]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[youtube] refactor itag processing
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c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
c76eb41b 18
b31fdeed 19yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 20
034b6215 21* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 22 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 23* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 24 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 25 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 26 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 27 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 28* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
29 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 30 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 31 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 32 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
33 * [Download Options](#download-options)
34 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 36 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 37 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 38 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
39 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
40 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
41 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 43 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 44 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 45* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 46 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 47* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 48 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
49 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 50* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 51 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
52 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
53 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 54* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
55 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 56* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 57* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 58* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
e167860c 59* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 60* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
61 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
62 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 63* [MORE](#more)
b31fdeed 64</div>
50865ca8 65
66
034b6215 67# NEW FEATURES
f20f5fe5 68The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
034b6215 69
7a340e0d 70* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 71
7581d246 72* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 73
6aecd871 74* **Merged with youtube-dl [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06.06) You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
034b6215 75
0fdf490d 76* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 77
f5546c0b 78* **Youtube improvements**:
6ccf351a 79 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 80 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
81 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
6ccf351a 82 * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
f703a880 83 * Partial workaround for throttling issue
f20f5fe5 84 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 85 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 86 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
f20f5fe5 87
245524e6 88* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
89
597c1866 90* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
91
b31fdeed 92* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 93
b31fdeed 94* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 95
0676afb1 96* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision MSO, RCN MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ, BannedVideo, bilibili categories, Epicon, filmmodu, GabTV, HungamaAlbum, ManotoTV, Niconico search, Patreon User, peloton, ProjectVeritas, radiko, StarTV, tiktok user, Tokentube, voicy, TV2HuSeries, biliintl, 17live, NewgroundsUser, peertube channel/playlist, ZenYandex, CAM4, CGTN, damtomo, gotostage, Koo, Mediaite, Mediaklikk, MuseScore, nzherald, Olympics replay, radlive, SovietsCloset, Streamanity, Theta, Chingari, ciscowebex, Gettr, GoPro, N1, Theta, Veo, Vupload, NovaPlay, SkyNewsAU, EUScreen, Gronkh, microsoftstream, on24, trovo channels
f20f5fe5 97
0676afb1 98* **Fixed/improved extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds, SAML Verizon login, Hungama, afreecatv, aljazeera, ATV, bitchute, camtube, CDA, eroprofile, facebook, HearThisAtIE, iwara, kakao, Motherless, Nova, peertube, pornhub, reddit, tiktok, TV2, TV2Hu, tv5mondeplus, VH1, Viafree, XHamster, 9Now, AnimalPlanet, Arte, CBC, Chingari, comedycentral, DIYNetwork, niconico, dw, funimation, globo, HiDive, NDR, Nuvid, Oreilly, pbs, plutotv, reddit, redtube, soundcloud, SpankBang, VrtNU, bbc, Bilibili, LinkedInLearning, parliamentlive, PolskieRadio, Streamable, vidme, francetv, 7plus, tagesschau
fac98805 99
3de7c2ce 100* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 101
597c1866 102* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 103
104* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
105
418964fa 106* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 107
418964fa 108* **Other new options**: `--print`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 109
418964fa 110* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
c69911e4 111
b31fdeed 112* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
113
7a5c1cfe 114* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 115
29b6000e 116
7a5c1cfe 117See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 118
119
90505ff1 120**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
f20f5fe5 121
b9650873 122If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
f20f5fe5 123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
28b0eb0f 129* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
96565c7e 130* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 131* 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
28b0eb0f 132* 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 prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
133* 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
134* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
135* 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
136* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-infojson`. Use `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
137* `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
138* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 139* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 140* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
09f1580e 141* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 142* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 143* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 144* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 145* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
b51d2ae3 146* 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 seperate 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.
