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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 68* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
1ac7f461 74* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/ed5c44e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/ed5c44e7b74ac77f87ca5ed6cb5e964a0c6a0678)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
ae6a1b95 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
ae61d108 82* **YouTube improvements**:
83 * 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`)
84 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
85 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
86 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
87 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89
f59f5ef8 90* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 91
5ec1b6b7 92* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
93
597c1866 94* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
95
b31fdeed 96* **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 97
b31fdeed 98* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 99
e75bb0d6 100* **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 101
56ba69e4 102* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
fac98805 103
3de7c2ce 104* **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 105
597c1866 106* **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 107
d4ada357 108* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
0bc0a322 109
418964fa 110* **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 111
8a82af35 112* **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 113
08d30158 114* **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 115
86c1a8aa 116* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 117
7a5c1cfe 118* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 119
7a5c1cfe 120See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 121
ae61d108 122Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
0930b11f 126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 129* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
d4ada357 130* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 131* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 132* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 133* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 134* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 135* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 136* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 137* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 138* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 139* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
140* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
b79f9e30 141* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
64f36541 142* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 143* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
1ff88b7a 144* 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 145* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 146* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 147* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 148* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
168bbc4f 149* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
1e4fca9a 150* yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 151
152For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 153
8a82af35 154* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 155* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 157
f20f5fe5 158
d19bb9c0 159# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 160
fc5fa964 161<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
162[![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 163[![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 164[![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 165[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 166[![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)
167[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 168[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 169<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170
17ffed18 171You 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 172
b8773e63 173
a4211baf 174## UPDATE
17ffed18 175You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
176
177If 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 178
17ffed18 179For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
0930b11f 180
cf59cd4d 181
ec2e44fc 182<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 183## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 184
733d8e8f 185#### Recommended
186
187File|Description
188:---|:---
962ffcf8 189[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 190[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 191[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 192
193#### Alternatives
194
0e5927ee
R
195File|Description
196:---|:---
0930b11f 197[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 198[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 199[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
200[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
0930b11f 201[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
202[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 203[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 204
205#### Misc
206
207File|Description
208:---|:---
17ffed18 209[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee
R
210[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
211[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 212<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 213
17ffed18 214
215Note: 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)
216
a4211baf 217## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 218Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 219
c9652aa4 220<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
221<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 222On 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 223-->
fac98805 224
e75bb0d6 225While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 226
8aa0e7cd 227### Strongly recommended
228
b69fd25c 229* [**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 230
231 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
232 **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
233
234### Networking
d5820461 235* [**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 236* [**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>
237* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
238
239### Metadata
240
241* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
242* [**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)
243* [**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
244
245### Misc
246
247* [**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 248* [**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 249* [**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 250* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 251
8aa0e7cd 252#### Deprecated
253
254* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
255* [**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 256* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
257* [**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 258
cf59cd4d 259To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
260
f2df4071 261The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 262
8aa0e7cd 263If 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 264
5f326cf5 265
a4211baf 266## COMPILE
5f326cf5 267
8aa0e7cd 268### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
115add43 269To 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 270
8aa0e7cd 271 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
272 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
273 python3 pyinst.py
274
275On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
276
d2c8aadf 277Note 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 278
279**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 280
8aa0e7cd 281### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
282You will need the build tools `python` (3.6+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 283
8aa0e7cd 284After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 285
a831c2ea 286You 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 287
8aa0e7cd 288### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
289
290While 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.
291
292If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
293
294 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
295 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
296 py setup.py py2exe
297
298### Related scripts
299
70b23409 300* **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
301* **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
8aa0e7cd 302* **`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.
