]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
fix motherless
[yt-dlp.git] / README.md
CommitLineData
ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
2fa669f7 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#installation "Installation")
ae6a1b95 7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
08e29b9f 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/core.yml?branch=master&label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
b532a348 15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge&display_timestamp=committer)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pulse/monthly "Last activity")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
388c979a 20yt-dlp is a feature-rich command-line audio/video downloader with support for [thousands of sites](supportedsites.md). The project is a fork of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc).
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 25* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
deae7c17 26 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
0e5927ee 27 * [Release Files](#release-files)
47ab66db 28 * [Update](#update)
cf59cd4d 29 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 30 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 31* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
32 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 33 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 34 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 35 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
36 * [Download Options](#download-options)
37 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 38 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 39 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 40 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
42 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
43 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
44 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 45 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 46 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 48* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
304ad45a 49 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
db3ad8a6 50 * [Authentication with netrc](#authentication-with-netrc)
878eac3e 51 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
c76eb41b 52* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8e40b9d1
M
62 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
63 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
8c6f4daa 64* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 65 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
47ab66db 66* [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL](#changes-from-youtube-dl)
67 * [New features](#new-features)
68 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
69 * [Deprecated options](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 70* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
71 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
72 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
17ffed18 73* [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
deae7c17 74 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
ec2e44fc 75<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 76
77
d19bb9c0 78# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 79
fc5fa964 80<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
81[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
17ffed18 82[![Unix](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
24146491 83[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
17ffed18 84[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
fc5fa964 85[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
86[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 87[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 88<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
89
c8bc203f 90You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [pip](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
0930b11f 91
b8773e63 92
ec2e44fc 93<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 94## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 95
733d8e8f 96#### Recommended
97
98File|Description
99:---|:---
962ffcf8 100[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 101[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
f2df4071 102[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 103
104#### Alternatives
105
0e5927ee
R
106File|Description
107:---|:---
47ab66db 108[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 109[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
f2df4071 110[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
17fc3dc4
M
111[yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
112[yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
0930b11f 113[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
114[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
6d916fe7 115[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
733d8e8f 116
117#### Misc
118
119File|Description
120:---|:---
17ffed18 121[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
0e5927ee 122[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
12647e03 123[SHA2-512SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA512 sums
0e5927ee 124[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
12647e03 125[SHA2-256SUMS.sig](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS.sig)|GPG signature file for SHA256 sums
0e5927ee 126
12647e03
SS
127The public key that can be used to verify the GPG signatures is [available here](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/public.key)
128Example usage:
129```
130curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/raw/master/public.key | gpg --import
131gpg --verify SHA2-256SUMS.sig SHA2-256SUMS
132gpg --verify SHA2-512SUMS.sig SHA2-512SUMS
133```
134<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
17ffed18 135
ad54c913 136**Note**: The manpages, shell completion (autocomplete) files etc. are available inside the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
17ffed18 137
47ab66db 138
139## UPDATE
140You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the [release binaries](#release-files)
141
142If you [installed with pip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
143
6aaf96a3 144For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer to their documentation
47ab66db 145
146<a id="update-channels"></a>
147
148There are currently three release channels for binaries: `stable`, `nightly` and `master`.
149
150* `stable` is the default channel, and many of its changes have been tested by users of the `nightly` and `master` channels.
151* The `nightly` channel has releases scheduled to build every day around midnight UTC, for a snapshot of the project's new patches and changes. This is the **recommended channel for regular users** of yt-dlp. The `nightly` releases are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-nightly-builds/releases) or as development releases of the `yt-dlp` PyPI package (which can be installed with pip's `--pre` flag).
152* The `master` channel features releases that are built after each push to the master branch, and these will have the very latest fixes and additions, but may also be more prone to regressions. They are available from [yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-master-builds/releases).
153
154When using `--update`/`-U`, a release binary will only update to its current channel.
155`--update-to CHANNEL` can be used to switch to a different channel when a newer version is available. `--update-to [CHANNEL@]TAG` can also be used to upgrade or downgrade to specific tags from a channel.
156
157You may also use `--update-to <repository>` (`<owner>/<repository>`) to update to a channel on a completely different repository. Be careful with what repository you are updating to though, there is no verification done for binaries from different repositories.
158
159Example usage:
df0e138f 160
47ab66db 161* `yt-dlp --update-to master` switch to the `master` channel and update to its latest release
162* `yt-dlp --update-to stable@2023.07.06` upgrade/downgrade to release to `stable` channel tag `2023.07.06`
163* `yt-dlp --update-to 2023.10.07` upgrade/downgrade to tag `2023.10.07` if it exists on the current channel
164* `yt-dlp --update-to example/yt-dlp@2023.09.24` upgrade/downgrade to the release from the `example/yt-dlp` repository, tag `2023.09.24`
165
166**Important**: Any user experiencing an issue with the `stable` release should install or update to the `nightly` release before submitting a bug report:
167```
168# To update to nightly from stable executable/binary:
169yt-dlp --update-to nightly
170
171# To install nightly with pip:
5c019f63 172python3 -m pip install -U --pre "yt-dlp[default]"
47ab66db 173```
174
a4211baf 175## DEPENDENCIES
f4b95aca 176Python versions 3.8+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 177
c9652aa4 178<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
179<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 180On 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 181-->
fac98805 182
e75bb0d6 183While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 184
8aa0e7cd 185### Strongly recommended
186
6aaf96a3 187* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection), as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
8aa0e7cd 188
292d60b1 189 There are bugs in ffmpeg that cause various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for some of these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
6aaf96a3 190
47ab66db 191 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the Python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
8aa0e7cd 192
193### Networking
d5820461 194* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 195* [**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>
196* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
8a8b5452 197* [**requests**](https://github.com/psf/requests)\* - HTTP library. For HTTPS proxy and persistent connections support. Licensed under [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 198
52f5be1f 199#### Impersonation
200
6aaf96a3 201The following provide support for impersonating browser requests. This may be required for some sites that employ TLS fingerprinting.
52f5be1f 202
203* [**curl_cffi**](https://github.com/yifeikong/curl_cffi) (recommended) - Python binding for [curl-impersonate](https://github.com/lwthiker/curl-impersonate). Provides impersonation targets for Chrome, Edge and Safari. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/yifeikong/curl_cffi/blob/main/LICENSE)
5c019f63 204 * Can be installed with the `curl-cffi` group, e.g. `pip install "yt-dlp[default,curl-cffi]"`
b19ae095 205 * Currently only included in `yt-dlp.exe` and `yt-dlp_macos` builds
52f5be1f 206
207
8aa0e7cd 208### Metadata
209
210* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
211* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
84e26038 212* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Mac** and **BSD**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
8aa0e7cd 213
214### Misc
215
216* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
5d0aeac0 217* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
f9fb3ce8 218* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 219* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 220
deae7c17 221### Deprecated
8aa0e7cd 222
223* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
224* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
998a3cae 225* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
226* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
8aa0e7cd 227
cf59cd4d 228To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
229
f2df4071 230The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 231
8aa0e7cd 232If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
d710cc6d 233
5f326cf5 234
a4211baf 235## COMPILE
5f326cf5 236
8aa0e7cd 237### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
47ab66db 238To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). The executable will be built for the same CPU architecture as the Python used.
