the title of the
1077 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1078 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1079 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1080 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1081 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1082 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1083 --sponsorblock-remove
1084 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1085 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1086
78895bd3 1087## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1088 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1089 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1090 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1091 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1092 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1093 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1094 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1095 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1096 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1097 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1098 (default)
2fa669f7 1099 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1100 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1101 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1102 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1103
b7770046
U		 1104# CONFIGURATION
1105
7a5c1cfe 1106You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1107
878eac3e 11081. **Main Configuration**:
1109 * The file given by `--config-location`
11101. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1111 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1112 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11131. **Home Configuration**:
1114 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1115 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11161. **User Configuration**:
878eac3e 1117 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1118 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
878eac3e 1119 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1120 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1121 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1122 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1123 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M		 1124 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1125 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1126
878eac3e 1127 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11281. **System Configuration**:
1129 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M		 1130 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1131 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1132
62b58c09 1133E.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
U		 1134```
1135# Lines starting with # are comments
1136
1137# Always extract audio
1138-x
1139
1140# Do not copy the mtime
1141--no-mtime
1142
1143# Use this proxy
1144--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1145
298f597b 1146# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1147-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1148```
1149
2fa669f7 1150Note 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 1151
a4211baf 1152You 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 1153
304ad45a 1154### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1155
304ad45a 1156The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1157
88f60feb 1158If 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 1159
b7770046
U		 1160### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1161
304ad45a 1162You 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 1163```
878eac3e 1164touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1165chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
U		 1166```
1167After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1168```
0001fcb5 1169machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1170```
62b58c09 1171E.g.
b7770046
U		 1172```
1173machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1174machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1175```
7a5c1cfe 1176To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1177
878eac3e 1178The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1179
1180### Notes about environment variables
1181* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1182* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1183* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1184* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1185* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
U		 1186
1187# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1188
0202b52a 1189The `-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 1190
ec2e44fc 1191<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1192**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1193<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1194
e58c22a0 1195The 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 1196
62b58c09 1197It 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 1198
1199The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1200
07a1250e 12011. **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 1202
62b58c09 12031. **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 1204
62b58c09 12051. **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 1206
62b58c09 12071. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1208
304ad45a 12091. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be 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.
e978789f 1210
17ffed18 12111. **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 1212
9b9dad11 12131. **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, `+` for Unicode), `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 1214
d5d1df8a 12151. **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 1216
1217To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1218```
e978789f 1219%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1220```
de6000d9 1221
62b58c09 1222Additionally, 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 1223
7aaf4cd2
RG		 1224<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
1225
1226Note: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
1227
e29663c6 1228The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1229
1230 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1231 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1232 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1233 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1234 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1235 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1236 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1237 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1238 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1239 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1240 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1241 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1242 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1243 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1244 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1245 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1246 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1247 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1248 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1249 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1250 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1251 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1252 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1253 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1254 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U		 1255 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1256 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1257 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1258 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1259 - `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 1260 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1261 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1262 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1263 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1264 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1265 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1266 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1267 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U		 1268 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1269 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1270 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1271 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1272 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1273 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1274 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1275 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1276 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1277 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1278 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1279 - `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		 1280 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1281 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1282 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1283 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1284 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1285 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1286
1287All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U		 1288
1289Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1290
1291 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1292 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1293 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1294
1295Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1296
1297 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1298 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1299 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1300 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1301 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1302 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1303 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1304
1305Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1306
1307 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1308 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1309 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1310 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1311 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1312 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1313 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1314 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1315 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1316 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1317
5ec1b6b7 1318Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1319
1320 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1321 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1322 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1323 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1324
53c18592 1325Available only when used in `--print`:
1326
1327 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1328 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1329 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1330 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1331 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1332 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1333
7a340e0d
NA		 1334
1335Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1336
1337 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1338 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1339 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA		 1340 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1341 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1342 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1343 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1344
62b58c09 1345Each 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 1346
1347Note 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 1348
0930b11f 1349**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1350
62b58c09 1351For 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 1352
940a67a3 1353Output 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		 1354
1355To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1356
91ebc640 1357The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1358
f304da8a 1359In 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 1360
b7770046
U		 1361#### Output template examples
1362
b7770046 1363```bash
d2c8aadf 1364$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1365test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1366
d2c8aadf 1367$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1368youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1369
d2c8aadf 1370$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1371youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1372
1373# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1374$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1375
b050d210 1376# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1377$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1378
e978789f 1379# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1380$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1381
b7770046 1382# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1383$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1384
1385# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1386$ 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		 1387
1388# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1389$ 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 1390
6a34813a 1391# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1392# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1393$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1394
1395# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1396$ 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
1397
b7770046 1398# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1399$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1400```
1401
1402# FORMAT SELECTION
1403
7a5c1cfe
P		 1404By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1405This 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 1406
c111cefa 1407**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.
