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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
ebc7d3ff 74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
ae6a1b95 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
ca5300c7 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
144a3588 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
6e634cbe 92 * Support for downloading stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
f20f5fe5 93
f59f5ef8 94* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 95
597c1866 96* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
97
b31fdeed 98* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 99
b31fdeed 100* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 101
e75bb0d6 102* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 103
104* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 105
3de7c2ce 106* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 107
597c1866 108* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 109
110* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
111
418964fa 112* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 113
144a3588 114* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 115
08d30158 116* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 117
86c1a8aa 118* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 119
7a5c1cfe 120* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 121
7a5c1cfe 122See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
0930b11f 126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 129* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 130* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 131* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 132* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 133* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 134* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 135* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 136* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 137* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 138* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 139* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
140* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 141* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 142* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
64f36541 143* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 144* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 145* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 146* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 147* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 148* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
d5820461 149* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
5c3895ff 150* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 151
152For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 153
28b0eb0f 154* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
155* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 157
f20f5fe5 158
d19bb9c0 159# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 160
7bc877a2 161You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 162
a4211baf 163### Using the release binary
0930b11f 164
fc5fa964 165You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 166
fc5fa964 167<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168[![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)
24146491 169[![Linux](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)
170[![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)
fc5fa964 171[![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)
172[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 173[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 174<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
175
176Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
177
178<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 179In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A		 180
181```
182sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
184```
185
186```
187sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
189```
190
191```
b69fd25c 192sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A		 193sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
194```
195
0930b11f 196
a4211baf 197### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 198
199You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
200```
201python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
202```
203
86c1a8aa 204You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 205```
206python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
207```
208
86c1a8aa 209If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 210```
ae6a1b95 211python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 212```
213
214Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
215
fc5fa964 216<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 217### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 218
219macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD		 220
221```
222brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
223```
224
a4211baf 225## UPDATE
0930b11f 226You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
227
228If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
229
230If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 231
ec2e44fc 232<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 233## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 234
733d8e8f 235#### Recommended
236
237File|Description
238:---|:---
ae6a1b95 239[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 240[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**)
ae6a1b95 241[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 242
243#### Alternatives
244
0e5927ee
R		 245File|Description
246:---|:---
0930b11f 247[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
24146491 248[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/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi`, needs VC++14
0930b11f 249[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
250[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)
733d8e8f 251
252#### Misc
253
254File|Description
255:---|:---
0e5927ee
R		 256[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
257[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
258[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 259<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 260
a4211baf 261## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 262Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 263
c9652aa4 264<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
265<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 266On 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 267-->
fac98805 268
e75bb0d6 269While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 270
b69fd25c 271* [**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)
d5820461 272* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
5d0aeac0
M		 273* [**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)
274* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
0a41f331 275* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing 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)
d5820461 276* [**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>
277* [**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)
6f7563be 278* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
08d30158 279* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
0930b11f 280* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
281* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
5d0aeac0 282* [**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)
0930b11f 283* [**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)
cf59cd4d 284* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 285
cf59cd4d 286To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
287
0a41f331 288The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
d710cc6d 289
08d30158 290<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 291**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
d710cc6d 292
5f326cf5 293
a4211baf 294## COMPILE
5f326cf5 295
c76eb41b 296**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 297To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 298
733d8e8f 299 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 301 py pyinst.py
7581d246 302
fac98805 303Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
b96a939b 304
c76eb41b 305**For Unix**:
060ac762 306You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 307Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 308
49a57e70 309**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 310
75b725a7 311You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 312
b31fdeed 313# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 314
ec2e44fc 315<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 316 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 317
c2b5f311 318`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 319<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 320
ec2e44fc 321<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 322## General Options:
1dc2726f
PH		 323 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
324 --version Print program version and exit
3fe75fdc 325 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
b1940459 326 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 327 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 328 even if the postprocessing fails
329 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
330 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
331 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 332 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
333 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 334 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
335 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 336 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 337 extractors and exit
c4af7684
PH		 338 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
339 extractor
340 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
341 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 342 from google videos for the search term
343 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
344 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
c4af7684
PH		 345 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
346 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
347 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 348 this is not possible instead of searching
9e907ebd 349 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
350 except those given by --config-locations.
