]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[ie/youtube] Extract upload timestamp if available (#9856)
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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
2fa669f7 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#installation "Installation")
ae6a1b95 7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
08e29b9f 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/core.yml?branch=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")
b532a348 15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge&display_timestamp=committer)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pulse/monthly "Last activity")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
388c979a 20yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for [thousands of sites](supportedsites.md). The project is a fork of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc).
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 25* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
deae7c17 26 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
0e5927ee 27 * [Release Files](#release-files)
47ab66db 28 * [Update](#update)
cf59cd4d 29 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 30 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 31* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
32 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 33 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 34 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 35 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
36 * [Download Options](#download-options)
37 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 38 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 39 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 40 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
42 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
43 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
44 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 45 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 46 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 48* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
304ad45a 49 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
db3ad8a6 50 * [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
878eac3e 51 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 52* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 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)
8e40b9d1
M
62 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
63 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
8c6f4daa 64* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 65 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
47ab66db 66* [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL](#changes-from-youtube-dl)
67 * [New features](#new-features)
68 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
69 * [Deprecated options](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 70* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
71 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
72 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 73* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 74 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 75<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 76
77
d19bb9c0 78# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 79
fc5fa964 80<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
81[![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 82[![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 83[![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 84[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 85[![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)
86[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 87[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 88<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
89
c8bc203f 90You 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 91
b8773e63 92
ec2e44fc 93<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 94## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 95
733d8e8f 96#### Recommended
97
98File|Description
99:---|:---
962ffcf8 100[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 101[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 102[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 103
104#### Alternatives
105
0e5927ee
R
106File|Description
107:---|:---
47ab66db 108[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 109[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 110[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
111[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
17fc3dc4
M
112[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
113[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
0930b11f 114[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
115[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 116[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 117
118#### Misc
119
120File|Description
121:---|:---
17ffed18 122[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee 123[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
12647e03 124[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
0e5927ee 125[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
12647e03 126[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
0e5927ee 127
12647e03
SS
128The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
129Example usage:
130```
131curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
132gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
133gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
134```
135<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
17ffed18 136
ad54c913 137**Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
17ffed18 138
47ab66db 139
140## UPDATE
141You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
142
143If 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
144
145For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
146
147<a id="update-channels"></a>
148
149There are currently three release channels for binaries: `stable`, `nightly` and `master`.
150
151* `stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the `nightly` and `master` channels.
152* The `nightly` channel has releases scheduled to build every day around midnight UTC, for a snapshot of the project's new patches and changes. This is the **recommended channel for regular users** of yt-dlp. The `nightly` releases are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases) or as development releases of the `yt-dlp` PyPI package (which can be installed with pip's `--pre` flag).
153* The `master` channel features releases that are built after each push to the master branch, and these will have the very latest fixes and additions, but may also be more prone to regressions. They are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds/releases).
154
155When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
156`--update-to CHANNEL` can be used to switch to a different channel when a newer version is available. `--update-to [CHANNEL@]TAG` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
157
158You may also use `--update-to <repository>` (`<owner>/<repository>`) to update to a channel on a completely different repository. Be careful with what repository you are updating to though, there is no verification done for binaries from different repositories.
159
160Example usage:
df0e138f 161
47ab66db 162* `yt-dlp --update-to master` switch to the `master` channel and update to its latest release
163* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.07.06` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.07.06`
164* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.10.07` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.10.07` if it exists on the current channel
165* `yt-dlp --update-to example/yt-dlp@2023.09.24` upgrade/downgrade to the release from the `example/yt-dlp` repository, tag `2023.09.24`
166
167**Important**: Any user experiencing an issue with the `stable` release should install or update to the `nightly` release before submitting a bug report:
168```
169# To update to nightly from stable executable/binary:
170yt-dlp --update-to nightly
171
172# To install nightly with pip:
173python3 -m pip install -U --pre yt-dlp[default]
174```
175
a4211baf 176## DEPENDENCIES
f4b95aca 177Python versions 3.8+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 178
c9652aa4 179<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
180<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 181On 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 182-->
fac98805 183
e75bb0d6 184While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 185
8aa0e7cd 186### Strongly recommended
187
b69fd25c 188* [**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 189
292d60b1 190 There are bugs in ffmpeg that cause 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 some of 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
8e174ba7 191
47ab66db 192 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the Python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
8aa0e7cd 193
194### Networking
d5820461 195* [**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 196* [**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>
197* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
8a8b5452 198* [**requests**](https://github.com/psf/requests)\* - HTTP library. For HTTPS proxy and persistent connections support. Licensed under [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 199
52f5be1f 200#### Impersonation
201
202The following provide support for impersonating browser requests. This may be required for some sites that employ TLS fingerprinting.
203
204* [**curl_cffi**](https://github.com/yifeikong/curl_cffi) (recommended) - Python binding for [curl-impersonate](https://github.com/lwthiker/curl-impersonate). Provides impersonation targets for Chrome, Edge and Safari. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/yifeikong/curl_cffi/blob/main/LICENSE)
02483bea 205 * Can be installed with the `curl-cffi` group, e.g. `pip install yt-dlp[default,curl-cffi]`
b19ae095 206 * Currently only included in `yt-dlp.exe` and `yt-dlp_macos` builds
52f5be1f 207
208
8aa0e7cd 209### Metadata
210
211* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
212* [**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)
84e26038 213* [**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 **Mac** and **BSD**. 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
8aa0e7cd 214
215### Misc
216
217* [**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 218* [**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)
f9fb3ce8 219* [**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 220* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 221
deae7c17 222### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 223
224* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
225* [**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 226* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
227* [**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 228
cf59cd4d 229To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
230
f2df4071 231The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 232
8aa0e7cd 233If 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 234
5f326cf5 235
a4211baf 236## COMPILE
5f326cf5 237
8aa0e7cd 238### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
47ab66db 239To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). The executable will be built for the same CPU architecture as the Python used.