239
240You can run the following commands:
e38df8f9 241
a1b77842 242```
b8a433aa 243python3 devscripts/install_deps.py --include pyinstaller
a1b77842 244python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
245python3 -m bundle.pyinstaller
246```
8aa0e7cd 247
248On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
249
47ab66db 250`python -m bundle.pyinstaller` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
73ac0e6b 251
8e174ba7 252**Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
8aa0e7cd 253
47ab66db 254**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **instead of** using `python -m bundle.pyinstaller` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 255
8aa0e7cd 256### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
f4b95aca 257You will need the build tools `python` (3.8+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 258
8aa0e7cd 259After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 260
a831c2ea 261You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 262
8aa0e7cd 263### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
264
db50f19d 265While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi`/`requests` and need VC++14** on the target computer to run.
8aa0e7cd 266
a1b77842 267If you wish to build it anyway, install Python (if it is not already installed) and you can run the following commands:
8aa0e7cd 268
a1b77842 269```
b8a433aa 270py devscripts/install_deps.py --include py2exe
a1b77842 271py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
272py -m bundle.py2exe
273```
8aa0e7cd 274
275### Related scripts
276
b8a433aa 277* **`devscripts/install_deps.py`** - Install dependencies for yt-dlp.
6aaf96a3 278* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on the current date.
d400e261
SS
279* **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
280* **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
8aa0e7cd 281* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
282
d400e261
SS
283Note: See their `--help` for more info.
284
29cb20bd
SS
285### Forking the project
286If you fork the project on GitHub, you can run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build the selected version(s) as artifacts. Alternatively, you can run the [release workflow](.github/workflows/release.yml) or enable the [nightly workflow](.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml) to create full (pre-)releases.
59a7a13e 287
b31fdeed 288# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 289
ec2e44fc 290<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 291 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 292
c2b5f311 293`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 294<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 295
ec2e44fc 296<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 297## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 298 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
299 --version Print program version and exit
70b23409 300 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
301 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
77df20f1 302 --update-to [CHANNEL]@[TAG] Upgrade/downgrade to a specific version.
665472a7
SS
303 CHANNEL can be a repository as well. CHANNEL
304 and TAG default to "stable" and "latest"
305 respectively if omitted; See "UPDATE" for
5d3a3cd4 306 details. Supported channels: stable,
307 nightly, master
2dd5a2e3 308 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
309 The download will be considered successful
310 even if the postprocessing fails
311 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
312 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
313 playlist (default)
314 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
315 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
316 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
317 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
318 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
319 extractors and exit
2516cafb 320 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
fe7866d0 321 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
322 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
323 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
324 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
325 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
2516cafb 326 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
62b58c09 327 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 328 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
329 google videos for the search term "python".
330 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
331 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
332 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
333 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
334 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
335 possible instead of searching
336 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
47ab66db 337 except those given to --config-locations.
2dd5a2e3 338 For backward compatibility, if this option
339 is found inside the system configuration
340 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
341 (Alias: --no-config)
342 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
343 (default). When given inside a configuration
344 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
345 defined in the current file
346 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
347 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 348 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
349 used multiple times and inside other
350 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 351 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
352 only list them
c8bc203f 353 --no-flat-playlist Fully extract the videos of a playlist
354 (default)
2dd5a2e3 355 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
356 Currently only supported for YouTube
357 (Experimental)
358 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
359 (default)
360 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
361 available. Pass the minimum number of
362 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
363 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
364 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
365 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8417f26b
SS
366 --color [STREAM:]POLICY Whether to emit color codes in output,
367 optionally prefixed by the STREAM (stdout or
368 stderr) to apply the setting to. Can be one
369 of "always", "auto" (default), "never", or
370 "no_color" (use non color terminal
371 sequences). Can be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 372 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
373 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
374 configurations by reverting some of the
375 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
376 default behavior" for details
377 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
378 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
379 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
380 according to the Python string formatting
62b58c09 381 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
2dd5a2e3 382 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
383 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
384 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
385 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
386 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
387 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 388 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 389 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
390 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 391 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 392
149f05c7 393## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 394 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
62b58c09
L
395 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
396 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
397 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
398 direct connection
2dd5a2e3 399 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
400 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
0b81d4d2 401 --impersonate CLIENT[:OS] Client to impersonate for requests. E.g.
402 chrome, chrome-110, chrome:windows-10. Pass
403 --impersonate="" to impersonate any client.
5e3e19c9 404 Note that forcing impersonation for all
405 requests may have a detrimental impact on
406 download speed and stability
0b81d4d2 407 --list-impersonate-targets List available clients to impersonate.
2dd5a2e3 408 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
409 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8300774c
M
410 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
411 default for security reasons.
8c6c88c7 412
b31fdeed 413## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 414 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
415 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
416 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
417 is not present) is used for the actual
418 downloading
c1664464 419 --xff VALUE How to fake X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to
420 try bypassing geographic restriction. One of
c8bc203f 421 "default" (only when known to be useful),
422 "never", an IP block in CIDR notation, or a
423 two-letter ISO 3166-2 country code
149f05c7 424
cfcec693 425## Video Selection:
71df9b7f 426 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
7e88d7d7 427 to download. You can specify a range using
428 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
429 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
430 Use negative indices to count from the right
431 and negative STEP to download in reverse
62b58c09 432 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
71df9b7f 433 playlist of size 15 will download the items
7e88d7d7 434 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
71df9b7f 435 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
436 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
437 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
62b58c09 438 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
2dd5a2e3 439 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
440 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
441 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
29cb20bd
SS
442 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads only
443 videos uploaded on the same day two weeks ago
2dd5a2e3 444 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
445 this date. The date formats accepted is the
446 same as --date
447 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
448 this date. The date formats accepted is the
449 same as --date
450 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
451 field can be compared with a number or a
452 string using the operators defined in
d4ada357 453 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
2dd5a2e3 454 specify a field to match if the field is
455 present, use "!field" to check if the field
456 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
457 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
458 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
cd682582 459 the filter matches if at least one of the
460 conditions is met. E.g. --match-filter
2dd5a2e3 461 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
462 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
463 only videos that are not live OR those that
464 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
465 field is not available) and also has a
466 description that contains the phrase "cats &
467 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
468 interactively ask whether to download each
469 video
c8bc203f 470 --no-match-filters Do not use any --match-filter (default)
fe2ce85a 471 --break-match-filters FILTER Same as "--match-filters" but stops the
472 download process when a video is rejected
473 --no-break-match-filters Do not use any --break-match-filters (default)
2dd5a2e3 474 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
475 to a video and a playlist
476 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
477 a video and a playlist
478 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
479 age
480 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
481 archive file. Record the IDs of all
482 downloaded videos in it
483 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
484 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
485 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
486 a file that is in the archive
16be1177 487 --no-break-on-existing Do not stop the download process when
488 encountering a file that is in the archive
489 (default)
71df9b7f 490 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
354d5fca 491 --break-match-filter, and autonumber to
492 reset per input URL
2dd5a2e3 493 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
494 terminates the entire download queue
495 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
496 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 497
d5a62e4f 498## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 499 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
500 video that should be downloaded concurrently
501 (default is 1)
62b58c09
L
502 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
503 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
2dd5a2e3 504 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
505 below which throttling is assumed and the
62b58c09 506 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
2dd5a2e3 507 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
508 "infinite"
509 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
510 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
511 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
512 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
be5c1ae8 513 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
514 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
515 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
516 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
517 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
518 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
519 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
62b58c09 520 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
2dd5a2e3 521 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
522 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
523 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
8e174ba7 524 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
525 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
2dd5a2e3 526 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
527 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
528 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
529 downloading is finished
530 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
531 downloading is finished (default)
62b58c09 532 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
2dd5a2e3 533 (default is 1024)
534 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
535 from an initial value of --buffer-size
536 (default)
537 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
538 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
62b58c09 539 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
2dd5a2e3 540 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
541 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
542 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 543 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 544 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
545 received. This disables n_entries,
546 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
547 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
548 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 549 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
550 expected file size
551 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
552 allowing some players to play the video
553 while downloading, and reducing the chance
554 of file corruption if download is
555 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
556 live streams
557 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
558 videos. This is default when not downloading
559 live streams
b4e0d758 560 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters that match the
561 regular expression. A "*" prefix denotes
562 time-range instead of chapter. Negative
563 timestamps are calculated from the end.