303
304You 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 305
b31fdeed 306# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 307
ec2e44fc 308<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 309 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 310
c2b5f311 311`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 312<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 313
ec2e44fc 314<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 315## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 316 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
317 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 318 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
319 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
2dd5a2e3 320 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
321 The download will be considered successful
322 even if the postprocessing fails
323 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
324 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
325 playlist (default)
326 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
327 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
328 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
329 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
330 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
331 extractors and exit
2516cafb 332 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 333 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
334 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
335 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
336 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
337 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 338 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 339 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 340 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
341 google videos for the search term "python".
342 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
343 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
344 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
345 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
346 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
347 possible instead of searching
348 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
349 except those given by --config-locations.
350 For backward compatibility, if this option
351 is found inside the system configuration
352 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
353 (Alias: --no-config)
354 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
355 (default). When given inside a configuration
356 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
357 defined in the current file
358 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
359 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 360 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
361 used multiple times and inside other
362 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 363 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
364 only list them
365 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
366 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
367 Currently only supported for YouTube
368 (Experimental)
369 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
370 (default)
371 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
372 available. Pass the minimum number of
373 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
374 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
375 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
376 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 377 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
378 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 379 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
380 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
381 configurations by reverting some of the
382 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
383 default behavior" for details
384 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
385 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
386 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
387 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 388 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 389 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
390 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
391 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
392 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
393 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
394 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 395 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 396 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
397 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 398 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 399
149f05c7 400## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 401 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
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402 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
403 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
404 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
405 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 406 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
407 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
408 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
409 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 410
b31fdeed 411## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 412 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
413 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
414 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
415 is not present) is used for the actual
416 downloading
417 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
418 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
419 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
420 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
421 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
422 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
423 country code
424 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 425 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 426
cfcec693 427## Video Selection:
962ffcf8 428 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
7e88d7d7 429 to download. You can specify a range using
430 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
431 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
432 Use negative indices to count from the right
433 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 434 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
7e88d7d7 435 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
436 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
62b58c09
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437 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
438 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
439 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE,
440 e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 441 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
442 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
443 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
62b58c09 444 E.g. --date today-2weeks
2dd5a2e3 445 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
446 this date. The date formats accepted is the
447 same as --date
448 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
449 this date. The date formats accepted is the
450 same as --date
451 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
452 field can be compared with a number or a
453 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 454 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 455 specify a field to match if the field is
456 present, use "!field" to check if the field
457 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
458 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
459 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
460 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 461 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 462 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
463 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
464 only videos that are not live OR those that
465 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
466 field is not available) and also has a
467 description that contains the phrase "cats &
468 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
469 interactively ask whether to download each
470 video
471 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
472 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
473 to a video and a playlist
474 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
475 a video and a playlist
476 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
477 age
478 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
479 archive file. Record the IDs of all
480 downloaded videos in it
481 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
482 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
483 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
484 a file that is in the archive
485 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
486 a file that has been filtered out
d2c8aadf 487 --break-per-input --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject,
488 --max-downloads, and autonumber resets per
2dd5a2e3 489 input URL
490 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
491 terminates the entire download queue
492 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
493 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 494
d5a62e4f 495## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 496 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
497 video that should be downloaded concurrently
498 (default is 1)
62b58c09
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499 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
500 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 501 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
502 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 503 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 504 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
505 "infinite"
506 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
507 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
508 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
509 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 510 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
511 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
512 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
513 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
514 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
515 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
516 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 517 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 518 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
519 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
520 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
521 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
522 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
523 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
524 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
525 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
526 downloading is finished
527 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
528 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 529 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 530 (default is 1024)
531 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
532 from an initial value of --buffer-size
533 (default)
534 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
535 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 536 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 537 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
538 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
539 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 540 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 541 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
542 received. This disables n_entries,
543 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
544 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
545 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 546 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
547 expected file size
548 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
549 allowing some players to play the video
550 while downloading, and reducing the chance
551 of file corruption if download is
552 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
553 live streams
554 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
555 videos. This is default when not downloading
556 live streams
5ec1b6b7 557 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
558 the given regular expression. Time ranges
559 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
560 of chapters to download the specified range.