53ed7066 147
148For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 149* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
150* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
151* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 152
f20f5fe5 153
d19bb9c0 154# INSTALLATION
b31fdeed 155yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
50865ca8 156
7bc877a2 157You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
733d8e8f 158* Download [the binary](#release-files) from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
b8773e63 159* With Homebrew, `brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
a61f4b28 160* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
733d8e8f 161* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip3 install -U https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip`
a61f4b28 162
163Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
5f326cf5 164
5ba4a0b6
A
165UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
166
167```
168sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
169sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
170```
171
172```
173sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
174sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
175```
176
177```
178sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
179sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
180```
181
b8773e63
THD
182macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew (formerly known as Linuxbrew for Linux users) can also install it by:
183
184```
185brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
186```
187
cf59cd4d 188### UPDATE
189You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
190If you are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
b8773e63 191If you have installed using Homebrew, run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 192
0e5927ee
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193### RELEASE FILES
194
733d8e8f 195#### Recommended
196
197File|Description
198:---|:---
199[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform independant binary. Needs Python (Recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
96565c7e 200[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**)
733d8e8f 201
202#### Alternatives
203
0e5927ee
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204File|Description
205:---|:---
96565c7e 206[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
207[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32bit) binary
208[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
733d8e8f 209[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged windows executable (No auto-update)
96565c7e 210[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (No auto-update)
733d8e8f 211
212#### Misc
213
214File|Description
215:---|:---
0e5927ee
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216[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
217[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
218[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
219
e58c22a0 220### DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 221Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 222
c9652aa4 223<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
224<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 225On 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 226-->
fac98805 227
cf59cd4d 228While all the other dependancies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
229* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
cf59cd4d 230* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
b5ae35ee 231* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licenced under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
e36d50c5 232* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
982ee69a 233* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licenced under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 234* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
235* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
236* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
237* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licenced under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
7a340e0d 238* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licenced under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
cf59cd4d 239* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 240
cf59cd4d 241To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
242
f85e6be4 243The windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
d710cc6d 244
245**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependancy, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specifc issues solved by these builds
246
5f326cf5 247
c76eb41b 248### COMPILE
5f326cf5 249
c76eb41b 250**For Windows**:
49a57e70 251To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 252
733d8e8f 253 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 254 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 255 py pyinst.py
7581d246 256
fac98805 257Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
b96a939b 258
c76eb41b 259**For Unix**:
060ac762 260You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 261Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 262
49a57e70 263**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 264
b31fdeed 265# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 266
7a5c1cfe 267 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 268
c2b5f311 269`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
e58c22a0 270<!-- Auto generated -->
c2b5f311 271
c76eb41b 272## General Options:
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273 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
274 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 275 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
276 sure that you have sufficient permissions
277 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 278 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
279 The download will be considered successfull
280 even if the postprocessing fails
281 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
282 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
283 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 284 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
285 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 286 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
287 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 288 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 289 extractors and exit
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290 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
291 extractor
292 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
293 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 294 from google videos for the search term
295 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
296 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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297 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
298 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
299 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 300 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 301 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 302 except the one provided by --config-location.