351 For backward compatibility, if this option
352 is found inside the system configuration
fc5fa964 353 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
354 (Alias: --no-config)
9e907ebd 355 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
356 (default). When given inside a
357 configuration file, ignore all previous
358 --config-locations defined in the current
359 file
360 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
0202b52a 361 either the path to the config or its
9e907ebd 362 containing directory. Can be used multiple
363 times and inside other configuration files
c4af7684 364 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 365 only list them
6623ac34 366 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
adbc4ec4
THD		 367 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
368 Currently only supported for YouTube
9e907ebd 369 (Experimental)
87e04996 370 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
371 (default)
91f071af 372 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
373 available. Pass the minimum number of
374 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
375 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
e248be33 376 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
597c1866 377 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 378 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 379 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 380 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 381 configurations by reverting some of the
382 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
383 default behavior" for details
9e491463 384 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
385 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
386 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
387 according to the Python string formatting
388 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
389 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
390 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
391 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
392 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
393 All defined aliases are listed in the
394 --help output. Alias options can trigger
395 more aliases; so be carefull to avoid
396 defining recursive options. As a safety
397 measure, each alias may be triggered a
398 maximum of 100 times. This option can be
399 used multiple times
08c1d0d3 400
149f05c7 401## Network Options:
28b4f736 402 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
0934c9d4
S		 403 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
404 scheme. For example
88f23a18 405 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
406 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
407 connection
149f05c7 408 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 409 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 410 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 411 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 412
b31fdeed 413## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
S		 414 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
415 some geo-restricted sites. The default
416 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 417 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 418 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 419 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
455a15e2 420 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
8c6c88c7
S		 421 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
422 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S		 423 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
424 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 425 country code
9e18bb4c
S		 426 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
427 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 428 notation
149f05c7 429
cfcec693 430## Video Selection:
1dc2726f
PH		 431 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
432 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
c4af7684
PH		 433 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
434 indices of the videos in the playlist
435 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
436 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
437 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
438 specify range: "--playlist-items
439 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 440 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
c4af7684
PH		 441 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
442 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
443 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
444 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 445 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 446 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
3d38b2d6 447 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
448 Eg: --date today-2weeks
c4af7684 449 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 450 this date. The date formats accepted is the
451 same as --date
c4af7684 452 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 453 this date. The date formats accepted is the
454 same as --date
a44ca5a4 455 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
77b87f05 456 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 457 number or a string using the operators
458 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
459 also simply specify a field to match if the
a44ca5a4 460 field is present, use "!field" to check if
461 the field is not present, and "&" to check
462 multiple conditions. Use a "\" to escape
463 "&" or quotes if needed. If used multiple
464 times, the filter matches if atleast one of
465 the conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
466 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
467 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
468 matches only videos that are not live OR
469 those that have a like count more than 100
470 (or the like field is not available) and
471 also has a description that contains the
492272fe 472 phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
473 "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
474 whether to download each video
c76eb41b 475 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 476 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 477 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 478 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 479 a video and a playlist
c4af7684
PH		 480 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
481 age
482 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
483 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 484 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 485 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
486 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 487 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 488 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 489 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 490 a file that has been filtered out
b14d5235 491 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
492 and --max-downloads act only on the current
493 input URL
494 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
91f071af 495 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 496 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
497 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 498
d5a62e4f 499## Download Options:
b31fdeed 500 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
87e04996 501 video that should be downloaded
502 concurrently (default is 1)
5e3856a2 503 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 504 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 505 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
506 below which throttling is assumed and the
507 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 508 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 509 "infinite"
87e04996 510 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
3d3bb168 511 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
0be8314d 512 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
b56e41a7
S		 513 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
514 ISM)
6623ac34 515 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
516 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 517 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 518 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 519 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 520 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 521 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 522 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
523 downloading is finished (default)
c4af7684
PH		 524 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
525 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 526 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
527 from an initial value of --buffer-size
528 (default)
529 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
db157d2a
S		 530 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
531 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
532 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
533 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
534 (experimental)
2101f5d4 535 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 536 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 537 (default)
31487eb9 538 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 539 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 540 expected file size
9bd20204 541 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
542 allowing some players to play the video
543 while downloading, and reducing the chance
544 of file corruption if download is
545 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
546 live streams
547 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
548 videos. This is default when not
549 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 550 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
551 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
552 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
553 use it for. Currently supports native,
554 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
0a41f331 555 wget. You can use this option multiple
556 times to set different downloaders for
557 different protocols. For example,
558 --downloader aria2c --downloader
52a8a1e1 559 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
560 http/ftp downloads, and the native
fc5fa964 561 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
562 --external-downloader)
46ee996e 563 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
564 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 565 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
566 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
567 different positions using the same syntax
568 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
569 option multiple times to give different
fc5fa964 570 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
571 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 572
cfcec693 573## Filesystem Options:
940a67a3 574 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
e8dfecb3 575 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
940a67a3 576 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
8a51f564 577 comments and ignored
1e520b55 578 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 579 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 580 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 581 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
6a34813a 582 same TYPES as --output are supported.