62b58c09
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561 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
562 multiple times to download multiple
563 sections, e.g. --download-sections
564 "*10:15-15:00" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 565 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
566 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
567 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
568 use it for. Currently supports native,
569 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
570 wget. You can use this option multiple times
571 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 572 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 573 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
574 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
575 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
576 (Alias: --external-downloader)
577 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
578 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
579 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
580 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
581 positions using the same syntax as
582 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
583 option multiple times to give different
584 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
585 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 586
cfcec693 587## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 588 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
589 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
590 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
591 comments and ignored
592 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
593 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
594 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
595 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
596 TYPES as --output are supported.
597 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
598 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
599 files are first downloaded to the temp path
600 and then the final files are moved over to
601 the home path after download is finished.
602 This option is ignored if --output is an
603 absolute path
604 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
605 TEMPLATE" for details
606 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
607 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
608 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
609 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
610 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
611 filenames (default)
612 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
613 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
614 using Windows (default)
615 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
616 extension) to the specified number of
617 characters
618 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
619 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
620 option includes --no-continue
621 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
622 related files (default)
623 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
624 (default)
625 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
626 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
627 restart download of the entire file
628 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
629 into output file (default)
630 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
631 output file
632 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
633 modification time (default)
634 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
635 the file modification time
64fa820c 636 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 637 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
638 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
639 (this may contain personal information)
640 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
641 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
642 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
643 --write-description etc. (default)
644 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
645 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
646 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
647 from the infojson. Note that it could still
648 contain some personal information (default)
649 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
650 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
651 infojson. The comments are fetched even
652 without this option if the extraction is
653 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
654 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
655 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
656 --no-get-comments)
657 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 658 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 659 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
660 and dump cookie jar in
661 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
662 (default)
825d3ce3 663 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
664 The name of the browser to load cookies
665 from. Currently supported browsers are:
666 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
667 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
668 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
669 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
670 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
671 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
672 be given with their respective seperators.
673 By default, all containers of the most
674 recently accessed profile are used.
675 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
676 gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 677 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 678 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
679 store some downloaded information (such as
680 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
681 default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
2dd5a2e3 682 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
683 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
684 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 685
b31fdeed 686## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 687 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 688 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 689 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
690 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
691 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 692
732044af 693## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 694 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
695 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
696 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
697 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
698 OS caches the URL based on the file path
699 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
700 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 701
0744a815 702## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 703 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
704 print the log to stderr
705 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
706 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
707 anything to disk
708 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
709 options are used
710 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
711 extracting metadata even if the videos are
712 not actually available for download
713 (experimental)
714 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
715 formats are found (default)
716 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
717 related files (Alias: --no-download)
718 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
719 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
720 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
721 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
722 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
723 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
724 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
725 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 726 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 727 Append given template to the file. The
728 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
729 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
730 output template. This option can be used
731 multiple times
732 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
733 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
734 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
735 description of available keys
736 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
737 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
738 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
739 a playlist, the whole playlist information
740 is dumped in a single line
741 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
742 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
743 another simulation option is used (Alias:
744 --force-download-archive)
745 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
746 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
747 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
748 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 749 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 750 Template for progress outputs, optionally
751 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
752 "download-title:" (the console title),
753 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
754 The video's fields are accessible under the
755 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 756 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 757 --console-title --progress-template
758 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
759 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
760 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
761 to debug problems (very verbose)
762 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
763 in the current directory to debug problems
764 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 765
36f35428 766## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 767 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
768 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
769 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
770 renegotiation
771 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
772 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
773 information about the video (Currently
774 supported only for YouTube)
775 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
776 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
777 option multiple times
778 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
779 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
780 or fribidi executable in PATH
781 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
782 during data extraction
783 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
784 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
785 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
786 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
787 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
788 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
789 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
790 subtitle download
36f35428 791
cfcec693 792## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 793 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
794 for more details
795 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
796 "Sorting Formats" for more details
797 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
798 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
799 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
800 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
801 specified sort order (default)
802 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
803 into a single file
804 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
805 output file (default)
806 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
807 into a single file
808 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
809 output file (default)
810 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
811 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
812 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
813 irrespective of quality
814 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
815 containers (default)
816 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
817 those that are actually downloadable
818 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
819 actually downloadable
820 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
821 downloadable
822 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
823 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 824 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 825 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
826 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
827 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
828
829## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 830 --write-subs Write subtitle file
831 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
832 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
833 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
834 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
835 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
836 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
837 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
838 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 839 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 840 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
841 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
842 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 843 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
844 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
845 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 846 of available language tags
6bcd846b 847
cfcec693 848## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 849 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
850 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
851 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
852 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
853 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
854 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
855 either the path or its containing directory.