303 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 304 file, no further configuration files are
305 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
306 compatibility) if this option is found
307 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 308 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 309 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
310 either the path to the config or its
311 containing directory
c4af7684 312 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 313 only list them
6623ac34 314 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
b5ae35ee 315 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
316 Currently only supported for YouTube
597c1866 317 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 318 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 319 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 320 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 321 configurations by reverting some of the
322 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
323 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 324
149f05c7 325## Network Options:
28b4f736 326 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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327 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
328 scheme. For example
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329 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
330 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 331 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 332 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 333 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 334 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 335
b31fdeed 336## Geo-restriction:
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337 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
338 some geo-restricted sites. The default
339 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 340 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 341 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 342 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 343 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
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344 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
345 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
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346 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
347 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 348 country code
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349 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
350 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 351 notation
149f05c7 352
cfcec693 353## Video Selection:
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354 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
355 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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356 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
357 indices of the videos in the playlist
358 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
359 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
360 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
361 specify range: "--playlist-items
362 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 363 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
780083db 364 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
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365 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
366 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
367 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
368 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
6623ac34 369 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
370 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
371 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 372 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 373 this date. The date formats accepted is the
374 same as --date
c4af7684 375 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 376 this date. The date formats accepted is the
377 same as --date
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378 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
379 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 380 number or a string using the operators
381 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
382 also simply specify a field to match if the
383 field is present and "!field" to check if
384 the field is not present. In addition,
385 Python style regular expression matching
386 can be done using "~=", and multiple
387 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
388 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
389 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 390 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 391 matches only videos that are not live, has
392 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 393 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 394 description that contains the phrase "cats
395 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 396 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 397 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 398 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 399 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 400 a video and a playlist
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401 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
402 age
403 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
404 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 405 downloaded videos in it
8b0d7497 406 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 407 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 408 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 409 a file that has been filtered out
26e2805c 410 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
411 of the playlist is skipped
c76eb41b 412 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
6bcd846b 413
d5a62e4f 414## Download Options:
b31fdeed 415 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
416 video that should be download concurrently
417 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 418 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 419 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 420 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
421 below which throttling is assumed and the
422 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 423 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 424 "infinite"
0be8314d 425 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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426 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
427 ISM)
6623ac34 428 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
429 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 430 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 431 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 432 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 433 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 434 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 435 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
436 downloading is finished (default)
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437 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
438 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 439 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
440 from an initial value of --buffer-size
441 (default)
442 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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443 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
444 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
445 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
446 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
447 (experimental)
2101f5d4 448 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 449 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 450 (default)
31487eb9 451 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 452 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 453 expected file size
9bd20204 454 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
455 allowing some players to play the video
456 while downloading, and reducing the chance
457 of file corruption if download is
458 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
459 live streams
460 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
461 videos. This is default when not
462 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 463 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
464 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
465 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
466 use it for. Currently supports native,
467 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
468 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
469 this option multiple times to set different
470 downloaders for different protocols. For
471 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
472 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
473 http/ftp downloads, and the native
474 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
475 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 476 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
477 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 478 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
479 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
480 different positions using the same syntax
481 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
482 option multiple times to give different
483 arguments to different downloaders
29b6000e 484 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 485
cfcec693 486## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 487 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
e8dfecb3
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488 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
489 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 490 comments and ignored
1e520b55 491 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 492 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 493 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 494 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
495 same types as --output are supported.
496 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 497 (default) and "temp" paths. All
498 intermediary files are first downloaded to
499 the temp path and then the final files are
500 moved over to the home path after download
501 is finished. This option is ignored if
502 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 503 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 504 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 505 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
506 fields in output filename template
507 (default: "NA")
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508 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
509 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
510 filenames
c76eb41b 511 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
512 filenames (default)
c2934512 513 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
514 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
515 using windows (default)
516 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
517 extension) to the specified number of
518 characters
9b45b9f5 519 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
520 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
521 This option includes --no-continue
522 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
523 related files (default)
c25228e5 524 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
525 (default)
526 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 527 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 528 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 529 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 530 into output file (default)
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531 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
532 into output file
c76eb41b 533 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
534 file modification time (default)
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535 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
536 the file modification time
537 --write-description Write video description to a .description
538 file
6623ac34 539 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 540 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 541 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 542 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 543 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
544 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
545 --write-description etc. (default)
546 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
547 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 548 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
549 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
550 could still contain some personal