240
241You can run the following commands:
e38df8f9 242
a1b77842 243```
b8a433aa 244python3 devscripts/install_deps.py --include pyinstaller
a1b77842 245python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
246python3 -m bundle.pyinstaller
247```
8aa0e7cd 248
249On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
250
47ab66db 251`python -m bundle.pyinstaller` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
73ac0e6b 252
8e174ba7 253**Note**: Pyinstaller 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 254
47ab66db 255**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **instead of** using `python -m bundle.pyinstaller` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 256
8aa0e7cd 257### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
f4b95aca 258You will need the build tools `python` (3.8+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 259
8aa0e7cd 260After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 261
a831c2ea 262You 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 263
8aa0e7cd 264### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
265
3f799953 266While 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 need VC++14** on the target computer to run.
8aa0e7cd 267
a1b77842 268If you wish to build it anyway, install Python (if it is not already installed) and you can run the following commands:
8aa0e7cd 269
a1b77842 270```
b8a433aa 271py devscripts/install_deps.py --include py2exe
a1b77842 272py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
273py -m bundle.py2exe
274```
8aa0e7cd 275
276### Related scripts
277
b8a433aa 278* **`devscripts/install_deps.py`** - Install dependencies for yt-dlp.
d400e261
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279* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current date.
280* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
281* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
8aa0e7cd 282* **`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.
283
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284Note: See their `--help` for more info.
285
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286### Forking the project
287If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
59a7a13e 288
b31fdeed 289# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 290
ec2e44fc 291<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 292 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 293
c2b5f311 294`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 295<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 296
ec2e44fc 297<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 298## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 299 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
300 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 301 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
302 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
77df20f1 303 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
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304 CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
305 and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
306 respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
5d3a3cd4 307 details. Supported channels: stable,
308 nightly, master
2dd5a2e3 309 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
310 The download will be considered successful
311 even if the postprocessing fails
312 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
313 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
314 playlist (default)
315 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
316 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
317 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
318 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
319 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
320 extractors and exit
2516cafb 321 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 322 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
323 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
324 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
325 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
326 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 327 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 328 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 329 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
330 google videos for the search term "python".
331 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
332 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
333 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
334 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
335 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
336 possible instead of searching
337 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
47ab66db 338 except those given to --config-locations.
2dd5a2e3 339 For backward compatibility, if this option
340 is found inside the system configuration
341 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
342 (Alias: --no-config)
343 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
344 (default). When given inside a configuration
345 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
346 defined in the current file
347 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
348 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 349 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
350 used multiple times and inside other
351 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 352 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
353 only list them
c8bc203f 354 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
355 (default)
2dd5a2e3 356 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
357 Currently only supported for YouTube
358 (Experimental)
359 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
360 (default)
361 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
362 available. Pass the minimum number of
363 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
364 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
365 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
366 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
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367 --color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
368 optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
369 stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
370 of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
371 "no_color" (use non color terminal
372 sequences). Can be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 373 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
374 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
375 configurations by reverting some of the
376 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
377 default behavior" for details
378 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
379 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
380 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
381 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 382 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 383 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
384 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
385 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
386 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
387 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
388 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 389 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 390 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
391 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 392 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 393
149f05c7 394## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 395 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
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396 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
397 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
398 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
399 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 400 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
401 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
0b81d4d2 402 --impersonate CLIENT[:OS] Client to impersonate for requests. E.g.
403 chrome, chrome-110, chrome:windows-10. Pass
404 --impersonate="" to impersonate any client.
405 --list-impersonate-targets List available clients to impersonate.
2dd5a2e3 406 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
407 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8300774c
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408 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
409 default for security reasons.
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
c1664464 417 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
418 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
c8bc203f 419 "default" (only when known to be useful),
420 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
421 two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
149f05c7 422
cfcec693 423## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 424 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 425 to download. You can specify a range using
426 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
427 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
428 Use negative indices to count from the right
429 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 430 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 431 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 432 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 433 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
434 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
435 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 436 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 437 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
438 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
439 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
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440 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
441 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
2dd5a2e3 442 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
443 this date. The date formats accepted is the
444 same as --date
445 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
446 this date. The date formats accepted is the
447 same as --date
448 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
449 field can be compared with a number or a
450 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 451 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 452 specify a field to match if the field is
453 present, use "!field" to check if the field
454 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
455 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
456 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
457 the filter matches if atleast one of the
62b58c09 458 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 459 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
460 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
461 only videos that are not live OR those that
462 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
463 field is not available) and also has a
464 description that contains the phrase "cats &
465 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
466 interactively ask whether to download each
467 video
c8bc203f 468 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filter (default)
fe2ce85a 469 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
470 download process when a video is rejected
471 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
2dd5a2e3 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
16be1177 485 --no-break-on-existing Do not stop the download process when
486 encountering a file that is in the archive
487 (default)
71df9b7f 488 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
354d5fca 489 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
490 reset per input URL
2dd5a2e3 491 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
492 terminates the entire download queue
493 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
494 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 495
d5a62e4f 496## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 497 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
498 video that should be downloaded concurrently
499 (default is 1)
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500 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
501 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 502 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
503 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 504 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 505 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
506 "infinite"
507 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
508 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
509 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
510 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 511 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
512 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
513 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
514 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
515 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
516 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
517 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 518 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 519 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
520 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
521 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
8e174ba7 522 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
523 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
2dd5a2e3 524 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
525 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
526 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
527 downloading is finished
528 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
529 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 530 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 531 (default is 1024)
532 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
533 from an initial value of --buffer-size
534 (default)
535 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
536 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 537 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 538 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
539 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
540 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 541 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 542 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
543 received. This disables n_entries,
544 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
545 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
546 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 547 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
548 expected file size
549 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
550 allowing some players to play the video
551 while downloading, and reducing the chance
552 of file corruption if download is
553 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
554 live streams
555 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
556 videos. This is default when not downloading
557 live streams
b4e0d758 558 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters that match the
559 regular expression. A "*" prefix denotes
560 time-range instead of chapter. Negative
561 timestamps are calculated from the end.