1408
eff63539 1409The 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 1410
ec2e44fc 1411<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1412**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1413<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1414
62b58c09 1415The 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		 1416
1417You 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.
1418
fa9f30b8 1419You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1420
b7770046
U		 1421You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1422
59a7a13e 1423 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1424 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1425 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1426 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1427 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1428 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1429 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1430 - `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 1431 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1432 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1433 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1434 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1435 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1436 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1437
d4ada357 1438For 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 1439
1440You 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 1441
304ad45a 1442If 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		 1443
1444If 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`.
1445
62b58c09 1446You 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 1447
1448**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
1449
304ad45a 1450Unless `--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 only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1451
1452## Filtering Formats
1453
b7770046
U		 1454You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1455
1456The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1457
1458 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1459 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U		 1460 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1461 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1462 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
b7770046
U		 1463 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1464 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1465 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1466 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1467 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1468 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1469 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1470
1ce9a3cb 1471Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1472
d2c8aadf 1473 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U		 1474 - `ext`: File extension
1475 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1476 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1477 - `container`: Name of the container format
1478 - `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 1479 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1480 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1481 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1482 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1483 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1484 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1485
1ce9a3cb 1486Any 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 1487
e58c22a0 1488Note 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 1489
62b58c09 1490Formats 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 1491
62b58c09 1492Format 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 1493
eb8a4433 1494## Sorting Formats
1495
2e7781a9 1496You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1497
1498The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1499
304ad45a 1500 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1501 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1502 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1503 - `lang`: The language preference
1504 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1505 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1506 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1507 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
71082216 1508 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` `ac4` > > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1509 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1510 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1511 - `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 1512 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1513 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1514 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1515 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1516 - `height`: Height of video
1517 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1518 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1519 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1520 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1521 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1522 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1523 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1524 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1525 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1526 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1527
1528**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 1529
62b58c09 1530All 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 1531
7e798d72 1532The 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 1533
7e798d72 1534Note 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 1535
e58c22a0 1536If 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 1537
1538**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1539
eb8a4433 1540## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1541
b7770046 1542```bash
e58c22a0 1543# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1544# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1545$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1546
1547# Download best format that contains video,
1548# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1549$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1550
1551# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1552$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1553
6fd35a11 1554# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1555# For this case, an output template should be used since
1556# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1557$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1558
f8d4ad9a 1559# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1560# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1561$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1562
1563# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1564# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1565$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1566
6fd35a11 1567
1568# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1569# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1570
1571# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1572$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1573
1574# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1575$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1576
1577# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1578$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1579
1580
909d24dd 1581
eb8a4433 1582# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1583$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1584
1585# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1586# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1588
1589
909d24dd 1590
eb8a4433 1591# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1592# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1593$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1594
eb8a4433 1595# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1596# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1597$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1598
eb8a4433 1599# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1600# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1601# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1602# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1603$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1604
b7770046 1605
909d24dd 1606
eb8a4433 1607# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1608# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1609$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1610
1611# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1612# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1613$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1614
1615# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1616$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1617
1618
909d24dd 1619
eb8a4433 1620# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1621# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1622$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1623
1624# Download best video available via the best protocol
1625# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1626$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1627
1628
909d24dd 1629
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1630# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1631# or the best video if there is no such video
1632$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1633
1634# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1635# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1636$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1637
1638# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1639# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1640$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1641
1642
1643
1644# More complex examples
1645
e58c22a0 1646# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1647# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1648$ 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 1649
1650# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1651# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1652# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1653$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1654
1655
909d24dd 1656
eb8a4433 1657# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1658# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1659# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1660$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1661```
eb8a4433 1662
73cd218f 1663# MODIFYING METADATA
1664
a4211baf 1665The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1666
418964fa 1667`--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 1668
46d09f87 1669The 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, a single field name, 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 1670
46d09f87 1671Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1672
9c2b75b5 1673This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1674
62b58c09 1675* 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 1676
62b58c09 1677* 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 1678
08d30158 1679**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.