de6000d9 583 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 584 (default) and "temp" paths. All
585 intermediary files are first downloaded to
586 the temp path and then the final files are
587 moved over to the home path after download
588 is finished. This option is ignored if
589 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 590 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 591 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 592 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
593 fields in output filename template
594 (default: "NA")
c4af7684
PH		 595 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
596 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
597 filenames
c76eb41b 598 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
599 filenames (default)
0930b11f 600 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
601 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
602 using Windows (default)
c2934512 603 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
604 extension) to the specified number of
605 characters
9b45b9f5 606 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
607 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
608 This option includes --no-continue
609 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
610 related files (default)
c25228e5 611 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
612 (default)
613 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 614 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 615 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 616 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 617 into output file (default)
c4af7684
PH		 618 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
619 into output file
c76eb41b 620 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
621 file modification time (default)
c4af7684
PH		 622 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
623 the file modification time
624 --write-description Write video description to a .description
625 file
6623ac34 626 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 627 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 628 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 629 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 630 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
631 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
632 --write-description etc. (default)
633 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
634 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
08d30158 635 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
75d43ca0 636 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
637 could still contain some personal
638 information (default)
08d30158 639 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 640 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
641 infojson. The comments are fetched even
642 without this option if the extraction is
643 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
644 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
fc5fa964 645 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
646 --no-get-comments)
d845622b 647 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
c4af7684
PH		 648 (created with the "--write-info-json"
649 option)
91f071af 650 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
651 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
MB		 652 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
653 (default)
f59f5ef8
MB		 654 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
655 The name of the browser and (optionally)
656 the name/path of the profile to load
657 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
658 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
659 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
660 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
661 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
662 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
663 can be (optionally) specified after the
664 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
665 supported keyrings are: basictext,
666 gnomekeyring, kwallet
982ee69a 667 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 668 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 669 can store some downloaded information (such
670 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 671 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
672 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
36f35428
PH		 673 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
674 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 675
b31fdeed 676## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 677 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 678 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 679 (default)
1dc2726f 680 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 681 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
682 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 683
732044af 684## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 685 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
686 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
687 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
688 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
689 OS caches the URL based on the file path
690 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
691 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 692
0744a815 693## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 694 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
695 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 696 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
c4af7684
PH		 697 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
698 anything to disk
34488702 699 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
700 options are used
0930b11f 701 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
702 extracting metadata even if the videos are
703 not actually available for download
0cf05715 704 (experimental)
705 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
706 formats are found (default)
e167860c 707 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
708 related files (Alias: --no-download)
ca30f449 709 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
ed5835b4 710 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
711 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
712 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
713 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
62f6f1cb 714 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
715 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
716 used. This option can be used multiple
717 times
bb66c247 718 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
719 Append given template to the file. The
720 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
721 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
722 as the output template. This option can be
723 used multiple times
34488702 724 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
725 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
726 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
727 description of available keys
728 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
729 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
730 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
731 a playlist, the whole playlist information
732 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 733 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 734 written as far as no errors occur, even if
735 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 736 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
1dc2726f
PH		 737 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
738 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 739 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 740 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 741 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
742 Template for progress outputs, optionally
743 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
744 "download-title:" (the console title),
745 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
746 The video's fields are accessible under the
747 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 748 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 749 --console-title --progress-template
750 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 751 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
c4af7684
PH		 752 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
753 to debug problems (very verbose)
754 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
755 files in the current directory to debug
756 problems
780083db 757 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 758
36f35428
PH		 759## Workarounds:
760 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
144a3588 761 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
762 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
763 renegotiation
0930b11f 764 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 765 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 766 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 767 supported only for YouTube)
c4af7684 768 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 769 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
c4af7684
PH		 770 option multiple times
771 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
772 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
773 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 774 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
775 during data extraction
c4af7684 776 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 777 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
778 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
779 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
780 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
781 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 782 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
783 subtitle download
36f35428 784
cfcec693 785## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 786 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
787 for more details
788 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
789 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 790 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
791 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 792 Formats" for more details
793 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 794 specified sort order (default), see
795 "Sorting Formats" for more details
796 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