551 information (default)
552 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 553 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
554 infojson. The comments are fetched even
555 without this option if the extraction is
556 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
557 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
558 extraction is known to be quick
559 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 560 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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561 (created with the "--write-info-json"
562 option)
563 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
564 jar in
982ee69a
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565 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
566 (default)
567 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
568 Load cookies from a user profile of the
569 given web browser. Currently supported
0ef787d7 570 browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
571 edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
572 can specify the user profile name or
573 directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
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574 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
575 given, the most recently accessed one is
576 used
577 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 578 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 579 can store some downloaded information (such
580 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 581 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
582 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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583 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
584 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 585
b31fdeed 586## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 587 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 588 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 589 (default)
1dc2726f 590 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 591 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
592 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 593
732044af 594## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 595 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
596 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
597 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
598 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
599 OS caches the URL based on the file path
600 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
601 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 602
0744a815 603## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 604 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
605 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 606 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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607 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
608 anything to disk
34488702 609 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
610 options are used
0cf05715 611 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
34488702 612 for extracting metadata even if the videos
613 are not actually available for download
0cf05715 614 (experimental)
615 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
616 formats are found (default)
e167860c 617 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
618 related files (Alias: --no-download)
34488702 619 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
620 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
621 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
622 the output template can be used
623 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
624 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
625 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
626 description of available keys
627 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
628 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
629 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
630 a playlist, the whole playlist information
631 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 632 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 633 written as far as no errors occur, even if
634 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 635 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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636 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
637 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 638 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 639 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 640 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
641 Template for progress outputs, optionally
642 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
643 "download-title:" (the console title),
644 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
645 The video's fields are accessible under the
646 "info" key and the progress attributes are
647 accessible under "progress" key. Eg:
648 --console-title --progress-template
649 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 650 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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651 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
652 to debug problems (very verbose)
653 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
654 files in the current directory to debug
655 problems
780083db 656 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 657
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658## Workarounds:
659 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
1dc2726f 660 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 661 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 662 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 663 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 664 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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665 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
666 access is restricted to one domain
667 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 668 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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669 option multiple times
670 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
671 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
672 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 673 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
674 during data extraction
c4af7684 675 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 676 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
677 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
678 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
679 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
680 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 681 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
682 subtitle download
36f35428 683
cfcec693 684## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 685 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
686 for more details
687 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
688 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 689 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
690 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 691 Formats" for more details
692 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 693 specified sort order (default), see
694 "Sorting Formats" for more details
695 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
696 into a single file
697 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
698 each output file (default)
699 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
700 into a single file
701 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
702 each output file (default)
da9be05e 703 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
704 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
705 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
706 containers irrespective of quality
707 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
708 containers (default)
e8e73840 709 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
0ba692ac 710 actually downloadable
711 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats selected are
712 actually downloadable
34488702 713 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
714 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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715 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
716 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
717 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
718 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
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719
720## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 721 --write-subs Write subtitle file
722 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
723 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 724 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
725 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
726 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 727 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
728 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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729 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
730 preference, for example: "srt" or
731 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 732 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
733 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
734 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
735 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
736 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
737 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
738 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 739
cfcec693 740## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 741 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 742 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 743 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 744 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 745 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 746 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
747 either the path or its containing
748 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 749 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 750 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 751 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
752 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S
753 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
754 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 755 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
756 interactively
f5e008d1
S
757 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
758 operators
759
c76eb41b 760## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 761 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 762 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 763 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
764 to when -x is used. Currently supported
765 formats are: best (default) or one of
34488702 766 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
e4172ac9 767 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
768 value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
769 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 770 (default 5)
c76eb41b 771 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 772 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
773 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
774 target container does not support the
06167fbb 775 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 776 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 777 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
778 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 779 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 780 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
781 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 782 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 783 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 784 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
785 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 786 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
7a340e0d
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787 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
788 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 789 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
790 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 791 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
792 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 793 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 794 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
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795 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
796 specified executable only when being used
797 by the specified postprocessor.