856 Defaults to ~/.netrc
857 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
858 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
859 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
860 a list of available MSOs
861 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
862 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
863 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
864 interactively
865 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
866 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
867 format. May include the private key
868 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
869 Path to private key file for client
870 certificate
bb58c9ed 871 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 872 Password for client certificate private key,
873 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
874 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 875
c76eb41b 876## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 877 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
878 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 879 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
880 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 881 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 882 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
883 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 884 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
885 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
886 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
887 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
888 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 889 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
890 mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
891 m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 892 target container does not support the
893 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
62b58c09 894 can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 895 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 896 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 897 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
898 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
899 are the same as --remux-video
900 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
901 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
902 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
903 to give the argument to the specified
904 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
905 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
906 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
907 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
908 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
909 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
910 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
911 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
912 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
913 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
914 specified executable only when being used by
915 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
916 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
917 appended to the prefix optionally followed
918 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 919 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 920 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
921 this option multiple times to give different
922 arguments to different postprocessors.
923 (Alias: --ppa)
924 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
925 after post-processing
926 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
927 post-processing (default)
928 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
929 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
930 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
931 webm and mkv videos)
932 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
933 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
934 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
935 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
936 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
937 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
938 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
939 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
940 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
941 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
942 (Alias: --add-chapters)
943 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
944 --no-add-chapters)
945 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
946 mkv/mka video files
947 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
948 to the video file
949 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
950 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
951 for details
e9f4ccd1 952 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 953 Replace text in a metadata field using the
954 given regex. This option can be used
955 multiple times
956 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
957 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
958 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
959 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
960 (default; only when the videos form a single
961 show). All the video files must have same
962 codecs and number of streams to be
963 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
964 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
965 the output filename for the concatenated
966 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
967 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
968 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
969 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
970 default; fix file if we can, warn
971 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
972 already exists)
973 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 974 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 975 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
976 when to execute it (after_move if
977 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
978 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
979 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
980 output template can be used to pass any
981 field as arguments to the command. After
982 download, an additional field "filepath"
983 that contains the final path of the
984 downloaded file is also available, and if no
985 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
986 to the end of the command. This option can
987 be used multiple times
988 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
989 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 990 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 991 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
992 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 993 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
994 can specify multiple rules using similar
995 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 996 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
997 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
998 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
999 the output filename for the split files. See
1000 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1001 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1002 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1003 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1004 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1005 be used multiple times
1006 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1007 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1008 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1009 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1010 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1011 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1012 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1013 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1014 when cutting/splitting (default)
1015 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1016 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1017 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1018 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1019 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1020 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1021 The "when" argument determines when the
1022 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1023 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1024 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1025 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1026 "post_process" (after each video download;
1027 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1028 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1029 (after downloading and processing all
1030 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1031 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1032 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1033
1034## SponsorBlock Options:
1035Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1036 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1037 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1038
2dd5a2e3 1039 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1040 for, separated by commas. Available
1041 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1042 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1043 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1044 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1045 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
62b58c09 1046 description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1047 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1048 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1049 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1050 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1051 category is present in both mark and remove,
1052 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1053 available categories are the same as for
1054 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1055 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1056 not available
7a340e0d 1057 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1058 An output template for the title of the
1059 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1060 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1061 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1062 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1063 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1064 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1065 --sponsorblock-remove
1066 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1067 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1068
78895bd3 1069## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1070 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1071 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1072 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1073 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1074 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1075 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1076 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1077 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1078 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1079 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1080 (default)
1081 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1082 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1083 use this option multiple times to give
1084 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1085
b7770046
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1086# CONFIGURATION
1087
7a5c1cfe 1088You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1089