562 "*from-url" can be used to download between
563 the "start_time" and "end_time" extracted
564 from the URL. Needs ffmpeg. This option can
565 be used multiple times to download multiple
62b58c09 566 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 567 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 568 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
569 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
570 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
571 use it for. Currently supports native,
572 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
573 wget. You can use this option multiple times
574 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 575 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 576 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
577 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
578 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
579 (Alias: --external-downloader)
580 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
581 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
582 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
583 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
584 positions using the same syntax as
585 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
586 option multiple times to give different
587 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
588 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 589
cfcec693 590## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 591 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
592 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
593 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
594 comments and ignored
595 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
596 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
597 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
598 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
599 TYPES as --output are supported.
600 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
601 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
602 files are first downloaded to the temp path
603 and then the final files are moved over to
604 the home path after download is finished.
605 This option is ignored if --output is an
606 absolute path
607 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
608 TEMPLATE" for details
609 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
47ab66db 610 --output (default: "NA")
2dd5a2e3 611 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
612 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
613 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
614 filenames (default)
615 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
616 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
617 using Windows (default)
618 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
619 extension) to the specified number of
620 characters
621 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
622 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
623 option includes --no-continue
624 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
625 related files (default)
626 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
627 (default)
628 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
629 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
630 restart download of the entire file
631 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
632 into output file (default)
633 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
634 output file
635 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
636 modification time (default)
637 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
638 the file modification time
64fa820c 639 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 640 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
641 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
642 (this may contain personal information)
643 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
644 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
645 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
646 --write-description etc. (default)
647 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
648 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
ad54c913 649 --clean-info-json Remove some internal metadata such as
650 filenames from the infojson (default)
2dd5a2e3 651 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
652 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
653 infojson. The comments are fetched even
654 without this option if the extraction is
655 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
656 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
657 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
658 --no-get-comments)
659 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 660 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 661 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
662 and dump cookie jar in
663 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
664 (default)
825d3ce3 665 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
666 The name of the browser to load cookies
667 from. Currently supported browsers are:
668 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
dd9ad97b 669 opera, safari, vivaldi, whale. Optionally, the
825d3ce3 670 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
671 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
672 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
673 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
674 be given with their respective seperators.
675 By default, all containers of the most
676 recently accessed profile are used.
677 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
2e023649 678 gnomekeyring, kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6
2dd5a2e3 679 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 680 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
681 store some downloaded information (such as
682 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 683 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 684 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
685 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 686
b31fdeed 687## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 688 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 689 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 690 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
691 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
692 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 693
732044af 694## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 695 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
696 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
697 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
698 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
699 OS caches the URL based on the file path
700 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
701 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 702
0744a815 703## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 704 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
705 print the log to stderr
d669772c 706 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
2dd5a2e3 707 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
708 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
709 anything to disk
710 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
711 options are used
712 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
713 extracting metadata even if the videos are
714 not actually available for download
715 (experimental)
716 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
717 formats are found (default)
718 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
719 related files (Alias: --no-download)
720 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
721 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
722 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
723 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 724 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 725 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
726 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
727 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 728 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 729 Append given template to the file. The
730 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
731 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
732 output template. This option can be used
733 multiple times
734 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
735 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
736 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
737 description of available keys
738 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
739 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
740 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
741 a playlist, the whole playlist information
742 is dumped in a single line
743 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
744 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
745 another simulation option is used (Alias:
746 --force-download-archive)
747 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
748 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
749 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
750 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 751 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 752 Template for progress outputs, optionally
753 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
754 "download-title:" (the console title),
755 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
756 The video's fields are accessible under the
757 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 758 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 759 --console-title --progress-template
760 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
9590cc6b 761 --progress-delta SECONDS Time between progress output (default: 0)
2dd5a2e3 762 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
763 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
764 to debug problems (very verbose)
765 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
766 in the current directory to debug problems
767 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 768
36f35428 769## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 770 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
771 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
772 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
773 renegotiation
774 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
775 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
776 information about the video (Currently
777 supported only for YouTube)
a5387729 778 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
2dd5a2e3 779 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
780 option multiple times
781 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
782 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
783 or fribidi executable in PATH
784 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
785 during data extraction
786 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
787 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
788 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
789 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
790 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
791 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
792 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
793 subtitle download
36f35428 794
cfcec693 795## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 796 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
797 for more details
798 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
799 "Sorting Formats" for more details
800 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
801 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
802 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
803 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
804 specified sort order (default)
805 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
806 into a single file
807 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
808 output file (default)
809 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
810 into a single file
811 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
812 output file (default)
813 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
814 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
815 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
816 irrespective of quality
817 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
818 containers (default)
819 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
820 those that are actually downloadable
821 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
822 actually downloadable
823 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
824 downloadable
825 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
826 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 827 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 828 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
829 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
830 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
831
832## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 833 --write-subs Write subtitle file
834 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
835 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
836 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
837 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
838 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
839 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
840 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
841 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 842 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 843 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
844 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
845 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 846 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
847 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
848 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 849 of available language tags
6bcd846b 850
cfcec693 851## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 852 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
853 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
854 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
855 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
856 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
857 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
858 either the path or its containing directory.
859 Defaults to ~/.netrc
db3ad8a6 860 --netrc-cmd NETRC_CMD Command to execute to get the credentials
d1b21561 861 for an extractor.
b634ba74 862 --video-password PASSWORD Video-specific password
2dd5a2e3 863 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
864 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
865 a list of available MSOs
866 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
867 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
868 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
869 interactively
870 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
871 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
872 format. May include the private key
873 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
874 Path to private key file for client
875 certificate
bb58c9ed 876 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 877 Password for client certificate private key,
878 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
879 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 880
c76eb41b 881## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 882 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
883 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 884 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
885 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 886 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 887 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
888 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 889 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
890 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
891 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
892 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
893 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 894 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 895 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
896 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
897 wav). If target container does not support
898 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
899 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 900 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 901 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 902 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
903 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
904 are the same as --remux-video
905 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
906 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
907 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
908 to give the argument to the specified
909 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
910 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
911 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
912 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
913 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
914 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
915 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
916 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
917 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
918 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
919 specified executable only when being used by
920 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
921 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
922 appended to the prefix optionally followed
923 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 924 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 925 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
926 this option multiple times to give different
927 arguments to different postprocessors.