564 "*from-url" can be used to download between
565 the "start_time" and "end_time" extracted
566 from the URL. Needs ffmpeg. This option can
567 be used multiple times to download multiple
62b58c09 568 sections, e.g. --download-sections
2fa669f7 569 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
2dd5a2e3 570 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
571 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
572 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
573 use it for. Currently supports native,
574 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
575 wget. You can use this option multiple times
576 to set different downloaders for different
62b58c09 577 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
2dd5a2e3 578 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
579 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
580 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
581 (Alias: --external-downloader)
582 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
583 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
584 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
585 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
586 positions using the same syntax as
587 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
588 option multiple times to give different
589 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
590 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 591
cfcec693 592## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 593 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
594 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
595 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
596 comments and ignored
597 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
598 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
599 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
600 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
601 TYPES as --output are supported.
602 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
603 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
604 files are first downloaded to the temp path
605 and then the final files are moved over to
606 the home path after download is finished.
607 This option is ignored if --output is an
608 absolute path
609 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
610 TEMPLATE" for details
611 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
47ab66db 612 --output (default: "NA")
2dd5a2e3 613 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
614 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
615 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
616 filenames (default)
617 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
618 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
619 using Windows (default)
620 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
621 extension) to the specified number of
622 characters
623 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
624 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
625 option includes --no-continue
626 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
627 related files (default)
628 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
629 (default)
630 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
631 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
632 restart download of the entire file
633 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
634 into output file (default)
635 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
636 output file
637 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
638 modification time (default)
639 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
640 the file modification time
64fa820c 641 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 642 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
643 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
644 (this may contain personal information)
645 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
646 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
647 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
648 --write-description etc. (default)
649 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
650 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
ad54c913 651 --clean-info-json Remove some internal metadata such as
652 filenames from the infojson (default)
2dd5a2e3 653 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
654 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
655 infojson. The comments are fetched even
656 without this option if the extraction is
657 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
658 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
659 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
660 --no-get-comments)
661 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 662 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 663 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
664 and dump cookie jar in
665 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
666 (default)
825d3ce3 667 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
668 The name of the browser to load cookies
669 from. Currently supported browsers are:
670 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
ed274b60 671 opera, safari, vivaldi, whale. Optionally,
672 the KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium
673 cookies on Linux, the name/path of the
674 PROFILE to load cookies from, and the
675 CONTAINER name (if Firefox) ("none" for no
676 container) can be given with their
cd682582 677 respective separators. By default, all
ed274b60 678 containers of the most recently accessed
679 profile are used. Currently supported
680 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring,
681 kwallet, kwallet5, kwallet6
2dd5a2e3 682 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
17ffed18 683 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
684 store some downloaded information (such as
685 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
878eac3e 686 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
2dd5a2e3 687 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
688 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 689
b31fdeed 690## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 691 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 692 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 693 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
694 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
695 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 696
732044af 697## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 698 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
699 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
700 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
701 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
702 OS caches the URL based on the file path
703 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
704 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 705
0744a815 706## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 707 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
708 print the log to stderr
d669772c 709 --no-quiet Deactivate quiet mode. (Default)
2dd5a2e3 710 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
711 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
712 anything to disk
713 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
714 options are used
715 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
716 extracting metadata even if the videos are
717 not actually available for download
718 (experimental)
719 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
720 formats are found (default)
721 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
722 related files (Alias: --no-download)
723 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
724 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
725 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
726 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
119e40ef 727 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
2dd5a2e3 728 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
729 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
730 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 731 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 732 Append given template to the file. The
733 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
734 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
735 output template. This option can be used
736 multiple times
737 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
738 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
739 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
740 description of available keys
741 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
742 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
743 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
744 a playlist, the whole playlist information
745 is dumped in a single line
746 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
747 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
748 another simulation option is used (Alias:
749 --force-download-archive)
750 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
751 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
752 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
753 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 754 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 755 Template for progress outputs, optionally
756 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
757 "download-title:" (the console title),
758 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
759 The video's fields are accessible under the
760 "info" key and the progress attributes are
62b58c09 761 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 762 --console-title --progress-template
763 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
9590cc6b 764 --progress-delta SECONDS Time between progress output (default: 0)
2dd5a2e3 765 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
766 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
767 to debug problems (very verbose)
768 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
769 in the current directory to debug problems
770 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 771
36f35428 772## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 773 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
774 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
775 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
776 renegotiation
777 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
778 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
779 information about the video (Currently
780 supported only for YouTube)
a5387729 781 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
2dd5a2e3 782 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
783 option multiple times
784 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
785 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
786 or fribidi executable in PATH
787 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
788 during data extraction
789 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
790 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
791 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
792 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
793 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
794 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
795 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
796 subtitle download
36f35428 797
cfcec693 798## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 799 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
800 for more details
801 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
802 "Sorting Formats" for more details
803 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
804 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
805 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
806 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
807 specified sort order (default)
808 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
809 into a single file
810 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
811 output file (default)
812 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
813 into a single file
814 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
815 output file (default)
816 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
817 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
818 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
819 irrespective of quality
820 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
821 containers (default)
822 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
823 those that are actually downloadable
824 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
825 actually downloadable
826 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
827 downloadable
828 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
829 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
fc61aff4 830 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
62b58c09 831 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
fc61aff4
LL
832 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
833 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
8ae7be3e
PH
834
835## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 836 --write-subs Write subtitle file
837 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
838 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
839 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
840 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
841 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
842 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
843 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
844 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
62b58c09 845 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
2dd5a2e3 846 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
62b58c09
L
847 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
848 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
2dd5a2e3 849 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
62b58c09
L
850 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
851 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
2dd5a2e3 852 of available language tags
6bcd846b 853
cfcec693 854## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 855 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
856 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
857 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
858 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
859 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
860 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
861 either the path or its containing directory.