1680
c31be5b0 1681For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1682
08d30158 1683Metadata fields | From
1684:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1685`title` | `track` or `title`
1686`date` | `upload_date`
1687`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1688`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1689`track` | `track_number`
1690`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1691`genre` | `genre`
1692`album` | `album`
1693`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1694`disc` | `disc_number`
1695`show` | `series`
1696`season_number` | `season_number`
1697`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1698`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1699`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1700
c31be5b0 1701**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1702
73cd218f 1703
1704## Modifying metadata examples
1705
73cd218f 1706```bash
1707# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1708$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1709
1710# Regex example
940a67a3 1711$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1712
1713# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1714$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1715
a44ca5a4 1716# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1717$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1718
1719# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1720# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1721$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1722
8aa0e7cd 1723# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1724$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1725
0930b11f 1726# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1727$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1728
e9f4ccd1 1729# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1730$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1731
73cd218f 1732```
1733
5d3a0e79 1734# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1735
62b58c09 1736Some 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 1737
1738The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1739
1740#### youtube
2fa669f7 1741* `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 1742* `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
304ad45a 1743* `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 1744* `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 1745* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1746* `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`
1747 * 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 1748* `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1749* `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 1750* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1751
1752#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1753* `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)
5225df50 1754* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1755
3b021eac 1756#### generic
1757* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1758
96565c7e 1759#### funimation
304ad45a 1760* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1761* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1762
cb1553e9 1763#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
62b58c09 1764* `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 1765* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1766
96565c7e 1767#### vikichannel
1768* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1769
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1770#### niconico
1771* `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.**
1772
aa4b0545 1773#### youtubewebarchive
1774* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1775
d43de682
M		 1776#### gamejolt
1777* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1778
26f2aa3d
AG		 1779#### hotstar
1780* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1781* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1782* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1783
046cab39 1784#### tiktok
c4cbd3be 1785* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
62b58c09
L		 1786* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1787* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1788
7eaf7f9a 1789#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1790* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1791
7a26ce26
SS		 1792#### twitter
1793* `force_graphql`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
7eaf7f9a 1794
bc97cdae 1795NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1796
ec2e44fc 1797<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1798
3acf6d38 1799
f74980cb 1800# PLUGINS
b7770046 1801
8e40b9d1 1802Note 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!**
3ae5e797 1803
8e40b9d1
M		 1804Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1805- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1806- Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1807- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1808
3ae5e797 1809
8e40b9d1 1810Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1811
8e40b9d1
M		 1812In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1813
1814 yt_dlp_plugins/
1815 extractor/
1816 myplugin.py
1817 postprocessor/
1818 myplugin.py
1819
1820yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1821
deae7c17 1822See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1823
8e40b9d1
M		 1824## Installing Plugins
1825
1826Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1827
18281. **Configuration directories**:
1829 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1830 * **User Plugins**
1831 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1832 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1833 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
1834 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1835 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1836 * **System Plugins**
1837 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1838 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
18392. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location:
1840 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1841 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1842
18433. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
1844 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [ytdlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
1845 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames
1846 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1847 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1848
1849
1850.zip, .egg and .whl archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported. These can be placed in the same locations `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders can be found.
1851- e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
1852
1853Run yt-dlp with `--verbose`/`-v` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1854
1855## Developing Plugins
1856
1857See [ytdlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for a sample plugin package with instructions on how to set up an environment for plugin development.
1858
1859All public classes with a name ending in `IE` are imported from each file. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`)
1860
1861If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1862
8e40b9d1 1863See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
8c6f4daa 1864
1865# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1866
1867yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1868
1869Your 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.