928 (Alias: --ppa)
929 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
930 after post-processing
931 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
932 post-processing (default)
933 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
934 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
935 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
936 webm and mkv videos)
937 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
938 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
939 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
940 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
941 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
942 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
943 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
944 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
945 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
946 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
947 (Alias: --add-chapters)
948 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
949 --no-add-chapters)
950 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
951 mkv/mka video files
952 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
953 to the video file
fe74d5b5 954 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
955 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 956 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 957 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
958 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
959 (default: pre_process)
960 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 961 Replace text in a metadata field using the
962 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 963 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
964 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
965 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 966 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
967 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
968 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
969 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
970 (default; only when the videos form a single
971 show). All the video files must have same
972 codecs and number of streams to be
973 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
974 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
975 the output filename for the concatenated
976 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
977 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
978 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
979 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
980 default; fix file if we can, warn
981 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
982 already exists)
983 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 984 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 985 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 986 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
987 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
988 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
989 after_move). Same syntax as the output
990 template can be used to pass any field as
ad54c913 991 arguments to the command. If no fields are
992 passed, %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended
993 to the end of the command. This option can
994 be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 995 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
996 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 997 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 998 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
999 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1000 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1001 can specify multiple rules using similar
1002 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1003 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1004 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1005 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1006 the output filename for the split files. See
1007 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1008 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1009 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1010 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1011 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1012 be used multiple times
1013 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1014 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1015 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1016 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1017 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1018 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1019 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1020 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1021 when cutting/splitting (default)
1022 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1023 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1024 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1025 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1026 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1027 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1028 The "when" argument determines when the
1029 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1030 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1031 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1032 "video" (after --format; before
1033 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1034 video download), "post_process" (after each
1035 video download; default), "after_move"
1036 (after moving video file to it's final
1037 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1038 and processing all formats of a video), or
1039 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1040 can be used multiple times to add different
1041 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1042
1043## SponsorBlock Options:
1044Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1045 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1046 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1047
2dd5a2e3 1048 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1049 for, separated by commas. Available
1050 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1051 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1052 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1053 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1054 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1055 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1056 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1057 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1058 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1059 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1060 category is present in both mark and remove,
1061 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1062 available categories are the same as for
1063 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1064 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1065 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1066 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1067 An output template for the title of the
1068 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1069 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1070 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1071 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1072 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1073 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1074 --sponsorblock-remove
1075 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1076 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1077
78895bd3 1078## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1079 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1080 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1081 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1082 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1083 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1084 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1085 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1086 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1087 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1088 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1089 (default)
2fa669f7 1090 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1091 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1092 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1093 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1094
b7770046
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1095# CONFIGURATION
1096
7a5c1cfe 1097You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1098
878eac3e 10991. **Main Configuration**:
47ab66db 1100 * The file given to `--config-location`
878eac3e 11011. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1102 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1103 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11041. **Home Configuration**:
47ab66db 1105 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given to `-P`
878eac3e 1106 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11071. **User Configuration**:
773c272d 1108 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1109 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1110 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
773c272d 1111 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1112 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1113 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1114 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1115 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M
1116 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1117 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1118
878eac3e 1119 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11201. **System Configuration**:
1121 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M
1122 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1123 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1124
62b58c09 1125E.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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1126```
1127# Lines starting with # are comments
1128
1129# Always extract audio
1130-x
1131
1132# Do not copy the mtime
1133--no-mtime
1134
1135# Use this proxy
1136--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1137
298f597b 1138# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1139-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1140```
1141
8e174ba7 1142**Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1143
a4211baf 1144You 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 1145
304ad45a 1146### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1147
304ad45a 1148The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1149
88f60feb 1150If 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 1151
db3ad8a6 1152### Authentication with netrc
b7770046 1153
304ad45a 1154You 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 1155```
878eac3e 1156touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1157chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046
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1158```
1159After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1160```
0001fcb5 1161machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1162```
62b58c09 1163E.g.
b7770046
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1164```
1165machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1166machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1167```
7a5c1cfe 1168To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1169
878eac3e 1170The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1171
d7cd97e8 1172As an alternative to using the `.netrc` file, which has the disadvantage of keeping your passwords in a plain text file, you can configure a custom shell command to provide the credentials for an extractor. This is done by providing the `--netrc-cmd` parameter, it shall output the credentials in the netrc format and return `0` on success, other values will be treated as an error. `{}` in the command will be replaced by the name of the extractor to make it possible to select the credentials for the right extractor.