0202b52a 10901. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10911. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10921. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10931. **User Configuration**:
1094 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1095 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1096 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1097 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1098 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1099 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1100
ec2e44fc 1101 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1102
07cce701 11031. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1104
62b58c09 1105E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1106```
1107# Lines starting with # are comments
1108
1109# Always extract audio
1110-x
1111
1112# Do not copy the mtime
1113--no-mtime
1114
1115# Use this proxy
1116--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1117
298f597b 1118# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1119-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1120```
1121
e2e43aea 1122Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
b7770046 1123
a4211baf 1124You 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 1125
88f60feb 1126### Config file encoding
a904a7f8 1127
88f60feb 1128The config files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1129
88f60feb 1130If 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 1131
b7770046
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1132### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1133
0001fcb5 1134You 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
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1135```
1136touch $HOME/.netrc
1137chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1138```
1139After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1140```
0001fcb5 1141machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1142```
62b58c09 1143E.g.
b7770046
U
1144```
1145machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1146machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1147```
7a5c1cfe 1148To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1149
0001fcb5 1150The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
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1151
1152# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1153
0202b52a 1154The `-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 1155
ec2e44fc 1156<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1157**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1158<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1159
e58c22a0 1160The 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 1161
62b58c09 1162It 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 1163
1164The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1165
07a1250e 11661. **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 1167
62b58c09 11681. **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 1169
62b58c09 11701. **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 1171
62b58c09 11721. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1173
e978789f
P
11741. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1175
17ffed18 11761. **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 1177
62b58c09 11781. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1179
62b58c09 11801. **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 1181
1182To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1183```
e978789f 1184%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1185```
de6000d9 1186
62b58c09 1187Additionally, 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 1188
1189The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1190
1191 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1192 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1193 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1194 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1195 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1196 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1197 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1198 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1199 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1200 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1201 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1202 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1203 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1204 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1205 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1206 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1207 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1208 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1209 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1210 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U
1211 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1212 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1213 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U
1214 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1215 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1216 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1217 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1218 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1219 - `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 1220 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1221 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1222 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1223 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1224 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1225 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U
1226 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1227 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1228 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1229 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1230 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1231 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1232 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1233 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1234 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1235 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1236 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1237 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1238 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1239 - `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
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1240 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1241 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1242 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1243 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1244 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1245 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
d2c8aadf 1246
1247All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U
1248
1249Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1250
1251 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1252 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1253 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1254
1255Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1256
1257 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1258 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1259 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1260 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1261 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1262 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1263 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1264
1265Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1266
1267 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1268 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1269 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1270 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1271 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1272 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1273 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1274 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1275 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1276 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1277
5ec1b6b7 1278Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1279
1280 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1281 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1282 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1283 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1284
53c18592 1285Available only when used in `--print`:
1286
1287 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1288 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1289 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1290 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1291 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1292 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1293
7a340e0d
NA
1294
1295Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1296
1297 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1298 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1299 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1300 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1301 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1302 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1303
62b58c09 1304Each 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 1305
1306Note 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 1307
0930b11f 1308**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1309
62b58c09 1310For 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 1311
940a67a3 1312Output 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
1313
1314To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1315
91ebc640 1316The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1317
f304da8a 1318In 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 1319
b7770046
U
1320#### Output template examples
1321
b7770046 1322```bash
d2c8aadf 1323$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1324test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1325
d2c8aadf 1326$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1327youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1328
d2c8aadf 1329$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1330youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1331
1332# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1333$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1334
b050d210 1335# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1336$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1337
e978789f 1338# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1339$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1340
b7770046 1341# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1342$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1343
1344# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1345$ 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
1346
1347# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1348$ 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 1349
6a34813a 1350# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1351# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1352$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1353
1354# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1355$ 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
1356
b7770046 1357# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1358$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1359```
1360
1361# FORMAT SELECTION
1362
7a5c1cfe
P
1363By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1364This 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 1365
c111cefa 1366**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.