798 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
799 can be appended to the prefix optionally
800 followed by a number to pass the argument
801 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
802 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
803 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 804 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 805 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 806 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 807 after post-processing
c76eb41b 808 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 809 post-processing (default)
810 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
811 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
0be8314d
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812 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
813 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 814 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 815 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 816 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
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817 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also adds
818 chapters to file unless --no-add-chapters
819 is used (Alias: --add-metadata)
820 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 821 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
7a340e0d
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822 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
823 (Alias: --add-chapters)
824 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
825 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
73cd218f 826 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
827 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
828 for details
e9f4ccd1 829 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
830 Replace text in a metadata field using the
831 given regex. This option can be used
832 multiple times
c4af7684
PH
833 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
834 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
835 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
836 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
837 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
838 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 839 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
840 already exists
e4172ac9 841 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
842 path to the binary or its containing
843 directory
c4af7684 844 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
34488702 845 downloading and post-processing. Same
846 syntax as the output template can be used
9de3ea31 847 to pass any field as arguments to the
848 command. An additional field "filepath"
849 that contains the final path of the
850 downloaded file is also available. If no
7d1eb38a 851 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
34488702 852 to the end of the command. This option can
853 be used multiple times
854 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
5520aa2d 855 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
856 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
34488702 857 but "filepath" is not available. This
858 option can be used multiple times
859 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
860 --exec-before-download
e167860c 861 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 862 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 863 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 864 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
3de7c2ce 865 (currently supported: jpg|png)
72755351 866 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
867 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
868 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
869 to set the output filename for the split
870 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
871 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
872 (default)
7a340e0d 873 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 874 given regular expression. Time ranges
875 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
876 of chapters to remove the specified range.
877 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
878 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 879 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 880 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
881 (default)
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882 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
883 removing/splitting them. Requires a
884 reencode and thus is very slow, but the
885 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
886 around the cuts
887 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
888 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 889 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
890 postprocessors to be enabled, and
891 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
892 seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
893 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
894 The "when" argument determines when the
895 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
896 "pre_process" (after extraction),
897 "before_dl" (before video download),
898 "post_process" (after video download;
899 default) or "after_move" (after moving file
900 to their final locations). This option can
901 be used multiple times to add different
902 postprocessors
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903
904## SponsorBlock Options:
905Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
906 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 907 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
908
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909 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
910 for, separated by commas. Available
911 categories are all, sponsor, intro, outro,
912 selfpromo, interaction, preview,
913 music_offtopic. You can prefix the category
914 with a "-" to exempt it. See
915 https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/index.php/Segment_Categories
916 for description of the categories. Eg:
917 --sponsorblock-query all,-preview
918 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
919 the video file, separated by commas. If a
920 category is present in both mark and
921 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
922 and available categories are the same as
923 for --sponsorblock-mark
924 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
925 The title template for SponsorBlock
926 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
927 The same syntax as the output template is
928 used, but the only available fields are
929 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
930 name, category_names. Defaults to
931 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
932 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
933 --sponsorblock-remove
934 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
935 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 936
78895bd3 937## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 938 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 939 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 940 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 941 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
942 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
943 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 944 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
945 discontinuities such as ad breaks
946 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
947 formats at discontinuities such as ad
948 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 949 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
950 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
951 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 952 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 953
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954# CONFIGURATION
955
7a5c1cfe 956You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 957
0202b52a 9581. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
P
9591. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
9601. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 9611. **User Configuration**:
962 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
963 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
964 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
965 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
966 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
967 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
968
c589c1d3 969 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `~` points to %HOME% if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`.
07cce701 9701. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 971
7a5c1cfe 972For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
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973```
974# Lines starting with # are comments
975
976# Always extract audio
977-x
978
979# Do not copy the mtime
980--no-mtime
981
982# Use this proxy
983--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
984
298f597b 985# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
986-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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987```
988
e2e43aea 989Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`.
b7770046 990
7a5c1cfe 991You 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 user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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992
993### Authentication with `.netrc` file
994
0001fcb5 995You 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:
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996```
997touch $HOME/.netrc
998chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
999```
1000After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1001```
0001fcb5 1002machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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1003```
1004For example:
1005```
1006machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1007machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1008```
7a5c1cfe 1009To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1010
0001fcb5 1011The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1012
1013# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1014
0202b52a 1015The `-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.