797 into a single file
798 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
799 each output file (default)
800 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
801 into a single file
802 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
803 each output file (default)
da9be05e 804 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
805 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
806 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
807 containers irrespective of quality
808 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
809 containers (default)
ebc7d3ff 810 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
811 those that are actually downloadable
0930b11f 812 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 813 actually downloadable
0930b11f 814 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
815 downloadable
34488702 816 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
817 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
c4af7684
PH		 818 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
819 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
820 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
821 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH		 822
823## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 824 --write-subs Write subtitle file
825 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
826 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 827 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
828 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
829 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 830 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
831 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
c4af7684
PH		 832 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
833 preference, for example: "srt" or
834 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 835 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
836 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 837 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 838 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
fc5fa964 839 from the requested languages. (Eg:
840 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
841 for a list of available language tags
6bcd846b 842
cfcec693 843## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 844 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 845 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 846 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 847 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 848 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 849 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
850 either the path or its containing
851 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 852 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 853 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 854 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
855 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S		 856 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
857 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 858 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
859 interactively
f5e008d1
S		 860 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
861 operators
bb58c9ed 862 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
863 format. May include the private key
864 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE Path to private key file for client
865 certificate
866 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
867 Password for client certificate private
868 key, if encrypted. If not provided and the
869 key is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask
870 interactively
f5e008d1 871
c76eb41b 872## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 873 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 874 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 875 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
876 to when -x is used. Currently supported
a44ca5a4 877 formats are: best (default) or one of aac,
878 flac, mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
879 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
880 converting the audio with -x. Insert a
86c1a8aa 881 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 882 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 883 (default 5)
c76eb41b 884 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
a44ca5a4 885 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
886 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
887 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
29b6000e 888 target container does not support the
06167fbb 889 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 890 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 891 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
892 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 893 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 894 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
895 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 896 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 897 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 898 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
899 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 900 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
7a340e0d
NA		 901 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
902 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 903 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
904 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 905 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
906 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 907 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 908 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
NA		 909 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
910 specified executable only when being used
911 by the specified postprocessor.
912 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
913 can be appended to the prefix optionally
914 followed by a number to pass the argument
915 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
916 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
917 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 918 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 919 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 920 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 921 after post-processing
c76eb41b 922 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 923 post-processing (default)
924 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
925 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
0be8314d
PH		 926 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
927 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 928 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 929 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 930 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 931 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
932 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
933 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
934 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 935 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 936 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
7a340e0d
NA		 937 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
938 (Alias: --add-chapters)
939 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
940 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 941 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
942 mkv/mka video files
943 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
944 to the video file
73cd218f 945 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
946 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
947 for details
e9f4ccd1 948 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
949 Replace text in a metadata field using the
950 given regex. This option can be used
951 multiple times
c4af7684
PH		 952 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
953 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
3b603dbd 954 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
fc5fa964 955 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
956 (default; only when the videos form a
3b603dbd 957 single show). All the video files must have
958 same codecs and number of streams to be
959 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
960 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
3d3bb168 961 the output filename for the concatenated
962 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
c4af7684
PH		 963 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
964 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
965 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
966 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 967 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
87e04996 968 already exists)
e4172ac9 969 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
970 path to the binary or its containing
971 directory
1e43a6f7 972 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
973 when to execute it (after_move if
974 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
975 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
976 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
977 output template can be used to pass any
978 field as arguments to the command. After
979 download, an additional field "filepath"
9de3ea31 980 that contains the final path of the
1e43a6f7 981 downloaded file is also available, and if
982 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
983 appended to the end of the command. This
34488702 984 option can be used multiple times
1e43a6f7 985 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
e167860c 986 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
a44ca5a4 987 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
e167860c 988 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 989 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
a44ca5a4 990 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
72755351 991 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
992 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
993 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
994 to set the output filename for the split
995 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
996 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
997 (default)
7a340e0d 998 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 999 given regular expression. Time ranges
1000 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
1001 of chapters to remove the specified range.