1367
eff63539 1368The 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 1369
ec2e44fc 1370<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1371**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1372<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1373
62b58c09 1374The 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
1375
1376You 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.
1377
fa9f30b8 1378You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1379
b7770046
U
1380You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1381
59a7a13e 1382 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1383 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1384 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1385 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1386 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1387 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1388 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1389 - `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 1390 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1391 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1392 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1393 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1394 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1395 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1396
d4ada357 1397For 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 1398
1399You 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 1400
62b58c09 1401If 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
1402
1403If 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`.
1404
62b58c09 1405You 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 1406
1407**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
1408
62b58c09 1409Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1410
1411## Filtering Formats
1412
b7770046
U
1413You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1414
1415The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1416
1417 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1418 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1419 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1420 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1421 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1422 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1423 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1424 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1425 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1426 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1427 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1428
1ce9a3cb 1429Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1430
d2c8aadf 1431 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1432 - `ext`: File extension
1433 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1434 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1435 - `container`: Name of the container format
1436 - `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 1437 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1438 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1439 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1440 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1441 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1442 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1443
1ce9a3cb 1444Any 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 1445
e58c22a0 1446Note 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 1447
62b58c09 1448Formats 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 1449
62b58c09 1450Format 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 1451
eb8a4433 1452## Sorting Formats
1453
2e7781a9 1454You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1455
1456The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1457
63be1aab 1458 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1459 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1460 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1461 - `lang`: The language preference
1462 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1463 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1464 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1465 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1466 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1467 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1468 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1469 - `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 1470 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1471 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1472 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1473 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1474 - `height`: Height of video
1475 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1476 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1477 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1478 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1479 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
63be1aab 1480 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1481 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1482 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1483 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1484 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1485
1486**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 1487
62b58c09 1488All 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 1489
7e798d72 1490The 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 1491
7e798d72 1492Note 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 1493
e58c22a0 1494If 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 1495
1496**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1497
eb8a4433 1498## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1499
b7770046 1500```bash
e58c22a0 1501# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1502# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1503$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1504
1505# Download best format that contains video,
1506# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1507$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1508
1509# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1510$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1511
6fd35a11 1512# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1513# For this case, an output template should be used since
1514# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1515$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1516
f8d4ad9a 1517# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1518# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1519$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1520
1521# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1522# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1523$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1524
6fd35a11 1525
1526# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1527# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1528
1529# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1530$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1531
1532# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1533$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1534
1535# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1536$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1537
1538
909d24dd 1539
eb8a4433 1540# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1541$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1542
1543# Download the best video with the best extension
1544# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1545$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1546
1547
909d24dd 1548
eb8a4433 1549# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1550# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1551$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1552
eb8a4433 1553# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1554# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1555$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1556
eb8a4433 1557# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1558# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1559# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1560# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1561$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1562
b7770046 1563
909d24dd 1564
eb8a4433 1565# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1566# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1568
1569# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1570# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1571$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1572
1573# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1575
1576
909d24dd 1577
eb8a4433 1578# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1579# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1580$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1581
1582# Download best video available via the best protocol
1583# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1584$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1585
1586
909d24dd 1587
1ce9a3cb
LF
1588# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1589# or the best video if there is no such video
1590$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1591
1592# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1593# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1594$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1595
1596# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1597# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1598$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1599
1600
1601
1602# More complex examples
1603
e58c22a0 1604# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1605# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1606$ 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 1607
1608# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1609# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1610# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1611$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1612
1613
909d24dd 1614
eb8a4433 1615# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1616# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1617# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1618$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1619```
eb8a4433 1620
73cd218f 1621# MODIFYING METADATA
1622
a4211baf 1623The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1624
418964fa 1625`--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 1626
2e7781a9 1627The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1628
1629Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1630
9c2b75b5 1631This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1632
62b58c09 1633* 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 1634
62b58c09 1635* 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 1636
08d30158 1637**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.