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1016
1017**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1018
e58c22a0 1019The 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 1020
f5aa5cfb 1021It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1022
1023The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 10241. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
e625be0d 10251. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
10261. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
7c37ff97 10271. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified seperated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
10281. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
91dd88b9 10291. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist (alternate form flag `#` makes it new line `\n` seperated) and a string **q**uoted for the terminal, respectively
524e2e4f 10301. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1031
1032To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1033```
7c37ff97 1034%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1035```
de6000d9 1036
08438d2c 1037Additionally, 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`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates (except default) is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1038
1039The available fields are:
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1040
1041 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1042 - `title` (string): Video title
1043 - `url` (string): Video URL
1044 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1045 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1046 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1047 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1048 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1049 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1050 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
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1051 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1052 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1053 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1054 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
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1055 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1056 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1057 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1058 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1059 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1060 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1061 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1062 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1063 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1064 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1065 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1066 - `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 1067 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
3dbb2a9d 1068 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
b7770046 1069 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1070 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1071 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 1072 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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1073 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1074 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1075 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1076 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1077 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1078 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1079 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1080 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1081 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1082 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1083 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1084 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1085 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1086 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1087 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1088 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1089 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1090 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1091 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1092 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1093 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1094 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1095 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1096 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
e6f21b3d 1097 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
b7770046 1098 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
e6f21b3d 1099 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1100 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
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1101 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1102 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1103 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1104 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1105 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1106 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1107
1108Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1109
1110 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1111 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1112 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1113
1114Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1115
1116 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1117 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1118 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1119 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1120 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1121 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1122 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1123
1124Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1125
1126 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1127 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1128 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1129 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1130 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1131 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1132 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1133 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1134 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1135 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1136
b050d210 1137Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1138
1139 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1140 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1141 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1142 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1143
53c18592 1144Available only when used in `--print`:
1145
1146 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1147 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
7a340e0d
NA
1148
1149Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1150
1151 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1152 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1153 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1154 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1155 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1156 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1157
49a57e70 1158Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1159
1160Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with `--output-na-placeholder` (`NA` by default).
b7770046 1161
49a57e70 1162**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the purticular URL
b7770046 1163
49a57e70 1164For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
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1165
1166Output 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.
1167
1168To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1169
91ebc640 1170The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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1171
1172In 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:
1173
1174#### Output template and Windows batch files
1175
1176If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
1177
1178#### Output template examples
1179
de6000d9 1180Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
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1181
1182```bash
7a5c1cfe
P
1183$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1184youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1185
7a5c1cfe
P
1186$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1187youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
b7770046
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1188
1189# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 1190$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 1191
b050d210 1192# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 1193$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 1194
b7770046 1195# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 1196$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
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1197
1198# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 1199$ 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/
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1200
1201# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 1202$ 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
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1203
1204# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1205$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
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1206```
1207
1208# FORMAT SELECTION
1209
7a5c1cfe
P
1210By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1211This 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 1212
c111cefa 1213**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.
1214
eff63539 1215The 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
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1216
1217**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1218
a439a3a4 1219The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
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1220
1221You 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.
1222
1223You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1224
e094cec1 1225 - `all`: Select all formats
f8d4ad9a 1226 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1227 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1228 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
909d24dd 1229 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1230 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1231 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1232 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1233 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1234 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1235 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1236 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1237 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1238 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1239
e58c22a0 1240For 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 `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1241
1242You 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 1243
eb8a4433 1244If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
b7770046
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1245
1246If 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`.