862 Defaults to ~/.netrc
db3ad8a6 863 --netrc-cmd NETRC_CMD Command to execute to get the credentials
d1b21561 864 for an extractor.
b634ba74 865 --video-password PASSWORD Video-specific password
2dd5a2e3 866 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
867 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
868 a list of available MSOs
869 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
870 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
871 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
872 interactively
873 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
874 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
875 format. May include the private key
876 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
877 Path to private key file for client
878 certificate
bb58c9ed 879 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 880 Password for client certificate private key,
881 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
882 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 883
c76eb41b 884## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 885 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
886 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 887 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
888 used. (currently supported: best (default),
8dc59305 889 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
e0ab9854 890 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
891 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 892 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
893 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
894 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
895 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
896 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
8dc59305 897 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
69f5fe45 898 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
899 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
900 wav). If target container does not support
901 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
902 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
2dd5a2e3 903 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 904 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 905 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
906 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
907 are the same as --remux-video
908 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
909 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
910 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
911 to give the argument to the specified
912 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
913 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
914 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
915 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
916 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
917 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
918 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
919 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
920 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
921 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
922 specified executable only when being used by
923 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
924 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
925 appended to the prefix optionally followed
926 by a number to pass the argument before the
62b58c09 927 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
2dd5a2e3 928 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
929 this option multiple times to give different
930 arguments to different postprocessors.
931 (Alias: --ppa)
932 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
933 after post-processing
934 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
935 post-processing (default)
936 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
937 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
938 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
939 webm and mkv videos)
940 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
941 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
942 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
943 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
944 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
945 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
946 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
947 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
948 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
949 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
950 (Alias: --add-chapters)
951 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
952 --no-add-chapters)
953 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
954 mkv/mka video files
955 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
956 to the video file
fe74d5b5 957 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
958 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
2dd5a2e3 959 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
fe74d5b5 960 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
961 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
962 (default: pre_process)
963 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 964 Replace text in a metadata field using the
965 given regex. This option can be used
fe74d5b5 966 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
967 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
968 (default: pre_process)
2dd5a2e3 969 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
970 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
971 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
972 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
973 (default; only when the videos form a single
974 show). All the video files must have same
975 codecs and number of streams to be
976 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
977 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
978 the output filename for the concatenated
979 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
980 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
981 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
982 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
983 default; fix file if we can, warn
984 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
985 already exists)
986 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 987 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 988 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
119e40ef 989 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
990 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
991 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
992 after_move). Same syntax as the output
993 template can be used to pass any field as
ad54c913 994 arguments to the command. If no fields are
995 passed, %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended
996 to the end of the command. This option can
997 be used multiple times
2dd5a2e3 998 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
999 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
8dc59305 1000 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
2dd5a2e3 1001 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1002 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1003 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1004 can specify multiple rules using similar
1005 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1006 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1007 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1008 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1009 the output filename for the split files. See
1010 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1011 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1012 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1013 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1014 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1015 be used multiple times
1016 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1017 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1018 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1019 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1020 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1021 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1022 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1023 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1024 when cutting/splitting (default)
1025 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1026 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1027 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1028 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1029 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1030 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1031 The "when" argument determines when the
1032 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1033 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1034 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
119e40ef 1035 "video" (after --format; before
1036 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1037 video download), "post_process" (after each
1038 video download; default), "after_move"
cd682582 1039 (after moving video file to its final
119e40ef 1040 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1041 and processing all formats of a video), or
1042 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1043 can be used multiple times to add different
1044 postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1045
1046## SponsorBlock Options:
1047Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1048 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1049 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1050
2dd5a2e3 1051 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1052 for, separated by commas. Available
1053 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1054 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
71df9b7f 1055 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1056 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1057 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1058 for description of the categories. E.g.
2dd5a2e3 1059 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1060 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1061 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1062 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1063 category is present in both mark and remove,
1064 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1065 available categories are the same as for
1066 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
71df9b7f 1067 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
63c547d7 1068 chapter are not available
7a340e0d 1069 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1070 An output template for the title of the
1071 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1072 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1073 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1074 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1075 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1076 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1077 --sponsorblock-remove
1078 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1079 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1080
78895bd3 1081## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1082 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1083 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1084 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1085 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1086 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1087 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1088 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1089 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1090 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1091 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1092 (default)
2fa669f7 1093 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1094 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1095 can use this option multiple times to give
2dd5a2e3 1096 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1097
b7770046
U
1098# CONFIGURATION
1099
7a5c1cfe 1100You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1101
878eac3e 11021. **Main Configuration**:
47ab66db 1103 * The file given to `--config-location`
878eac3e 11041. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1105 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1106 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
11071. **Home Configuration**:
47ab66db 1108 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given to `-P`
878eac3e 1109 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
e2e43aea 11101. **User Configuration**:
773c272d 1111 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1112 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
8e40b9d1 1113 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
773c272d 1114 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
878eac3e 1115 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1116 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
e2e43aea 1117 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1118 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
8e40b9d1
M
1119 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1120 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
3d3bb168 1121
878eac3e 1122 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
11231. **System Configuration**:
1124 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
8e40b9d1
M
1125 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1126 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
b7770046 1127
6aaf96a3 1128E.g. with the following configuration file, yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
U
1129```
1130# Lines starting with # are comments
1131
1132# Always extract audio
1133-x
1134
1135# Do not copy the mtime
1136--no-mtime
1137
1138# Use this proxy
1139--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1140
298f597b 1141# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1142-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
U
1143```
1144
6aaf96a3 1145**Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary, as if it were a UNIX shell.
b7770046 1146
a4211baf 1147You 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 1148
304ad45a 1149### Configuration file encoding
a904a7f8 1150
304ad45a 1151The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1152
88f60feb 1153If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
a904a7f8 1154
db3ad8a6 1155### Authentication with netrc
b7770046 1156
6aaf96a3 1157You 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 1158```
878eac3e 1159touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1160chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
b7770046 1161```
6aaf96a3 1162After that, you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
b7770046 1163```
0001fcb5 1164machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046 1165```
62b58c09 1166E.g.
b7770046
U
1167```
1168machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1169machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1170```
7a5c1cfe 1171To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1172
878eac3e 1173The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1174
d7cd97e8 1175As an alternative to using the `.netrc` file, which has the disadvantage of keeping your passwords in a plain text file, you can configure a custom shell command to provide the credentials for an extractor. This is done by providing the `--netrc-cmd` parameter, it shall output the credentials in the netrc format and return `0` on success, other values will be treated as an error. `{}` in the command will be replaced by the name of the extractor to make it possible to select the credentials for the right extractor.