db3ad8a6
ND
1173
1174E.g. To use an encrypted `.netrc` file stored as `.authinfo.gpg`
1175```
1176yt-dlp --netrc-cmd 'gpg --decrypt ~/.authinfo.gpg' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc
1177```
1178
1179
878eac3e 1180### Notes about environment variables
1181* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1182* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1183* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1184* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1185* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
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1186
1187# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1188
0202b52a 1189The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1190
ec2e44fc 1191<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1192**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1193<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1194
e58c22a0 1195The simplest usage of `-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
a439a3a4 1196
62b58c09 1197It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1198
1199The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1200
07a1250e 12011. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1202
993edd3f 12031. **Arithmetic**: Simple arithmetic can be done on numeric fields using `+`, `-` and `*`. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1204
62b58c09 12051. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1206
62b58c09 12071. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1208
ec9311c4 12091. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). 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. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
e978789f 1210
17ffed18 12111. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1212
9b9dad11 12131. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1214
d5d1df8a 12151. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1216
1217To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1218```
e978789f 1219%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1220```
de6000d9 1221
62b58c09 1222Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1223
47ab66db 1224<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
7aaf4cd2 1225
8e174ba7 1226**Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
7aaf4cd2 1227
e29663c6 1228The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1229
1230 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1231 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1232 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1233 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1234 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1235 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1236 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1237 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
f4f9f6d0 1238 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1239 - `uploader_url` (string): URL to the video uploader's profile
b7770046 1240 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
104a7b5a
L
1241 - `creators` (list): The creators of the video
1242 - `creator` (string): The creators of the video; comma-separated
b7770046 1243 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1244 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1245 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1246 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1732eccc 1247 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the video or album was released
f0d785d3 1248 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1249 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1250 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1251 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
f4f9f6d0 1252 - `channel_url` (string): URL of the channel
6c73052c 1253 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
8213ce28 1254 - `channel_is_verified` (boolean): Whether the channel is verified on the platform
b7770046
U
1255 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1256 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1257 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1258 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1259 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U
1260 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1261 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1262 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1263 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1264 - `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 1265 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1266 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1267 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1268 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1269 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1270 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
e370f9ec 1271 - `media_type` (string): The type of media as classified by the site, e.g. "episode", "clip", "trailer"
b7770046
U
1272 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1273 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1274 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1275 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1276 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b532a348 1277 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`, padded with leading zeros to 5 digits
9c906919 1278 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1279 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1280 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1281 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1282 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1283 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1284 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1285 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
U
1286 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1287 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1288 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1289 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1290 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1291 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
f4f9f6d0 1292 - `categories` (list): List of categories the video belongs to
1293 - `tags` (list): List of tags assigned to the video
1294 - `cast` (list): List of cast members
1295
d2c8aadf 1296All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U
1297
1298Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1299
1300 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1301 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1302 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1303
1304Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1305
1306 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
f4f9f6d0 1307 - `series_id` (string): Id of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
b7770046
U
1308 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1309 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1310 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1311 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1312 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1313 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1314
1315Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1316
1317 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1318 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1319 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
104a7b5a
L
1320 - `artists` (list): Artist(s) of the track
1321 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track; comma-separated
1322 - `genres` (list): Genre(s) of the track
1323 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track; comma-separated
1324 - `composers` (list): Composer(s) of the piece
1325 - `composer` (string): Composer(s) of the piece; comma-separated
b7770046
U
1326 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1327 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
104a7b5a
L
1328 - `album_artists` (list): All artists appeared on the album
1329 - `album_artist` (string): All artists appeared on the album; comma-separated
b7770046 1330 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
b7770046 1331
5ec1b6b7 1332Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1333
1334 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1335 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1336 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1337 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338
53c18592 1339Available only when used in `--print`:
1340
1341 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1342 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1343 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1344 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1345 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1346 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1347
ad54c913 1348 Available only after the video is downloaded (`post_process`/`after_move`):
7a340e0d 1349
ad54c913 1350 - `filepath`: Actual path of downloaded video file
1351
7a340e0d
NA
1352Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1353
1354 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1355 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1356 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA
1357 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1358 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1359 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1360 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1361
62b58c09 1362Each 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 1363
8e174ba7 1364**Note**: 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 1365
0930b11f 1366**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1367
62b58c09 1368For 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 1369
940a67a3 1370Output 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
1371
1372To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1373
91ebc640 1374The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1375
f304da8a 1376In 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 1377
b7770046
U
1378#### Output template examples
1379
b7770046 1380```bash
d2c8aadf 1381$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1382test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1383
d2c8aadf 1384$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1385youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1386
d2c8aadf 1387$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1388youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1389
1390# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1391$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1392
b050d210 1393# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1394$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1395
e978789f 1396# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
ad54c913 1397$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index&{} - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1398
b7770046 1399# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1400$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1401
1402# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1403$ 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
1404
1405# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1406$ 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 1407
6a34813a 1408# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1409# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1410$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1411
1412# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1413$ 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
1414
b7770046 1415# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1416$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1417```
1418
1419# FORMAT SELECTION
1420
7a5c1cfe
P
1421By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1422This 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 1423
c111cefa 1424**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.
1425
eff63539 1426The 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 1427
ec2e44fc 1428<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1429**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1430<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1431
62b58c09 1432The 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
1433
1434You 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.
1435
fa9f30b8 1436You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1437
b7770046
U
1438You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1439
59a7a13e 1440 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1441 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
30389593 1442 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1443 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1444 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1445 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1446 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1447 - `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 1448 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1449 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1450 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1451 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1452 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1453 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1454
d4ada357 1455For 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 1456
1457You 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 1458
304ad45a 1459If 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
1460
1461If 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`.
1462
62b58c09 1463You 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 1464
1465**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
1466
304ad45a 1467Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1468
1469## Filtering Formats
1470
b532a348 1471You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"` since filters without a selector are interpreted as `best`).