1870
1871From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1872
1873```python
59a7a13e 1874from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1875
3d3bb168 1876URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1877with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1878 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1879```
1880
1890fc63 1881Most 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 1882
43cc91ad 1883**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 1884
1885## Embedding examples
1886
43cc91ad 1887#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1888
1889```python
1890import json
8c6f4daa 1891import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1892
3d3bb168 1893URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1894
1895# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1896ydl_opts = {}
1897with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1898 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1899
1900 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1901 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1902```
43cc91ad 1903#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1904
1905```python
1906import yt_dlp
1907
1908INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1909
1910with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1911 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1912
1913print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1914 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1915```
1916
43cc91ad 1917#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1918
1919```python
1920import yt_dlp
1921
1922URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1923
1924ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1925 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1926 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1927 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1928 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1929 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1930 }]
1931}
1932
1933with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1934 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1935```
0a41f331 1936
1937#### Filter videos
1938
1939```python
1940import yt_dlp
1941
1942URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1943
1944def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1945 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1946 duration = info.get('duration')
1947 if duration and duration < 60:
1948 return 'The video is too short'
1949
1950ydl_opts = {
1951 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1952}
1953
1954with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1955 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1956```
1957
43cc91ad 1958#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1959
1960```python
1961import yt_dlp
1962
1963URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1964
1965class MyLogger:
1966 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1967 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1968 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1969 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1970 pass
1971 else:
1972 self.info(msg)
1973
1974 def info(self, msg):
1975 pass
1976
1977 def warning(self, msg):
1978 pass
1979
1980 def error(self, msg):
1981 print(msg)
1982
1983
3d3bb168 1984# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1985def my_hook(d):
1986 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1987 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1988
1989
1990ydl_opts = {
1991 'logger': MyLogger(),
1992 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1993}
1994
1995with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1996 ydl.download(URLS)
1997```
1998
43cc91ad 1999#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2000
2001```python
2002import yt_dlp
2003
2004URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2005
2006# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2007class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2008 def run(self, info):
2009 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2010 return [], info
2011
2012
3d3bb168 2013with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2014 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2015 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2016 ydl.download(URLS)
2017```
8c6f4daa 2018
2019
43cc91ad 2020#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2021
2022```python
2023import yt_dlp
2024
2025URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2026
093a1710 2027def format_selector(ctx):
2028 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2029 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2030
2031 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2032 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2033
2034 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2035 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2036 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2037
2038 # find compatible audio extension
2039 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2040 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2041 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2042 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2043
3d3bb168 2044 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2045 yield {
093a1710 2046 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2047 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2048 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2049 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2050 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2051 }
2052
2053
8c6f4daa 2054ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2055 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2056}
2057
2058with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2059 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2060```
2061
ec2e44fc 2062<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2063
e167860c 2064# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2065
2066These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2067
8130779d 2068#### Almost redundant options
2069While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2070
2071 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2072 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2073 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2074 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2075
6ccf351a 2076#### Redundant options
2077While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2078
53c18592 2079 --get-description --print description
2080 --get-duration --print duration_string
2081 --get-filename --print filename
2082 --get-format --print format
2083 --get-id --print id
2084 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2085 -e, --get-title --print title
2086 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2087 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2088 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2089 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2090 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2091 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2092 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2093 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2094 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2095 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2096 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2097
2098
2099#### Not recommended
2100While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2101
fe7866d0 2102 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2103 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2104 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2105 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2106 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2107 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2108 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2109 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2110 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2111 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2112 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2113 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2114 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2115 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2116 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2117 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2118 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2119 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2120
2121
2122#### Developer options
2123These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2124
34488702 2125 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2126 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2127 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2128 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2129 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2130
2131
2132#### Old aliases
2133These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2134
2135 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2136 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2137 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2138 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2139 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2140 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2141 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2142 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2143 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2144 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2145 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2146 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2147 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2148 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2149 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2150 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2151 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2152
7a340e0d 2153#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2154Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2155
2156 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2157 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2158 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2159 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2160 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2161 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2162 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2163 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2164
f4536226 2165#### No longer supported
2166These options may no longer work as intended
2167
2168 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2169 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2170 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2171 --no-call-home Default
2172 --include-ads No longer supported
2173 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2174 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2175 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2176 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2177
2178#### Removed
2179These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2180
f4536226 2181 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2182 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2183
8c6f4daa 2184# CONTRIBUTING
2185See [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 2186
17ffed18 2187# WIKI
2188See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/