db3ad8a6
ND
1176
1177E.g. To use an encrypted `.netrc` file stored as `.authinfo.gpg`
1178```
1179yt-dlp --netrc-cmd 'gpg --decrypt ~/.authinfo.gpg' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc
1180```
1181
1182
878eac3e 1183### Notes about environment variables
1184* Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1185* yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1186* If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1187* On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1188* On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
b7770046
U
1189
1190# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1191
0202b52a 1192The `-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 1193
ec2e44fc 1194<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1195**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1196<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1197
e58c22a0 1198The 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 1199
62b58c09 1200It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1201
1202The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1203
6aaf96a3 12041. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7)s`, `%(id.6:2:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1205
993edd3f 12061. **Arithmetic**: Simple arithmetic can be done on numeric fields using `+`, `-` and `*`. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1207
62b58c09 12081. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1209
62b58c09 12101. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1211
ec9311c4 12121. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator according to the [`str.format` mini-language](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language). If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty. E.g. `%(chapters&has chapters|no chapters)s`, `%(title&TITLE={:>20}|NO TITLE)s`
e978789f 1213
17ffed18 12141. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1215
9b9dad11 12161. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1217
d5d1df8a 12181. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1219
1220To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1221```
e978789f 1222%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1223```
de6000d9 1224
6aaf96a3 1225Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1226
47ab66db 1227<a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
7aaf4cd2 1228
8e174ba7 1229**Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
7aaf4cd2 1230
e29663c6 1231The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1232
1233 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1234 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1235 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1236 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1237 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1238 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1239 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1240 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
f4f9f6d0 1241 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1242 - `uploader_url` (string): URL to the video uploader's profile
b7770046 1243 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
104a7b5a
L
1244 - `creators` (list): The creators of the video
1245 - `creator` (string): The creators of the video; comma-separated
b7770046 1246 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1247 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1248 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1249 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1732eccc 1250 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the video or album was released
f0d785d3 1251 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1252 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
U
1253 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1254 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
f4f9f6d0 1255 - `channel_url` (string): URL of the channel
6c73052c 1256 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
8213ce28 1257 - `channel_is_verified` (boolean): Whether the channel is verified on the platform
b7770046
U
1258 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1259 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1260 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046 1261 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
867c66ff 1262 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
b7770046
U
1263 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1264 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1265 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1266 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1267 - `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 1268 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
e325a21a 1269 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
b7770046 1270 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1271 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1272 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1273 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
e370f9ec 1274 - `media_type` (string): The type of media as classified by the site, e.g. "episode", "clip", "trailer"
b7770046
U
1275 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1276 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
b7770046
U
1277 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1278 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1279 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b532a348 1280 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`, padded with leading zeros to 5 digits
9c906919 1281 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1282 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1283 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1284 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
6aaf96a3 1285 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_title` if available or else `playlist_id`
f0d785d3 1286 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1287 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1288 - `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
1289 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1290 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
55e3e6fd 1291 - `playlist_channel` (string): Display name of the channel that uploaded the playlist
1292 - `playlist_channel_id` (string): Identifier of the channel that uploaded the playlist
6aaf96a3 1293 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which, if given to yt-dlp, should yield the same result again
0bb322b9 1294 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1295 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1296 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
f4f9f6d0 1297 - `categories` (list): List of categories the video belongs to
1298 - `tags` (list): List of tags assigned to the video
1299 - `cast` (list): List of cast members
1300
d2c8aadf 1301All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
b7770046
U
1302
1303Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1304
1305 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1306 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1307 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1308
6aaf96a3 1309Available for the video that is an episode of some series or program:
b7770046 1310
6aaf96a3 1311 - `series` (string): Title of the series or program the video episode belongs to
1312 - `series_id` (string): Id of the series or program the video episode belongs to
b7770046
U
1313 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1314 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1315 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1316 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1317 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1318 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1319
1320Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1321
1322 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1323 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1324 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
104a7b5a
L
1325 - `artists` (list): Artist(s) of the track
1326 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track; comma-separated
1327 - `genres` (list): Genre(s) of the track
1328 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track; comma-separated
1329 - `composers` (list): Composer(s) of the piece
1330 - `composer` (string): Composer(s) of the piece; comma-separated
b7770046
U
1331 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1332 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
104a7b5a
L
1333 - `album_artists` (list): All artists appeared on the album
1334 - `album_artist` (string): All artists appeared on the album; comma-separated
b7770046 1335 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
b7770046 1336
5ec1b6b7 1337Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1338
1339 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1340 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1341 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1342 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1343
53c18592 1344Available only when used in `--print`:
1345
1346 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
7aaf4cd2 1347 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
ed5835b4 1348 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1349 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1350 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1351 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
6aaf96a3 1352
ad54c913 1353 Available only after the video is downloaded (`post_process`/`after_move`):
6aaf96a3 1354
ad54c913 1355 - `filepath`: Actual path of downloaded video file
1356
7a340e0d
NA
1357Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1358
1359 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1360 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1338ae3b 1361 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
7a340e0d
NA
1362 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1363 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1364 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1338ae3b 1365 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
53c18592 1366
62b58c09 1367Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
49a57e70 1368
6aaf96a3 1369**Note**: Some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present, since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1370
0930b11f 1371**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1372
62b58c09 1373For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1374
940a67a3 1375Output 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
1376
1377To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1378
91ebc640 1379The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1380
f304da8a 1381In 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 1382
b7770046
U
1383#### Output template examples
1384
b7770046 1385```bash
d2c8aadf 1386$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1387test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1388
d2c8aadf 1389$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1390youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1391
d2c8aadf 1392$ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1393youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1394
1395# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1396$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1397
b050d210 1398# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1399$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1400
e978789f 1401# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
ad54c913 1402$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist_index&{} - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1403
b7770046 1404# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1405$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
U
1406
1407# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1408$ 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
1409
1410# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1411$ 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 1412
6a34813a 1413# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1414# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1415$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1416
1417# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1418$ 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
1419
b7770046 1420# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1421$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1422```
1423
1424# FORMAT SELECTION
1425
7a5c1cfe
P
1426By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1427This 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 1428
c111cefa 1429**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.
1430
eff63539 1431The 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 1432
ec2e44fc 1433<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1434**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1435<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1436
62b58c09 1437The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
b7770046
U
1438
1439You 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.
1440
fa9f30b8 1441You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1442
b7770046
U
1443You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1444
59a7a13e 1445 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1446 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
6aaf96a3 1447 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (i.e.; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
59a7a13e 1448 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1449 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1450 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1451 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1452 - `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 1453 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1454 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1455 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1456 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1457 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1458 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1459
6aaf96a3 1460For 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 1461
1462You 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 1463
304ad45a 1464If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
b7770046
U
1465
1466If 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`.
1467
62b58c09 1468You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
d806c9fd 1469
1470**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
1471
304ad45a 1472Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1473
1474## Filtering Formats
1475
b532a348 1476You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"` since filters without a selector are interpreted as `best`).