b7770046
U
1472
1473The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1474
1475 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1476 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1477 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1478 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1479 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
86e3b822 1480 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1481 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1482 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
b7770046
U
1483 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1484 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1485 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1486 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1487
1ce9a3cb 1488Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1489
d2c8aadf 1490 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1491 - `ext`: File extension
1492 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1493 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1494 - `container`: Name of the container format
1495 - `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 1496 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1497 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1498 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1499 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1500 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1501 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1502
1ce9a3cb 1503Any 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 1504
8e174ba7 1505**Note**: 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 1506
86e3b822 1507Formats 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 "bv[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 kbps. 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 1508
62b58c09 1509Format 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 1510
eb8a4433 1511## Sorting Formats
1512
2e7781a9 1513You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1514
1515The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1516
304ad45a 1517 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1518 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1519 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1520 - `lang`: The language preference
1521 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1522 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1523 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1524 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
a5387729 1525 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1526 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1527 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1528 - `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 1529 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1530 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
62b5c94c 1531 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize
63be1aab 1532 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1533 - `height`: Height of video
1534 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1535 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1536 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1537 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1538 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
86e3b822 1539 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1540 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1541 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1542 - `br`: Average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec"), `tbr`/`vbr`/`abr`
63be1aab 1543 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1544
1545**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 1546
62b58c09 1547All 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 1548
7e798d72 1549The 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 1550
7e798d72 1551Note 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 1552
e58c22a0 1553If 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 1554
1555**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1556
eb8a4433 1557## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1558
b7770046 1559```bash
e58c22a0 1560# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1561# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1562$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1563
1564# Download best format that contains video,
1565# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1566$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1567
1568# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1569$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1570
6fd35a11 1571# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1572# For this case, an output template should be used since
1573# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1575
f8d4ad9a 1576# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1577# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1578$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1579
1580# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1581# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1582$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1583
6fd35a11 1584
1585# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1586# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1587
1588# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1590
1591# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1592$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1593
1594# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1595$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1596
1597
909d24dd 1598
eb8a4433 1599# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1600$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1601
1602# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1603# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1604$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1605
1606
909d24dd 1607
eb8a4433 1608# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1609# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1610$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1611
eb8a4433 1612# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1613# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1614$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1615
eb8a4433 1616# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1617# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1618# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1619# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1620$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1621
b7770046 1622
909d24dd 1623
eb8a4433 1624# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1625# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1626$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1627
1628# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1629# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1630$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1631
1632# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1633$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1634
1635
909d24dd 1636
eb8a4433 1637# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1638# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1639$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1640
1641# Download best video available via the best protocol
1642# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1643$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1644
1645
909d24dd 1646
1ce9a3cb
LF
1647# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1648# or the best video if there is no such video
1649$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1650
1651# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1652# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1653$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1654
1655# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1656# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1657$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1658
1659
1660
1661# More complex examples
1662
e58c22a0 1663# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1664# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1665$ 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 1666
1667# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1668# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1669# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1670$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1671
1672
909d24dd 1673
eb8a4433 1674# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1675# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1676# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1677$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1678```
eb8a4433 1679
73cd218f 1680# MODIFYING METADATA
1681
a4211baf 1682The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1683
47ab66db 1684`--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 1685
47ab66db 1686The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [Python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1687
46d09f87 1688Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1689
9c2b75b5 1690This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1691
c8bc203f 1692* 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 1693
62b58c09 1694* 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 1695
08d30158 1696**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.
1697
c31be5b0 1698For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1699
08d30158 1700Metadata fields | From
1701:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1702`title` | `track` or `title`
1703`date` | `upload_date`
1704`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1705`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1706`track` | `track_number`
104a7b5a
L
1707`artist` | `artist`, `artists`, `creator`, `creators`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1708`composer` | `composer` or `composers`
1709`genre` | `genre` or `genres`
08d30158 1710`album` | `album`
104a7b5a 1711`album_artist` | `album_artist` or `album_artists`
08d30158 1712`disc` | `disc_number`
1713`show` | `series`
1714`season_number` | `season_number`
1715`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1716`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1717`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1718
c31be5b0 1719**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1720
73cd218f 1721
1722## Modifying metadata examples
1723
73cd218f 1724```bash
1725# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1726$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1727
1728# Regex example
940a67a3 1729$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1730
1731# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1732$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1733
a44ca5a4 1734# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1735$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1736
1737# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1738# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1739$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1740