1247
d806c9fd 1248You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1249
1250**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
1251
1252Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1253
1254## Filtering Formats
1255
b7770046
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1256You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1257
1258The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1259
1260 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1261 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1262 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1263 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1264 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1265 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1266 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1267 - `fps`: Frame rate
1268
1269Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1270
1271 - `ext`: File extension
1272 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1273 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1274 - `container`: Name of the container format
1275 - `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`)
1276 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1277 - `language`: Language code
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1278
1279Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1280
e58c22a0 1281Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
b7770046 1282
e094cec1 1283Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
b7770046 1284
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1285Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1286
eb8a4433 1287## Sorting Formats
1288
2e7781a9 1289You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1290
1291The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1292
63be1aab 1293 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1294 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1295 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1296 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1297 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1298 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
e36d50c5 1299 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1300 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
63be1aab 1301 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1302 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1303 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1304 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1305 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
eb8a4433 1306 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
63be1aab 1307 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1308 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1309 - `height`: Height of video
1310 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1311 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1312 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1313 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1314 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1315 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1316 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1317 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1318 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1319
1320**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 1321
9ee4f0bb 1322All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1323
176f1866 1324The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1325
176f1866 1326Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not prefered. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not prefered. 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 1327
e58c22a0 1328If 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 1329
1330**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1331
eb8a4433 1332## Format Selection examples
b7770046
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1333
1334Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1335
1336```bash
e58c22a0 1337# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1338# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1339$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1340
1341# Download best format that contains video,
1342# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1343$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1344
1345# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1346$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1347
6fd35a11 1348# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1349# For this case, an output template should be used since
1350# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1351$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1352
f8d4ad9a 1353# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1354# and all audio-only formats into one file
1355$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1356
1357# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1358# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1359$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1360
6fd35a11 1361
1362# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1363# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1364
1365# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1366$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1367
1368# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1369$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1370
1371# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1372$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1373
1374
909d24dd 1375
eb8a4433 1376# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1377$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1378
1379# Download the best video with the best extension
1380# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1381$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1382
1383
909d24dd 1384
eb8a4433 1385# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1386# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1387$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1388
eb8a4433 1389# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1390# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1391$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1392
eb8a4433 1393# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1394# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1395# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1396# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1397$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1398
b7770046 1399
909d24dd 1400
eb8a4433 1401# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1402# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1403$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1404
1405# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1406# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1407$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1408
1409# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1410$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1411
1412
909d24dd 1413
eb8a4433 1414# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1415# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1416$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1417
1418# Download best video available via the best protocol
1419# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1420$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1421
1422
909d24dd 1423
eb8a4433 1424# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1425$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1426
1427# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1428# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1429$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1430
1431# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1432# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1433$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1434
1435
1436
1437# More complex examples
1438
e58c22a0 1439# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1440# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1441$ 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 1442
1443# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1444# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1445# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1446$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1447
1448
909d24dd 1449
eb8a4433 1450# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1451# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1452# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1453$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1454```
eb8a4433 1455
73cd218f 1456# MODIFYING METADATA
1457
e9f4ccd1 1458The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1459
418964fa 1460`--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 1461
2e7781a9 1462The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1463
1464Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1465
9c2b75b5 1466This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1467* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
b11d2101 1468* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1469
1470For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1471
1472Metadata fields|From
1473:---|:---
1474`title`|`track` or `title`
1475`date`|`upload_date`
1476`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1477`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1478`track`|`track_number`
1479`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1480`genre`|`genre`
1481`album`|`album`
1482`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1483`disc`|`disc_number`
1484`show`|`series`
1485`season_number`|`season_number`
1486`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1487`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1488`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1489**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1490
73cd218f 1491
1492## Modifying metadata examples
1493
1494Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1495
1496```bash
1497# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1498$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1499
1500# Regex example
02aabd45 1501$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1502
1503# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1504$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1505
1506# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1507$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1508
e9f4ccd1 1509# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1510$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1511
73cd218f 1512```
1513
5d3a0e79 1514# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1515
34488702 1516Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) seperated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1517
1518The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1519
1520#### youtube
1521* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1522* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android`, `ios`, `mweb`. These also have `_music`, `_embedded`, `_agegate`, and `_creator` variants (Eg: `web_embedded`) (`mweb` has only `_agegate`). By default, `android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use `all` to use all the clients
1523* `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
1524* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
1525* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1526* `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all)
1527* `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1528
1529#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1530* `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)
1531
1532#### funimation
1533* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1534* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1535
1536#### vikichannel
1537* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1538
bc97cdae 1539NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1540
3acf6d38 1541
f74980cb 1542# PLUGINS
b7770046 1543
3ae5e797 1544Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1545
1546Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1547
1548See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1549
1550Note 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
1551
1552If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1553
b7770046 1554
8c6f4daa 1555
1556# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1557
1558yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1559
1560Your 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.