b7770046
U
1477
1478The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1479
1480 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
d2c8aadf 1481 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
b7770046
U
1482 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1483 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
105bfd90 1484 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
86e3b822 1485 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1486 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1487 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
b7770046
U
1488 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1489 - `fps`: Frame rate
d2c8aadf 1490 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1491 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
b7770046 1492
1ce9a3cb 1493Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046 1494
d2c8aadf 1495 - `url`: Video URL
b7770046
U
1496 - `ext`: File extension
1497 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1498 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1499 - `container`: Name of the container format
1500 - `protocol`: The protocol that will be used for the actual download, lower-case (`http`, `https`, `rtsp`, `rtmp`, `rtmpe`, `mms`, `f4m`, `ism`, `http_dash_segments`, `m3u8`, or `m3u8_native`)
29f7c58a 1501 - `language`: Language code
d2c8aadf 1502 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1503 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1504 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1505 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1506 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
b7770046 1507
1ce9a3cb 1508Any 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 1509
6aaf96a3 1510**Note**: None of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by the 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 1511
86e3b822 1512Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "bv[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 kbps. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1513
62b58c09 1514Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
b7770046 1515
eb8a4433 1516## Sorting Formats
1517
2e7781a9 1518You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1519
1520The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1521
304ad45a 1522 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1523 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
ed8d87f9 1524 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1525 - `lang`: The language preference
1526 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1527 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1528 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1529 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
a5387729 1530 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1531 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
29ca4082 1532 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
f2e9fa3e 1533 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
63be1aab 1534 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1535 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
62b5c94c 1536 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize
63be1aab 1537 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1538 - `height`: Height of video
1539 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1540 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1541 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1542 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
b8ed0f15 1543 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
86e3b822 1544 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1545 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1546 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec")
1547 - `br`: Average bitrate in [kbps](## "1000 bits/sec"), `tbr`/`vbr`/`abr`
63be1aab 1548 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
6aaf96a3 1549
d806c9fd 1550**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 1551
62b58c09 1552All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. E.g. `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
9ee4f0bb 1553
6aaf96a3 1554The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behavior can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1555
6aaf96a3 1556Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. Dolby Vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1557
e58c22a0 1558If 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 1559
1560**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1561
eb8a4433 1562## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1563
b7770046 1564```bash
e58c22a0 1565# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1566# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1568
1569# Download best format that contains video,
1570# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1571$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1572
1573# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1574$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1575
6fd35a11 1576# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1577# For this case, an output template should be used since
1578# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1579$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1580
f8d4ad9a 1581# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1582# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1583$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1584
1585# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1586# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1588
6fd35a11 1589
1590# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1591# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1592
1593# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1594$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1595
1596# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1597$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1598
1599# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1600$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1601
1602
909d24dd 1603
eb8a4433 1604# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1605$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1606
1607# Download the best video with the best extension
29ca4082 1608# (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1609$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1610
1611
909d24dd 1612
eb8a4433 1613# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1614# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1615$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1616
eb8a4433 1617# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1618# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1619$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1620
eb8a4433 1621# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1622# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1623# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1624# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1625$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1626
b7770046 1627
909d24dd 1628
eb8a4433 1629# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1630# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1631$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1632
1633# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1634# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1635$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1636
1637# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1638$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1639
1640
909d24dd 1641
eb8a4433 1642# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1643# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1644$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1645
1646# Download best video available via the best protocol
1647# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1648$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1649
1650
909d24dd 1651
1ce9a3cb
LF
1652# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1653# or the best video if there is no such video
1654$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1655
1656# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1657# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1658$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1659
1660# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1661# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1662$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1663
1664
1665
1666# More complex examples
1667
e58c22a0 1668# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1669# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1670$ 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 1671
1672# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1673# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1674# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1675$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1676
1677
909d24dd 1678
eb8a4433 1679# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1680# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1681# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1682$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1683```
eb8a4433 1684
73cd218f 1685# MODIFYING METADATA
1686
a4211baf 1687The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1688
47ab66db 1689`--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 1690
47ab66db 1691The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [Python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1692
46d09f87 1693Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
73cd218f 1694
9c2b75b5 1695This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1696
c8bc203f 1697* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)"` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1698
62b58c09 1699* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1700
08d30158 1701**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.
1702
c31be5b0 1703For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1704
08d30158 1705Metadata fields | From
1706:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1707`title` | `track` or `title`
1708`date` | `upload_date`
1709`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1710`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1711`track` | `track_number`
104a7b5a
L
1712`artist` | `artist`, `artists`, `creator`, `creators`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1713`composer` | `composer` or `composers`
1714`genre` | `genre` or `genres`
08d30158 1715`album` | `album`
104a7b5a 1716`album_artist` | `album_artist` or `album_artists`
08d30158 1717`disc` | `disc_number`
1718`show` | `series`
1719`season_number` | `season_number`
1720`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1721`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1722`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1723
c31be5b0 1724**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1725
73cd218f 1726
1727## Modifying metadata examples
1728
73cd218f 1729```bash
1730# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1731$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1732
1733# Regex example
940a67a3 1734$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1735
1736# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1737$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1738
a44ca5a4 1739# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
2fa669f7 1740$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
a44ca5a4 1741
1742# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1743# handling multiple lines correctly
2fa669f7 1744$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
73cd218f 1745
8aa0e7cd 1746# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1747$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1748
0930b11f 1749# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
7f9c6a63 1750$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "video::(?P<formats>)" --write-info-json
0930b11f 1751