1002 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
1003 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 1004 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 1005 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1006 (default)
7a340e0d
NA		 1007 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
1008 removing/splitting them. Requires a
e75bb0d6 1009 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
7a340e0d
NA		 1010 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1011 around the cuts
1012 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1013 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 1014 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1015 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1016 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
e75bb0d6 1017 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
3ae5e797 1018 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1019 The "when" argument determines when the
1020 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
09b49e1f 1021 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1022 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1023 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1024 "post_process" (after each video download;
1025 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1026 file to it's final locations),
1027 "after_video" (after downloading and
1028 processing all formats of a video), or
1029 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
1030 option can be used multiple times to add
1031 different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA		 1032
1033## SponsorBlock Options:
1034Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1035 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1036 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1037
7a340e0d
NA		 1038 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1039 for, separated by commas. Available
8157a09d
NA		 1040 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1041 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1042 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1043 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1044 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1045 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1046 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
7a340e0d
NA		 1047 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1048 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1049 category is present in both mark and
1050 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1051 and available categories are the same as
8157a09d
NA		 1052 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1053 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1054 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
NA		 1055 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1056 The title template for SponsorBlock
1057 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1058 The same syntax as the output template is
1059 used, but the only available fields are
1060 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1061 name, category_names. Defaults to
1062 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1063 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1064 --sponsorblock-remove
1065 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1066 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1067
78895bd3 1068## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 1069 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 1070 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 1071 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 1072 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1073 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1074 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 1075 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1076 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1077 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1078 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1079 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 1080 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1081 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1082 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 1083 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1084
b7770046
U		 1085# CONFIGURATION
1086
7a5c1cfe 1087You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1088
0202b52a 10891. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10901. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10911. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10921. **User Configuration**:
1093 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1094 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1095 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1096 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1097 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1098 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1099
ec2e44fc 1100 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1101
07cce701 11021. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1103
7a5c1cfe 1104For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
U		 1105```
1106# Lines starting with # are comments
1107
1108# Always extract audio
1109-x
1110
1111# Do not copy the mtime
1112--no-mtime
1113
1114# Use this proxy
1115--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1116
298f597b 1117# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1118-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U		 1119```
1120
e2e43aea 1121Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
b7770046 1122
a4211baf 1123You 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
U		 1124
1125### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1126
0001fcb5 1127You 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
U		 1128```
1129touch $HOME/.netrc
1130chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1131```
1132After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1133```
0001fcb5 1134machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
U		 1135```
1136For example:
1137```
1138machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1139machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1140```
7a5c1cfe 1141To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1142
0001fcb5 1143The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
b7770046
U		 1144
1145# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1146
0202b52a 1147The `-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 1148
ec2e44fc 1149<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1150**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1151<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1152
e58c22a0 1153The 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 1154
0930b11f 1155It 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). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1156
1157The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1158
2b8a2973 11591. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1160
e625be0d 11611. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1162
e625be0d 11631. **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 `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1164
e75bb0d6 11651. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1166
e978789f
P		 11671. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1168
e75bb0d6 11691. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1170
abbeeebc 11711. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1172
524e2e4f 11731. **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. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1174
1175To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1176```
e978789f 1177%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1178```
de6000d9 1179
dbcea058 1180Additionally, 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`. For example, `-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. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1181
1182The available fields are:
b7770046
U		 1183
1184 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1185 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1186 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U		 1187 - `url` (string): Video URL
1188 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1189 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1190 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U		 1191 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1192 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1193 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1194 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1195 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1196 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1197 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1198 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1199 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1200 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U		 1201 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1202 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1203 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1204 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
U		 1205 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1206 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1207 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
U		 1208 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1209 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1210 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1211 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1212 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1213 - `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 1214 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1215 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1216 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1217 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1218 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1219 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
U		 1220 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1221 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1222 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
b7770046
U		 1223 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1224 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1225 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1226 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1227 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1228 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1229 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1230 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1231 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1232 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1233 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1234 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
b7770046
U		 1235 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1236 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1237 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1238 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1239 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1240 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1241 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1242 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1243 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1244 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1245 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1246 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1247 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1248 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1249 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1250 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1251 - `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		 1252 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1253 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1254 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1255 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1256 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1257 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
b7770046
U		 1258
1259Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1260
1261 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1262 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1263 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1264
1265Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1266
1267 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1268 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1269 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1270 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1271 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1272 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1273 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1274
1275Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1276
1277 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1278 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1279 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1280 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1281 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1282 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1283 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1284 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1285 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1286 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1287
b050d210 1288Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1289
1290 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1291 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1292 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1293 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1294
53c18592 1295Available only when used in `--print`:
1296
1297 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1298 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1299 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1300 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1301 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1302 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1303
7a340e0d
NA		 1304
1305Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1306
1307 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1308 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1309 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1310 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1311 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1312 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1313
49a57e70 1314Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example 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.