1638
c31be5b0 1639For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1640
08d30158 1641Metadata fields | From
1642:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1643`title` | `track` or `title`
1644`date` | `upload_date`
1645`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1646`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1647`track` | `track_number`
1648`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1649`genre` | `genre`
1650`album` | `album`
1651`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1652`disc` | `disc_number`
1653`show` | `series`
1654`season_number` | `season_number`
1655`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1656`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1657`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1658
c31be5b0 1659**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1660
73cd218f 1661
1662## Modifying metadata examples
1663
73cd218f 1664```bash
1665# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1666$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1667
1668# Regex example
940a67a3 1669$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1670
1671# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1672$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1673
a44ca5a4 1674# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1675$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1676
1677# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1678# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1679$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1680
8aa0e7cd 1681# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1682$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1683
0930b11f 1684# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1685$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1686
e9f4ccd1 1687# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1688$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1689
73cd218f 1690```
1691
5d3a0e79 1692# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1693
62b58c09 1694Some 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 1695
1696The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1697
1698#### youtube
8aa0e7cd 1699* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
62b58c09 1700* `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 1701* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1702* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1703* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1704* `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`
1705 * 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
1e4fca9a 1706* `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 1707* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
c26f9b99 1708* `lang`: Supported content language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (case-sensitive). By default, video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated.
1709 * See youtube.py for list of supported content language codes.
96565c7e 1710
1711#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1712* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1713* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1714
1715#### funimation
62b58c09 1716* `language`: Languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1717* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1718
a9d4da60 1719#### crunchyroll
62b58c09
L
1720* `language`: Languages to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1721* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
a9d4da60 1722
ae6a1b95 1723#### crunchyrollbeta
62b58c09
L
1724* `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`
1725* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
706dfe44 1726
96565c7e 1727#### vikichannel
1728* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1729
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1730#### niconico
1731* `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.**
1732
aa4b0545 1733#### youtubewebarchive
1734* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1735
d43de682
M
1736#### gamejolt
1737* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1738
26f2aa3d
AG
1739#### hotstar
1740* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1741* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1742* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1743
046cab39 1744#### tiktok
62b58c09
L
1745* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1746* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
046cab39 1747
7eaf7f9a 1748#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1749* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1750
1751
bc97cdae 1752NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1753
ec2e44fc 1754<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1755
3acf6d38 1756
f74980cb 1757# PLUGINS
b7770046 1758
3ae5e797 1759Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1760
1761Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1762
1763See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1764
1765Note 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
1766
1767If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1768
b7770046 1769
8c6f4daa 1770
1771# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1772
1773yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1774
1775Your 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.