e9f4ccd1 1752# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1753$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1754
73cd218f 1755```
1756
5d3a0e79 1757# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1758
5c019f63 1759Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;formats=incomplete" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1760
a5387729 1761Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1762
5d3a0e79 1763The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1764
1765#### youtube
8e174ba7 1766* `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
8aa0e7cd 1767* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
6aaf96a3 1768* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `ios` and `android`, with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mediaconnect`, `mweb`, `mweb_embedscreen` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `ios,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. The `android` clients will always be given lowest priority since their formats are broken. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1769* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
ba06d77a 1770* `player_params`: YouTube player parameters to use for player requests. Will overwrite any default ones set by yt-dlp.
96565c7e 1771* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1772* `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`
1773 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
b532a348 1774* `formats`: Change the types of formats to return. `dashy` (convert HTTP to DASH), `duplicate` (identical content but different URLs or protocol; includes `dashy`), `incomplete` (cannot be downloaded completely - live dash and post-live m3u8)
1e4fca9a 1775* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
2ae778b8 1776* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
eb5bdbfa 1777* `raise_incomplete_data`: `Incomplete Data Received` raises an error instead of reporting a warning
96565c7e 1778
1779#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1780* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
5225df50 1781* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1782
3b021eac 1783#### generic
5dbac313 1784* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Note that if the stream has an HLS AES-128 key, then the query parameters will be passed to the key URI as well, unless the `key_query` extractor-arg is passed, or unless an external key URI is provided via the `hls_key` extractor-arg. Does not apply to ffmpeg
5cc0a8fd 1785* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
5dbac313 1786* `key_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its HLS AES-128 decryption key URI if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `key_query=VALUE`. Note that this will have no effect if the key URI is provided via the `hls_key` extractor-arg. Does not apply to ffmpeg
c2e0fc40 1787* `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
93e7c699 1788* `is_live`: Bypass live HLS detection and manually set `live_status` - a value of `false` will set `not_live`, any other value (or no value) will set `is_live`
3b021eac 1789
96565c7e 1790#### funimation
304ad45a 1791* `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
96565c7e 1792* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1793
cb1553e9 1794#### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
954e57e4 1795* `hardsub`: One or more hardsub versions to extract (in order of preference), or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs will be extracted), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,de-DE`
706dfe44 1796
96565c7e 1797#### vikichannel
1798* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1799
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1800#### niconico
1801* `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.**
1802
aa4b0545 1803#### youtubewebarchive
1804* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1805
d43de682
M
1806#### gamejolt
1807* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1808
26f2aa3d
AG
1809#### hotstar
1810* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1811* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1812* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1813
698beb9a
M
1814#### niconicochannelplus
1815* `max_comments`: Maximum number of comments to extract - default is `120`
1816
046cab39 1817#### tiktok
cb61e20c 1818* `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API calls, e.g. `api22-normal-c-alisg.tiktokv.com`
1819* `app_name`: Default app name to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `trill`
1820* `app_version`: Default app version to use with mobile API calls - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `34.1.2`
1821* `manifest_app_version`: Default numeric app version to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `2023401020`
41ba4a80 1822* `aid`: Default app ID to use with mobile API calls, e.g. `1180`
1823* `app_info`: Enable mobile API extraction with one or more app info strings in the format of `<iid>/[app_name]/[app_version]/[manifest_app_version]/[aid]`, where `iid` is the unique app install ID. `iid` is the only required value; all other values and their `/` separators can be omitted, e.g. `tiktok:app_info=1234567890123456789` or `tiktok:app_info=123,456/trill///1180,789//34.0.1/340001`
3584b839 1824* `device_id`: Enable mobile API extraction with a genuine device ID to be used with mobile API calls. Default is a random 19-digit string
046cab39 1825
7eaf7f9a 1826#### rokfinchannel
62b58c09 1827* `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
7eaf7f9a 1828
b03fa783 1829#### twitter
a006ce2b 1830* `api`: Select one of `graphql` (default), `legacy` or `syndication` as the API for tweet extraction. Has no effect if logged in
b03fa783 1831
af1fd12f 1832#### stacommu, wrestleuniverse
ef8fb7f0 1833* `device_id`: UUID value assigned by the website and used to enforce device limits for paid livestream content. Can be found in browser local storage
1834
7f9c6a63 1835#### twitch
1836* `client_id`: Client ID value to be sent with GraphQL requests, e.g. `twitch:client_id=kimne78kx3ncx6brgo4mv6wki5h1ko`
01231feb 1837
81c8b9bd 1838#### nhkradirulive (NHK らじる★らじる LIVE)
1839* `area`: Which regional variation to extract. Valid areas are: `sapporo`, `sendai`, `tokyo`, `nagoya`, `osaka`, `hiroshima`, `matsuyama`, `fukuoka`. Defaults to `tokyo`
1840
1eaca74b 1841#### nflplusreplay
1842* `type`: Type(s) of game replays to extract. Valid types are: `full_game`, `full_game_spanish`, `condensed_game` and `all_22`. You can use `all` to extract all available replay types, which is the default
1843
1463945a 1844#### jiocinema
1845* `refresh_token`: The `refreshToken` UUID from browser local storage can be passed to extend the life of your login session when logging in with `token` as username and the `accessToken` from browser local storage as password
1846
5154dc0a 1847#### jiosaavn
1848* `bitrate`: Audio bitrates to request. One or more of `16`, `32`, `64`, `128`, `320`. Default is `128,320`
1849
315b3544 1850#### afreecatvlive
1851* `cdn`: One or more CDN IDs to use with the API call for stream URLs, e.g. `gcp_cdn`, `gs_cdn_pc_app`, `gs_cdn_mobile_web`, `gs_cdn_pc_web`
1852
beaf832c 1853#### soundcloud
6aaf96a3 1854* `formats`: Formats to request from the API. Requested values should be in the format of `{protocol}_{extension}` (omitting the bitrate), e.g. `hls_opus,http_aac`. The `*` character functions as a wildcard, e.g. `*_mp3`, and can be passed by itself to request all formats. Known protocols include `http`, `hls` and `hls-aes`; known extensions include `aac`, `opus` and `mp3`. Original `download` formats are always extracted. Default is `http_aac,hls_aac,http_opus,hls_opus,http_mp3,hls_mp3`
beaf832c 1855
e6a22834 1856#### orfon (orf:on)
1857* `prefer_segments_playlist`: Prefer a playlist of program segments instead of a single complete video when available. If individual segments are desired, use `--concat-playlist never --extractor-args "orfon:prefer_segments_playlist"`
1858
1d6ab17d 1859#### bilibili
1860* `prefer_multi_flv`: Prefer extracting flv formats over mp4 for older videos that still provide legacy formats
1861
8e174ba7 1862**Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1863
ec2e44fc 1864<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1865
3acf6d38 1866
f74980cb 1867# PLUGINS
b7770046 1868
8e40b9d1 1869Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. **Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code!**
3ae5e797 1870
6aaf96a3 1871Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1872- Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1873- Extractor plugins take priority over built-in extractors.
8e40b9d1 1874- Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
3ae5e797 1875
3ae5e797 1876
8e40b9d1 1877Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
3ae5e797 1878
8e40b9d1 1879In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
6aaf96a3 1880
8e40b9d1
M
1881 yt_dlp_plugins/
1882 extractor/
1883 myplugin.py
1884 postprocessor/
1885 myplugin.py
1886
1887yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
b7770046 1888
deae7c17 1889See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1890
8e40b9d1
M
1891## Installing Plugins
1892
1893Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1894
18951. **Configuration directories**:
1896 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1897 * **User Plugins**
1898 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1899 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1900 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
773c272d 1901 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
8e40b9d1
M
1902 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1903 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1904 * **System Plugins**
1905 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1906 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
c8bc203f 19072. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location (recommended for portable installations):
8e40b9d1
M
1908 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1909 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1910
19113. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
e756f45b 1912 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
8e174ba7 1913 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
8e40b9d1
M
1914 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1915 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1916
1917
8e174ba7 1918`.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
df0e138f 1919
8e174ba7 1920* e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
8e40b9d1 1921
8e174ba7 1922Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
8e40b9d1
M
1923
1924## Developing Plugins
1925
8e174ba7 1926See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
8e40b9d1 1927
6aaf96a3 1928All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors respectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
e756f45b 1929
773c272d 1930To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
8e40b9d1 1931
8e174ba7 1932If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
b7770046 1933
8e40b9d1 1934See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
8c6f4daa 1935
1936# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1937
1938yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1939
6aaf96a3 1940Your 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.
8c6f4daa 1941
1942From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1943
1944```python
59a7a13e 1945from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1946
3d3bb168 1947URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1948with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1949 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1950```
1951
b532a348 1952Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L183) or `help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)` in a Python shell. If you are already familiar with the CLI, you can use [`devscripts/cli_to_api.py`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/devscripts/cli_to_api.py) to translate any CLI switches to `YoutubeDL` params.