1315
1316Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1317
0930b11f 1318**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1319
49a57e70 1320For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1321
940a67a3 1322Output 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		 1323
1324To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1325
91ebc640 1326The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1327
f304da8a 1328In 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 1329
ec2e44fc 1330<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1331#### Output template and Windows batch files
1332
1333If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1334<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
U		 1335
1336#### Output template examples
1337
b7770046 1338```bash
940a67a3 1339$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1340test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1341
940a67a3 1342$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1343youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1344
940a67a3 1345$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1346youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U		 1347
1348# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1349$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1350
b050d210 1351# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1352$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1353
e978789f 1354# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1355$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1356
b7770046 1357# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1358$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U		 1359
1360# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1361$ 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		 1362
1363# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1364$ 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 1365
6a34813a 1366# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1367# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1368$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1369
1370# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1371$ 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
1372
b7770046 1373# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1374$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U		 1375```
1376
1377# FORMAT SELECTION
1378
7a5c1cfe
P		 1379By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1380This 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 1381
c111cefa 1382**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.
1383
eff63539 1384The 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 1385
ec2e44fc 1386<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1387**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1388<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1389
a439a3a4 1390The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example 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		 1391
1392You 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.
1393
fa9f30b8 1394You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1395
b7770046
U		 1396You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1397
59a7a13e 1398 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1399 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1400 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1401 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1402 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1403 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1404 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1405 - `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 1406 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1407 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1408 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1409 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1410 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1411 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1412
ae6a1b95 1413For 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 1414
1415You 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 1416
eb8a4433 1417If 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, for example `-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		 1418
1419If 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`.
1420
d806c9fd 1421You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1422
1423**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
1424
1425Unless `--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. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1426
1427## Filtering Formats
1428
b7770046
U		 1429You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1430
1431The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1432
1433 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1434 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1435 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1436 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1437 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1438 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1439 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1440 - `fps`: Frame rate
1441
1ce9a3cb 1442Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
U		 1443
1444 - `ext`: File extension
1445 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1446 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1447 - `container`: Name of the container format
1448 - `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`)
1449 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1450 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1451
1ce9a3cb 1452Any 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 1453
e58c22a0 1454Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1455
e094cec1 1456Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1457
940a67a3 1458Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1459
eb8a4433 1460## Sorting Formats
1461
2e7781a9 1462You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1463
1464The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1465
63be1aab 1466 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1467 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1468 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1469 - `lang`: The language preference
1470 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1471 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1472 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1473 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1474 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1475 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1476 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1477 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1478 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1479 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1480 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1481 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1482 - `height`: Height of video
1483 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1484 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1485 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1486 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1487 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1488 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1489 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1490 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1491 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1492
1493**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 1494
9ee4f0bb 1495All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `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. Eg: `+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. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1496
176f1866 1497The 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,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1498
e75bb0d6 1499Note that the default has `codec: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 1500
e58c22a0 1501If 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 1502
1503**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1504
eb8a4433 1505## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1506
b7770046 1507```bash
e58c22a0 1508# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1509# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1510$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1511
1512# Download best format that contains video,
1513# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1514$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1515
1516# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1517$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1518
6fd35a11 1519# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1520# For this case, an output template should be used since
1521# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1522$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1523
f8d4ad9a 1524# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1525# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1526$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1527
1528# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1529# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1530$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1531
6fd35a11 1532