1561
1562From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1563
1564```python
1565import yt_dlp
1566
1567ydl_opts = {}
1568with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1569 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1570```
1571
1572Most 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#L154-L452).
1573
1574Here's a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), converts the video to an mp3 file, implements a custom postprocessor and prints the final info_dict as json:
1575
1576```python
1577import json
1578
1579import yt_dlp
1580from yt_dlp.postprocessor.common import PostProcessor
1581
1582
1583class MyLogger:
1584 def debug(self, msg):
1585 # For compatability with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1586 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1587 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1588 pass
1589 else:
1590 self.info(msg)
1591
1592 def info(self, msg):
1593 pass
1594
1595 def warning(self, msg):
1596 pass
1597
1598 def error(self, msg):
1599 print(msg)
1600
1601
1602class MyCustomPP(PostProcessor):
1603 def run(self, info):
1604 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1605 return [], info
1606
1607
1608def my_hook(d):
1609 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1610 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1611
1612
1613ydl_opts = {
1614 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
1615 'postprocessors': [{
1616 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1617 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
1618 'preferredquality': '192',
1619 }],
1620 'logger': MyLogger(),
1621 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1622}
1623
1624with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1625 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1626 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
1627 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1628```
1629
1630See the public functions in [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py) for other available functions. Eg: `ydl.download`, `ydl.download_with_info_file`
1631
49a57e70 1632**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 above
1633
8c6f4daa 1634
e167860c 1635# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1636
1637These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1638
6ccf351a 1639#### Redundant options
1640While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1641
53c18592 1642 --get-description --print description
1643 --get-duration --print duration_string
1644 --get-filename --print filename
1645 --get-format --print format
1646 --get-id --print id
1647 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1648 -e, --get-title --print title
1649 -g, --get-url --print urls
2b8a2973 1650 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
8f18aca8 1651 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1652 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1653 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1654 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
6ccf351a 1655
1656
1657#### Not recommended
1658While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1659
d9aa2332 1660 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1661 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1662 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1663 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1664 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1665 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1666 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1667 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1668 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1669 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1670 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1671 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1672 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1673 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1674 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1675
1676
1677#### Developer options
1678These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1679
34488702 1680 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1681 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1682 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1683 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1684
1685
1686#### Old aliases
1687These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1688
1689 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1690 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1691 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1692 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1693 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1694 --load-info --load-info-json
1695 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1696 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1697 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1698 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1699 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1700 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1701 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1702 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1703 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1704
7a340e0d
NA
1705#### Sponskrub Options
1706Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of `--sponsorblock`
1707
1708 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1709 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1710 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1711 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1712 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1713 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1714 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1715 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1716
f4536226 1717#### No longer supported
1718These options may no longer work as intended
1719
1720 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1721 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1722 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1723 --no-call-home Default
1724 --include-ads No longer supported
1725 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1726 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1727 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1728
1729#### Removed
1730These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1731
f4536226 1732 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1733 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1734 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1735
8c6f4daa 1736# CONTRIBUTING
1737See [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 1738
c2b5f311 1739# MORE
8c6f4daa 1740For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)