8aa0e7cd 1741# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1742$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1743
0930b11f 1744# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
7f9c6a63 1745$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "video::(?P<formats>)" --write-info-json
0930b11f 1746
e9f4ccd1 1747# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1748$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1749
73cd218f 1750```
1751
5d3a0e79 1752# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1753
62b58c09 1754Some 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 1755
a5387729 1756Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1757
5d3a0e79 1758The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1759
1760#### youtube
8e174ba7 1761* `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
8aa0e7cd 1762* `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
12d8ea82 1763* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `ios` and `android`, with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mweb`, `mweb_embedscreen` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `ios,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. The `android` clients will always be given lowest priority since their formats are broken. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1764* `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
ba06d77a 1765* `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
96565c7e 1766* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1767* `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`
1768 * 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
b532a348 1769* `formats`: Change the types of formats to return. `dashy` (convert HTTP to DASH), `duplicate` (identical content but different URLs or protocol; includes `dashy`), `incomplete` (cannot be downloaded completely - live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1770* `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 1771* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
eb5bdbfa 1772* `raise_incomplete_data`: `Incomplete Data Received` raises an error instead of reporting a warning
96565c7e 1773
1774#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1775* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
5225df50 1776* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1777
3b021eac 1778#### generic
5cc0a8fd 1779* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1780* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
c2e0fc40 1781* `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
93e7c699 1782* `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
3b021eac 1783
96565c7e 1784#### funimation
304ad45a 1785* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1786* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1787
cb1553e9 1788#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
954e57e4 1789* `hardsub`: One or more hardsub versions to extract (in order of preference), or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs will be extracted), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,de-DE`
706dfe44 1790
96565c7e 1791#### vikichannel
1792* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1793
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1794#### niconico
1795* `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.**
1796
aa4b0545 1797#### youtubewebarchive
1798* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1799
d43de682
M
1800#### gamejolt
1801* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1802
26f2aa3d
AG
1803#### hotstar
1804* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1805* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1806* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1807
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1808#### niconicochannelplus
1809* `max_comments`: Maximum number of comments to extract - default is `120`
1810
046cab39 1811#### tiktok
cb61e20c 1812* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API calls, e.g. `api22-normal-c-alisg.tiktokv.com`
1813* `app_name`: Default app name to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `trill`
1814* `app_version`: Default app version to use with mobile API calls - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `34.1.2`
1815* `manifest_app_version`: Default numeric app version to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `2023401020`
41ba4a80 1816* `aid`: Default app ID to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `1180`
1817* `app_info`: Enable mobile API extraction with one or more app info strings in the format of `<iid>/[app_name]/[app_version]/[manifest_app_version]/[aid]`, where `iid` is the unique app install ID. `iid` is the only required value; all other values and their `/` separators can be omitted, e.g. `tiktok:app_info=1234567890123456789` or `tiktok:app_info=123,456/trill///1180,789//34.0.1/340001`
3584b839 1818* `device_id`: Enable mobile API extraction with a genuine device ID to be used with mobile API calls. Default is a random 19-digit string
046cab39 1819
7eaf7f9a 1820#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1821* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1822
b03fa783 1823#### twitter
a006ce2b 1824* `api`: Select one of `graphql` (default), `legacy` or `syndication` as the API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if logged in
b03fa783 1825
af1fd12f 1826#### stacommu, wrestleuniverse
ef8fb7f0 1827* `device_id`: UUID value assigned by the website and used to enforce device limits for paid livestream content. Can be found in browser local storage
1828
7f9c6a63 1829#### twitch
1830* `client_id`: Client ID value to be sent with GraphQL requests, e.g. `twitch:client_id=kimne78kx3ncx6brgo4mv6wki5h1ko`
01231feb 1831
81c8b9bd 1832#### nhkradirulive (NHK らじる★らじる LIVE)
1833* `area`: Which regional variation to extract. Valid areas are: `sapporo`, `sendai`, `tokyo`, `nagoya`, `osaka`, `hiroshima`, `matsuyama`, `fukuoka`. Defaults to `tokyo`
1834
1eaca74b 1835#### nflplusreplay
1836* `type`: Type(s) of game replays to extract. Valid types are: `full_game`, `full_game_spanish`, `condensed_game` and `all_22`. You can use `all` to extract all available replay types, which is the default
1837
1463945a 1838#### jiocinema
1839* `refresh_token`: The `refreshToken` UUID from browser local storage can be passed to extend the life of your login session when logging in with `token` as username and the `accessToken` from browser local storage as password
1840
5154dc0a 1841#### jiosaavn
1842* `bitrate`: Audio bitrates to request. One or more of `16`, `32`, `64`, `128`, `320`. Default is `128,320`
1843
315b3544 1844#### afreecatvlive
1845* `cdn`: One or more CDN IDs to use with the API call for stream URLs, e.g. `gcp_cdn`, `gs_cdn_pc_app`, `gs_cdn_mobile_web`, `gs_cdn_pc_web`
1846
beaf832c 1847#### soundcloud
1848* `formats`: Formats to request from the API. Requested values should be in the format of `{protocol}_{extension}` (omitting the bitrate), e.g. `hls_opus,http_aac`. The `*` character functions as a wildcard, e.g. `*_mp3`, and can passed by itself to request all formats. Known protocols include `http`, `hls` and `hls-aes`; known extensions include `aac`, `opus` and `mp3`. Original `download` formats are always extracted. Default is `http_aac,hls_aac,http_opus,hls_opus,http_mp3,hls_mp3`
1849
8e174ba7 1850**Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1851
ec2e44fc 1852<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1853
3acf6d38 1854
f74980cb 1855# PLUGINS
b7770046 1856
8e40b9d1 1857Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. **Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code!**
3ae5e797 1858
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M
1859Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1860- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1861- Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1862- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1863
3ae5e797 1864
8e40b9d1 1865Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1866
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M
1867In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1868
1869 yt_dlp_plugins/
1870 extractor/
1871 myplugin.py
1872 postprocessor/
1873 myplugin.py
1874
1875yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1876
deae7c17 1877See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1878
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1879## Installing Plugins
1880
1881Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1882
18831. **Configuration directories**:
1884 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1885 * **User Plugins**
1886 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1887 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1888 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
773c272d 1889 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
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1890 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1891 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1892 * **System Plugins**
1893 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1894 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
c8bc203f 18952. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
8e40b9d1
M
1896 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1897 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1898
18993. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
e756f45b 1900 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
8e174ba7 1901 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
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1902 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1903 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1904
1905
8e174ba7 1906`.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
df0e138f 1907
8e174ba7 1908* e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
8e40b9d1 1909
8e174ba7 1910Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
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1911
1912## Developing Plugins
1913
8e174ba7 1914See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
8e40b9d1 1915
8e174ba7 1916All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
e756f45b 1917
773c272d 1918To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
8e40b9d1 1919
8e174ba7 1920If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
b7770046 1921
8e40b9d1 1922See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
8c6f4daa 1923
1924# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1925
1926yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1927
1928Your 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.
1929
1930From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1931
1932```python
59a7a13e 1933from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1934
3d3bb168 1935URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1936with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1937 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1938```
1939
b532a348 1940Most 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#L183) or `help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)` in a Python shell. If you are already familiar with the CLI, you can use [`devscripts/cli_to_api.py`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/devscripts/cli_to_api.py) to translate any CLI switches to `YoutubeDL` params.