1533# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1534# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1535
1536# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1537$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1538
1539# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1540$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1541
1542# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1543$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1544
1545
909d24dd 1546
eb8a4433 1547# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1548$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1549
1550# Download the best video with the best extension
1551# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1552$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1553
1554
909d24dd 1555
eb8a4433 1556# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1557# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1558$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1559
eb8a4433 1560# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1561# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1562$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1563
eb8a4433 1564# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1565# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1566# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1567# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1568$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1569
b7770046 1570
909d24dd 1571
eb8a4433 1572# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1573# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1574$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1575
1576# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1577# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1578$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1579
1580# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1581$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1582
1583
909d24dd 1584
eb8a4433 1585# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1586# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1588
1589# Download best video available via the best protocol
1590# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1591$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1592
1593
909d24dd 1594
1ce9a3cb
LF		 1595# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1596# or the best video if there is no such video
1597$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1598
1599# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1600# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1601$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1602
1603# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1604# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1605$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1606
1607
1608
1609# More complex examples
1610
e58c22a0 1611# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1612# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1613$ 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 1614
1615# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1616# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1617# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1618$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1619
1620
909d24dd 1621
eb8a4433 1622# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1623# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1624# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1625$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1626```
eb8a4433 1627
73cd218f 1628# MODIFYING METADATA
1629
a4211baf 1630The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1631
418964fa 1632`--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 1633
2e7781a9 1634The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1635
1636Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1637
9c2b75b5 1638This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1639
28b0eb0f 1640* 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. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1641
88968992 1642* 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. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1643
08d30158 1644**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.
1645
c31be5b0 1646For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1647
08d30158 1648Metadata fields | From
1649:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1650`title` | `track` or `title`
1651`date` | `upload_date`
1652`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1653`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1654`track` | `track_number`
1655`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1656`genre` | `genre`
1657`album` | `album`
1658`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1659`disc` | `disc_number`
1660`show` | `series`
1661`season_number` | `season_number`
1662`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1663`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1664`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1665
c31be5b0 1666**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1667
73cd218f 1668
1669## Modifying metadata examples
1670
73cd218f 1671```bash
1672# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1673$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1674
1675# Regex example
940a67a3 1676$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1677
1678# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1679$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1680
a44ca5a4 1681# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1682$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1683
1684# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1685# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1686$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1687
0930b11f 1688# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1689$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1690
e9f4ccd1 1691# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1692$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1693
73cd218f 1694```
1695
5d3a0e79 1696# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1697
a44ca5a4 1698Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1699
1700The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1701
1702#### youtube
18e49408 1703* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
e7870111 1704* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1705* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1706* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1707* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1708* `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`
1709 * 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
96565c7e 1710
1711#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1712* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1713* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1714
1715#### funimation
1716* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1717* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1718
a9d4da60 1719#### crunchyroll
1720* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1721* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1722
ae6a1b95 1723#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH		 1724* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1725 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1726* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1727
96565c7e 1728#### vikichannel
1729* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1730
7bdcb4a4
LNO		 1731#### niconico
1732* `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.**
1733
aa4b0545 1734#### youtubewebarchive
1735* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1736
d43de682
M		 1737#### gamejolt
1738* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1739
26f2aa3d
AG		 1740#### hotstar
1741* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1742* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1743* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1744
046cab39
M		 1745#### tiktok
1746* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1747* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1748
7eaf7f9a 1749#### rokfinchannel
1750* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1751
1752
bc97cdae 1753NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1754
ec2e44fc 1755<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1756
3acf6d38 1757
f74980cb 1758# PLUGINS
b7770046 1759
3ae5e797 1760Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1761
1762Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1763
1764See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1765
1766Note 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
1767
1768If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1769
b7770046 1770
8c6f4daa 1771
1772# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1773
1774yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1775
1776Your 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.
1777
1778From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1779
1780```python
59a7a13e 1781from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1782
3d3bb168 1783URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1784with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1785 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1786```
1787
e5a998f3 1788Most 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#L181).