8c6f4daa 1953
43cc91ad 1954**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 1955
1956## Embedding examples
1957
43cc91ad 1958#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1959
1960```python
1961import json
8c6f4daa 1962import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1963
3d3bb168 1964URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1965
1966# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1967ydl_opts = {}
1968with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1969 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1970
1971 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1972 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1973```
43cc91ad 1974#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1975
1976```python
1977import yt_dlp
1978
1979INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1980
1981with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1982 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1983
1984print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1985 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1986```
1987
43cc91ad 1988#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1989
1990```python
1991import yt_dlp
1992
1993URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1994
1995ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1996 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1997 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1998 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1999 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
2000 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
2001 }]
2002}
2003
2004with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2005 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2006```
0a41f331 2007
2008#### Filter videos
2009
2010```python
2011import yt_dlp
2012
2013URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2014
2015def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
2016 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
2017 duration = info.get('duration')
2018 if duration and duration < 60:
2019 return 'The video is too short'
2020
2021ydl_opts = {
2022 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
2023}
2024
2025with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2026 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
2027```
2028
43cc91ad 2029#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 2030
2031```python
2032import yt_dlp
2033
2034URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 2035
2036class MyLogger:
2037 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 2038 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 2039 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
2040 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
2041 pass
2042 else:
2043 self.info(msg)
2044
2045 def info(self, msg):
2046 pass
2047
2048 def warning(self, msg):
2049 pass
2050
2051 def error(self, msg):
2052 print(msg)
2053
2054
3d3bb168 2055# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
2056def my_hook(d):
2057 if d['status'] == 'finished':
2058 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2059
2060
2061ydl_opts = {
2062 'logger': MyLogger(),
2063 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2064}
2065
2066with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2067 ydl.download(URLS)
2068```
2069
43cc91ad 2070#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 2071
2072```python
2073import yt_dlp
2074
2075URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2076
2077# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 2078class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 2079 def run(self, info):
2080 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2081 return [], info
2082
2083
3d3bb168 2084with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 2085 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2086 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 2087 ydl.download(URLS)
2088```
8c6f4daa 2089
2090
43cc91ad 2091#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 2092
2093```python
2094import yt_dlp
2095
c8bc203f 2096URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
3d3bb168 2097
093a1710 2098def format_selector(ctx):
2099 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 2100 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 2101
2102 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2103 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2104
2105 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2106 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2107 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2108
2109 # find compatible audio extension
2110 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2111 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2112 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2113 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2114
3d3bb168 2115 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2116 yield {
093a1710 2117 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2118 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2119 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2120 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2121 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2122 }
2123
2124
8c6f4daa 2125ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2126 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2127}
2128
2129with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2130 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2131```
2132
ec2e44fc 2133
47ab66db 2134# CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DL
2135
2136### New features
2137
a4da9db8 2138* Forked from [**yt-dlc@f9401f2**](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee) and merged with [**youtube-dl@a08f2b7**](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a08f2b7e4567cdc50c0614ee0a4ffdff49b8b6e6) ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))
47ab66db 2139
2140* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
2141
2142* **[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))
2143
2144* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
2145
2146* **YouTube improvements**:
2147 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
2148 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
2149 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
2150 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
2151 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
2152
2153* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
2154
2155* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
2156
2157* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
2158
2159* **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
2160
2161* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
2162
2163* **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)
2164
2165* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
2166
2167* **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
2168
2169* **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`)
2170
2171* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
2172
2173* **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`
2174
2175* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-match-filter` etc
2176
2177* **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
2178
2179* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
2180
2181* **Self updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`, and downgraded using `--update-to` if required
2182
2183* **Automated builds**: [Nightly/master builds](#update-channels) can be used with `--update-to nightly` and `--update-to master`
2184
2185See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
2186
2187Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
2188
2189### Differences in default behavior
2190
2191Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
2192
2193* yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.8+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
2194* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
2195* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
2196* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
2197* 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`
2198* 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
2199* 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
2200* 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
2201* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
2202* 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
2203* `--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
2204* 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
2205* `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
2206* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
2207* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
2208* YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. If the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
2209* Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
2210* The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
2211* 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
2212* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
2213* Some internal metadata such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
2214* 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
2215* `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`
2216* yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
2217* ~~yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [aria2c](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is~~
2218* yt-dlp versions between 2021.09.01 and 2023.01.02 applies `--match-filter` to nested playlists. This was an unintentional side-effect of [8f18ac](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/8f18aca8717bb0dd49054555af8d386e5eda3a88) and is fixed in [d7b460](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/d7b460d0e5fc710950582baed2e3fc616ed98a80). Use `--compat-options playlist-match-filter` to revert this
2219* yt-dlp versions between 2021.11.10 and 2023.06.21 estimated `filesize_approx` values for fragmented/manifest formats. This was added for convenience in [f2fe69](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/f2fe69c7b0d208bdb1f6292b4ae92bc1e1a7444a), but was reverted in [0dff8e](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/0dff8e4d1e6e9fb938f4256ea9af7d81f42fd54f) due to the potentially extreme inaccuracy of the estimated values. Use `--compat-options manifest-filesize-approx` to keep extracting the estimated values
2220* yt-dlp uses modern http client backends such as `requests`. Use `--compat-options prefer-legacy-http-handler` to prefer the legacy http handler (`urllib`) to be used for standard http requests.
ed3bb2b0 2221* The sub-modules `swfinterp`, `casefold` are removed.
47ab66db 2222
2223For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
2224
93d33cb2 2225* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (**Do NOT use this!**)
2226* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx,-allow-unsafe-ext`
2227* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect,-playlist-match-filter,-manifest-filesize-approx,-allow-unsafe-ext`
47ab66db 2228* `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
2229* `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options 2023,playlist-match-filter,no-external-downloader-progress,prefer-legacy-http-handler,manifest-filesize-approx`
2230* `--compat-options 2023`: Currently does nothing. Use this to enable all future compat options
2231
5ce58244
SS
2232The following compat options restore vulnerable behavior from before security patches:
2233
2234* `--compat-options allow-unsafe-ext`: Allow files with any extension (including unsafe ones) to be downloaded ([GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j](<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/security/advisories/GHSA-79w7-vh3h-8g4j>))
2235
2236 > :warning: Only use if a valid file download is rejected because its extension is detected as uncommon
2237 >
2238 > **This option can enable remote code execution! Consider [opening an issue](<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/new/choose>) instead!**
2239
47ab66db 2240### Deprecated options
e167860c 2241
2242These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2243
8130779d 2244#### Almost redundant options
2245While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2246
2247 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2248 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2249 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2250 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2251
6ccf351a 2252#### Redundant options
2253While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2254
53c18592 2255 --get-description --print description
2256 --get-duration --print duration_string
2257 --get-filename --print filename
2258 --get-format --print format
2259 --get-id --print id
2260 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2261 -e, --get-title --print title
2262 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2263 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2264 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2265 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2266 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
fe2ce85a 2267 --break-on-reject Use --break-match-filter
8b7539d2 2268 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2269 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2270 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2271 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2272 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2273 --no-playlist-reverse Default
8417f26b 2274 --no-colors --color no_color
6ccf351a 2275
6ccf351a 2276#### Not recommended
2277While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2278
fe7866d0 2279 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
1e43a6f7 2280 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2281 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2282 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2283 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2284 --print-json -j --no-simulate
62b58c09 2285 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2286 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2287 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2288 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2289 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2290 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2291 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2292 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2293 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2294 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2295 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2296 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
c1664464 2297 --geo-bypass --xff "default"
2298 --no-geo-bypass --xff "never"
2299 --geo-bypass-country CODE --xff CODE
2300 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK --xff IP_BLOCK
6ccf351a 2301
6ccf351a 2302#### Developer options
2303These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2304
34488702 2305 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2306 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2307 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2308 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2309 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2310
f4536226 2311#### Old aliases
2312These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2313
2314 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2315 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2316 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2317 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2318 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2319 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2320 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2321 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2322 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2323 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2324 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2325 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2326 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2327 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2328 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2329 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2330 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2331
7a340e0d 2332#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2333Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2334
2335 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2336 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2337 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2338 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2339 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2340 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2341 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2342 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2343
f4536226 2344#### No longer supported
2345These options may no longer work as intended
2346
2347 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2348 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2349 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2350 --no-call-home Default
2351 --include-ads No longer supported
2352 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2353 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2354 --no-write-annotations Default
1e8fe57e 2355 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
96a134de 2356 --compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date No longer supported
486fb179 2357
2358#### Removed
2359These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2360
f4536226 2361 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2362 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2363
47ab66db 2364
8c6f4daa 2365# CONTRIBUTING
2366See [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 2367
17ffed18 2368# WIKI
2369See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information