1776
1777From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1778
1779```python
59a7a13e 1780from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1781
3d3bb168 1782URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1783with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1784 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1785```
1786
1890fc63 1787Most 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 1788
43cc91ad 1789**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 1790
1791## Embedding examples
1792
43cc91ad 1793#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1794
1795```python
1796import json
8c6f4daa 1797import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1798
3d3bb168 1799URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1800
1801# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1802ydl_opts = {}
1803with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1804 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1805
1806 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1807 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1808```
43cc91ad 1809#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1810
1811```python
1812import yt_dlp
1813
1814INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1815
1816with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1817 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1818
1819print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1820 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1821```
1822
43cc91ad 1823#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1824
1825```python
1826import yt_dlp
1827
1828URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1829
1830ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1831 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1832 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1833 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1834 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1835 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1836 }]
1837}
1838
1839with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1840 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1841```
0a41f331 1842
1843#### Filter videos
1844
1845```python
1846import yt_dlp
1847
1848URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1849
1850def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1851 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1852 duration = info.get('duration')
1853 if duration and duration < 60:
1854 return 'The video is too short'
1855
1856ydl_opts = {
1857 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1858}
1859
1860with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1861 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1862```
1863
43cc91ad 1864#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1865
1866```python
1867import yt_dlp
1868
1869URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1870
1871class MyLogger:
1872 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1873 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1874 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1875 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1876 pass
1877 else:
1878 self.info(msg)
1879
1880 def info(self, msg):
1881 pass
1882
1883 def warning(self, msg):
1884 pass
1885
1886 def error(self, msg):
1887 print(msg)
1888
1889
3d3bb168 1890# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1891def my_hook(d):
1892 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1893 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1894
1895
1896ydl_opts = {
1897 'logger': MyLogger(),
1898 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1899}
1900
1901with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1902 ydl.download(URLS)
1903```
1904
43cc91ad 1905#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1906
1907```python
1908import yt_dlp
1909
1910URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1911
1912# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1913class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1914 def run(self, info):
1915 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1916 return [], info
1917
1918
3d3bb168 1919with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 1920 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1921 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 1922 ydl.download(URLS)
1923```
8c6f4daa 1924
1925
43cc91ad 1926#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1927
1928```python
1929import yt_dlp
1930
1931URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1932
093a1710 1933def format_selector(ctx):
1934 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1935 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1936
1937 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1938 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1939
1940 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1941 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1942 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1943
1944 # find compatible audio extension
1945 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1946 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1947 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1948 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1949
3d3bb168 1950 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1951 yield {
093a1710 1952 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1953 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1954 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1955 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1956 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1957 }
1958
1959
8c6f4daa 1960ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1961 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1962}
1963
1964with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1965 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1966```
1967
ec2e44fc 1968<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1969
e167860c 1970# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1971
1972These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1973
8130779d 1974#### Almost redundant options
1975While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1976
1977 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1978 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1979 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1980 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1981
6ccf351a 1982#### Redundant options
1983While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1984
53c18592 1985 --get-description --print description
1986 --get-duration --print duration_string
1987 --get-filename --print filename
1988 --get-format --print format
1989 --get-id --print id
1990 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1991 -e, --get-title --print title
1992 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1993 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1994 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1995 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1996 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1997 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1998 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 1999 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2000 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2001 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2002 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2003
2004
2005#### Not recommended
2006While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2007
fe7866d0 2008 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2009 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2010 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2011 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2012 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2013 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2014 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2015 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2016 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2017 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2018 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2019 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2020 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2021 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2022 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2023 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2024 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2025 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2026
2027
2028#### Developer options
2029These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2030
34488702 2031 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2032 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2033 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2034 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2035 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2036
2037
2038#### Old aliases
2039These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2040
2041 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2042 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2043 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2044 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2045 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2046 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2047 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2048 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2049 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2050 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2051 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2052 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2053 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2054 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2055 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2056 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2057 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2058
7a340e0d 2059#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2060Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2061
2062 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2063 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2064 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2065 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2066 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2067 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2068 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2069 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2070
f4536226 2071#### No longer supported
2072These options may no longer work as intended
2073
2074 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2075 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2076 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2077 --no-call-home Default
2078 --include-ads No longer supported
2079 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2080 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2081 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2082 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
486fb179 2083
2084#### Removed
2085These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2086
f4536226 2087 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2088 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2089
8c6f4daa 2090# CONTRIBUTING
2091See [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 2092
17ffed18 2093# WIKI
2094See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information