8c6f4daa 1789
43cc91ad 1790**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 1791
1792## Embedding examples
1793
43cc91ad 1794#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1795
1796```python
1797import json
8c6f4daa 1798import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1799
3d3bb168 1800URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1801
1802# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1803ydl_opts = {}
1804with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1805 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1806
1807 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1808 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1809```
43cc91ad 1810#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1811
1812```python
1813import yt_dlp
1814
1815INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1816
1817with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1818 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1819
1820print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1821 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1822```
1823
43cc91ad 1824#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1825
1826```python
1827import yt_dlp
1828
1829URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1830
1831ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1832 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1833 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1834 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1835 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1836 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1837 }]
1838}
1839
1840with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1841 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1842```
0a41f331 1843
1844#### Filter videos
1845
1846```python
1847import yt_dlp
1848
1849URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1850
1851def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1852 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1853 duration = info.get('duration')
1854 if duration and duration < 60:
1855 return 'The video is too short'
1856
1857ydl_opts = {
1858 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1859}
1860
1861with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1862 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1863```
1864
43cc91ad 1865#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1866
1867```python
1868import yt_dlp
1869
1870URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1871
1872class MyLogger:
1873 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1874 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1875 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1876 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1877 pass
1878 else:
1879 self.info(msg)
1880
1881 def info(self, msg):
1882 pass
1883
1884 def warning(self, msg):
1885 pass
1886
1887 def error(self, msg):
1888 print(msg)
1889
1890
3d3bb168 1891# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1892def my_hook(d):
1893 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1894 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1895
1896
1897ydl_opts = {
1898 'logger': MyLogger(),
1899 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1900}
1901
1902with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1903 ydl.download(URLS)
1904```
1905
43cc91ad 1906#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1907
1908```python
1909import yt_dlp
1910
1911URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1912
1913# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1914class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1915 def run(self, info):
1916 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1917 return [], info
1918
1919
3d3bb168 1920with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1921 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1922 ydl.download(URLS)
1923```
8c6f4daa 1924
1925
43cc91ad 1926#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1927
1928```python
1929import yt_dlp
1930
1931URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1932
093a1710 1933def format_selector(ctx):
1934 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1935 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1936
1937 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1938 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1939
1940 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1941 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1942 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1943
1944 # find compatible audio extension
1945 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1946 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1947 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1948 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1949
3d3bb168 1950 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 1951 yield {
093a1710 1952 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1953 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1954 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1955 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1956 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1957 }
1958
1959
8c6f4daa 1960ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1961 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1962}
1963
1964with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 1965 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1966```
1967
ec2e44fc 1968<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1969
e167860c 1970# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1971
1972These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1973
8130779d 1974#### Almost redundant options
1975While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1976
1977 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1978 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1979 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1980 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1981
6ccf351a 1982#### Redundant options
1983While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1984
53c18592 1985 --get-description --print description
1986 --get-duration --print duration_string
1987 --get-filename --print filename
1988 --get-format --print format
1989 --get-id --print id
1990 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1991 -e, --get-title --print title
1992 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1993 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1994 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1995 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1996 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1997 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1998 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
6ccf351a 1999
2000
2001#### Not recommended
2002While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2003
1e43a6f7 2004 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2005 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2006 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2007 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2008 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2009 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2010 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2011 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2012 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2013 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2014 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2015 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2016 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2017 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2018 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2019 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2020 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2021
2022
2023#### Developer options
2024These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2025
34488702 2026 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 2027 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2028 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2029 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2030
2031
2032#### Old aliases
2033These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2034
2035 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2036 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2037 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2038 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2039 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2040 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2041 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2042 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2043 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2044 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2045 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2046 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2047 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2048 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2049 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2050 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2051 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2052
7a340e0d 2053#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2054Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA		 2055
2056 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2057 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2058 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2059 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2060 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2061 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2062 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2063 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2064
f4536226 2065#### No longer supported
2066These options may no longer work as intended
2067
2068 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2069 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2070 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2071 --no-call-home Default
2072 --include-ads No longer supported
2073 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2074 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2075 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2076
2077#### Removed
2078These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2079
f4536226 2080 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2081 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2082
8c6f4daa 2083# CONTRIBUTING
2084See [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 2085
c2b5f311 2086# MORE
8c6f4daa 2087For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
fork of https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/