8c6f4daa 1941
43cc91ad 1942**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 1943
1944## Embedding examples
1945
43cc91ad 1946#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1947
1948```python
1949import json
8c6f4daa 1950import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1951
3d3bb168 1952URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1953
1954# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1955ydl_opts = {}
1956with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1957 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1958
1959 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1960 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1961```
43cc91ad 1962#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1963
1964```python
1965import yt_dlp
1966
1967INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1968
1969with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1970 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1971
1972print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1973 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1974```
1975
43cc91ad 1976#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1977
1978```python
1979import yt_dlp
1980
1981URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1982
1983ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1984 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1985 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1986 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1987 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1988 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1989 }]
1990}
1991
1992with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1993 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1994```
0a41f331 1995
1996#### Filter videos
1997
1998```python
1999import yt_dlp
2000
2001URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2002
2003def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
2004 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
2005 duration = info.get('duration')
2006 if duration and duration < 60:
2007 return 'The video is too short'
2008
2009ydl_opts = {
2010 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2011}
2012
2013with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2014 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2015```
2016
43cc91ad 2017#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 2018
2019```python
2020import yt_dlp
2021
2022URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 2023
2024class MyLogger:
2025 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 2026 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 2027 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2028 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2029 pass
2030 else:
2031 self.info(msg)
2032
2033 def info(self, msg):
2034 pass
2035
2036 def warning(self, msg):
2037 pass
2038
2039 def error(self, msg):
2040 print(msg)
2041
2042
3d3bb168 2043# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2044def my_hook(d):
2045 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2046 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2047
2048
2049ydl_opts = {
2050 'logger': MyLogger(),
2051 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2052}
2053
2054with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2055 ydl.download(URLS)
2056```
2057
43cc91ad 2058#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2059
2060```python
2061import yt_dlp
2062
2063URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2064
2065# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2066class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2067 def run(self, info):
2068 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2069 return [], info
2070
2071
3d3bb168 2072with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2073 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2074 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2075 ydl.download(URLS)
2076```
8c6f4daa 2077
2078
43cc91ad 2079#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2080
2081```python
2082import yt_dlp
2083
c8bc203f 2084URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
3d3bb168 2085
093a1710 2086def format_selector(ctx):
2087 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2088 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2089
2090 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2091 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2092
2093 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2094 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2095 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2096
2097 # find compatible audio extension
2098 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2099 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2100 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2101 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2102
3d3bb168 2103 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2104 yield {
093a1710 2105 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2106 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2107 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2108 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2109 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2110 }
2111
2112
8c6f4daa 2113ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2114 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2115}
2116
2117with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2118 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2119```
2120
ec2e44fc 2121
47ab66db 2122# CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL
2123
2124### New features
2125
a4da9db8 2126* Forked from [**yt-dlc@f9401f2**](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee) and merged with [**youtube-dl@a08f2b7**](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a08f2b7e4567cdc50c0614ee0a4ffdff49b8b6e6) ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))
47ab66db 2127
2128* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
2129
2130* **[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))
2131
2132* **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 NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
2133
2134* **YouTube improvements**:
2135 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
2136 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
2137 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
2138 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
2139 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
2140
2141* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
2142
2143* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
2144
2145* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
2146
2147* **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
2148
2149* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
2150
2151* **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)
2152
2153* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
2154
2155* **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
2156
2157* **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`)
2158
2159* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
2160
2161* **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`
2162
2163* **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-match-filter` etc
2164
2165* **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
2166
2167* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
2168
2169* **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
2170
2171* **Automated builds**: [Nightly/master builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly` and `--update-to master`
2172
2173See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
2174
2175Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
2176
2177### Differences in default behavior
2178
2179Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
2180
2181* yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.8+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
2182* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
2183* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
2184* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
2185* 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`
2186* 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
2187* 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
2188* 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
2189* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
2190* 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
2191* `--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
2192* 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
2193* `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
2194* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
2195* 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
2196* YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
2197* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
2198* 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.
2199* 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
2200* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
2201* Some internal metadata such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
2202* 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
2203* `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`
2204* 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
2205* ~~yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [aria2c](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is~~
2206* yt-dlp versions between 2021.09.01 and 2023.01.02 applies `--match-filter` to nested playlists. This was an unintentional side-effect of [8f18ac](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/8f18aca8717bb0dd49054555af8d386e5eda3a88) and is fixed in [d7b460](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/d7b460d0e5fc710950582baed2e3fc616ed98a80). Use `--compat-options playlist-match-filter` to revert this
2207* yt-dlp versions between 2021.11.10 and 2023.06.21 estimated `filesize_approx` values for fragmented/manifest formats. This was added for convenience in [f2fe69](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/f2fe69c7b0d208bdb1f6292b4ae92bc1e1a7444a), but was reverted in [0dff8e](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/0dff8e4d1e6e9fb938f4256ea9af7d81f42fd54f) due to the potentially extreme inaccuracy of the estimated values. Use `--compat-options manifest-filesize-approx` to keep extracting the estimated values
2208* yt-dlp uses modern http client backends such as `requests`. Use `--compat-options prefer-legacy-http-handler` to prefer the legacy http handler (`urllib`) to be used for standard http requests.
ed3bb2b0 2209* The sub-modules `swfinterp`, `casefold` are removed.
47ab66db 2210
2211For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
2212
2213* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
2214* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx`
2215* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx`
2216* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
2217* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options 2023,playlist-match-filter,no-external-downloader-progress,prefer-legacy-http-handler,manifest-filesize-approx`
2218* `--compat-options 2023`: Currently does nothing. Use this to enable all future compat options
2219
2220### Deprecated options
e167860c 2221
2222These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2223
8130779d 2224#### Almost redundant options
2225While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2226
2227 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2228 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2229 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2230 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2231
6ccf351a 2232#### Redundant options
2233While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2234
53c18592 2235 --get-description --print description
2236 --get-duration --print duration_string
2237 --get-filename --print filename
2238 --get-format --print format
2239 --get-id --print id
2240 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2241 -e, --get-title --print title
2242 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2243 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2244 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2245 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2246 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
fe2ce85a 2247 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
8b7539d2 2248 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2249 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2250 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2251 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2252 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2253 --no-playlist-reverse Default
8417f26b 2254 --no-colors --color no_color
6ccf351a 2255
6ccf351a 2256#### Not recommended
2257While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2258
fe7866d0 2259 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2260 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2261 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2262 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2263 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2264 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2265 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2266 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2267 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2268 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2269 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2270 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2271 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2272 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2273 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2274 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2275 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2276 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
c1664464 2277 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2278 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2279 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2280 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
6ccf351a 2281
6ccf351a 2282#### Developer options
2283These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2284
34488702 2285 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2286 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2287 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2288 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2289 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2290
f4536226 2291#### Old aliases
2292These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2293
2294 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2295 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2296 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2297 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2298 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2299 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2300 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2301 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2302 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2303 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2304 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2305 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2306 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2307 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2308 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2309 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2310 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2311
7a340e0d 2312#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2313Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2314
2315 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2316 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2317 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2318 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2319 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2320 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2321 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2322 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2323
f4536226 2324#### No longer supported
2325These options may no longer work as intended
2326
2327 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2328 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2329 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2330 --no-call-home Default
2331 --include-ads No longer supported
2332 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2333 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2334 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2335 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
96a134de 2336 --compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date No longer supported
486fb179 2337
2338#### Removed
2339These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2340
f4536226 2341 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2342 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2343
47ab66db 2344
8c6f4daa 2345# CONTRIBUTING
2346See [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 2347
17ffed18 2348# WIKI
2349See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information