]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[docs] Minor improvements
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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
e167860c 63* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 64* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
65 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
66 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 67* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 68<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 69
70
034b6215 71# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 72
592b7485 73* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 74
7a340e0d 75* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 76
7581d246 77* **[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 78
ae6a1b95 79* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 80
f5546c0b 81* **Youtube improvements**:
6ccf351a 82 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 83 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
84 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 85 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 86 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 87 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 88 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 89 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
144a3588 90 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
f20f5fe5 91
f59f5ef8 92* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 93
597c1866 94* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
95
b31fdeed 96* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
8d801631 97
b31fdeed 98* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 99
e75bb0d6 100* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 101
102* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 103
3de7c2ce 104* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 105
597c1866 106* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
0bc0a322 107
108* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
109
418964fa 110* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 111
144a3588 112* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 113
08d30158 114* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--format`/`--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
c69911e4 115
86c1a8aa 116* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 117
7a5c1cfe 118* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 119
7a5c1cfe 120See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 121
53ed7066 122### Differences in default behavior
123
0930b11f 124Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 125
96565c7e 126* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 127* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
96565c7e 128* 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 129* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 130* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 131* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 132* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 133* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 134* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 135* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 136* `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
137* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 138* 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 139* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
64f36541 140* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 141* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 142* 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 143* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 144* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 145* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
d5820461 146* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
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
50865ca8 155
7bc877a2 156You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 157
a4211baf 158### Using the release binary
0930b11f 159
fc5fa964 160You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 161
fc5fa964 162<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
163[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
164[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
165[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
166[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
167[![ALl versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
168<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
169
170Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
171
172<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 173In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
174
175```
176sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
177sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178```
179
180```
181sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
182sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183```
184
185```
b69fd25c 186sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A
187sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188```
189
0930b11f 190
a4211baf 191### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 192
193You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
194```
195python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
196```
197
86c1a8aa 198You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 199```
200python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
201```
202
86c1a8aa 203If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 204```
ae6a1b95 205python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 206```
207
208Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
209
fc5fa964 210<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 211### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 212
213macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
214
215```
216brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
217```
218
a4211baf 219## UPDATE
0930b11f 220You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
221
222If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
223
224If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 225
ec2e44fc 226<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 227## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 228
733d8e8f 229#### Recommended
230
231File|Description
232:---|:---
ae6a1b95 233[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 234[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
ae6a1b95 235[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 236
237#### Alternatives
238
0e5927ee
R
239File|Description
240:---|:---
0930b11f 241[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
96565c7e 242[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
0930b11f 243[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
244[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 245
246#### Misc
247
248File|Description
249:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
250[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
251[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
252[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 253<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 254
a4211baf 255## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 256Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 257
c9652aa4 258<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
259<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 260On 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 261-->
fac98805 262
e75bb0d6 263While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 264
b69fd25c 265* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
d5820461 266* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
267* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
268* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
269* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
270* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
271* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
08d30158 272* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
0930b11f 273* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
274* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
275* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
276* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
cf59cd4d 277* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 278
cf59cd4d 279To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
280
d5820461 281The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter and all optional python packages (marked with \*) included.
d710cc6d 282
08d30158 283<!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
fc5fa964 284**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
d710cc6d 285
5f326cf5 286
a4211baf 287## COMPILE
5f326cf5 288
c76eb41b 289**For Windows**:
4390d5ec 290To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 291
733d8e8f 292 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 293 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 294 py pyinst.py
7581d246 295
fac98805 296Note 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 297
c76eb41b 298**For Unix**:
060ac762 299You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 300Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 301
49a57e70 302**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 303
75b725a7 304You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 305
b31fdeed 306# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 307
ec2e44fc 308<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 309 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 310
c2b5f311 311`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 312<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 313
ec2e44fc 314<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 315## General Options:
1dc2726f
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316 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
317 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 318 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
319 sure that you have sufficient permissions
320 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 321 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 322 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 323 even if the postprocessing fails
324 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
325 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
326 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 327 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
328 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 329 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
330 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 331 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 332 extractors and exit
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333 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
334 extractor
335 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
336 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 337 from google videos for the search term
338 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
339 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
c4af7684
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340 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
341 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
342 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 343 this is not possible instead of searching
9e907ebd 344 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
345 except those given by --config-locations.
346 For backward compatibility, if this option
347 is found inside the system configuration
fc5fa964 348 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
349 (Alias: --no-config)
9e907ebd 350 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
351 (default). When given inside a
352 configuration file, ignore all previous
353 --config-locations defined in the current
354 file
355 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
0202b52a 356 either the path to the config or its
9e907ebd 357 containing directory. Can be used multiple
358 times and inside other configuration files
c4af7684 359 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 360 only list them
6623ac34 361 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
adbc4ec4
THD
362 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
363 Currently only supported for YouTube
9e907ebd 364 (Experimental)
87e04996 365 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
366 (default)
91f071af 367 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
368 available. Pass the minimum number of
369 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
370 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
e248be33 371 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
597c1866 372 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 373 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 374 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 375 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 376 configurations by reverting some of the
377 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
378 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 379
149f05c7 380## Network Options:
28b4f736 381 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
0934c9d4
S
382 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
383 scheme. For example
88f23a18 384 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
385 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
386 connection
149f05c7 387 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 388 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 389 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 390 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 391
b31fdeed 392## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
S
393 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
394 some geo-restricted sites. The default
395 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 396 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 397 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 398 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
455a15e2 399 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
8c6c88c7
S
400 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
401 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S
402 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
403 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 404 country code
9e18bb4c
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405 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
406 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 407 notation
149f05c7 408
cfcec693 409## Video Selection:
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410 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
411 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
c4af7684
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412 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
413 indices of the videos in the playlist
414 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
415 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
416 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
417 specify range: "--playlist-items
418 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 419 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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420 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
421 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
422 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
423 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 424 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 425 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
426 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 427 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 428 this date. The date formats accepted is the
429 same as --date
c4af7684 430 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 431 this date. The date formats accepted is the
432 same as --date
77b87f05
MT
433 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
434 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 435 number or a string using the operators
436 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
437 also simply specify a field to match if the
438 field is present and "!field" to check if
439 the field is not present. In addition,
440 Python style regular expression matching
441 can be done using "~=", and multiple
442 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
443 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
444 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 445 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 446 matches only videos that are not live, has
447 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 448 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 449 description that contains the phrase "cats
450 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 451 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 452 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 453 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 454 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 455 a video and a playlist
c4af7684
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456 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
457 age
458 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
459 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 460 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 461 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
462 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 463 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 464 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 465 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 466 a file that has been filtered out
91f071af 467 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
468 reject act only on the current input URL
469 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
470 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 471 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
472 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 473
d5a62e4f 474## Download Options:
b31fdeed 475 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
87e04996 476 video that should be downloaded
477 concurrently (default is 1)
5e3856a2 478 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 479 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 480 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
481 below which throttling is assumed and the
482 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 483 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 484 "infinite"
87e04996 485 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
486 error (default is 10), or "infinite"
0be8314d 487 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
b56e41a7
S
488 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
489 ISM)
6623ac34 490 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
491 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 492 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 493 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 494 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 495 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 496 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 497 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
498 downloading is finished (default)
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499 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
500 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 501 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
502 from an initial value of --buffer-size
503 (default)
504 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
db157d2a
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505 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
506 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
507 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
508 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
509 (experimental)
2101f5d4 510 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 511 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 512 (default)
31487eb9 513 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 514 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 515 expected file size
9bd20204 516 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
517 allowing some players to play the video
518 while downloading, and reducing the chance
519 of file corruption if download is
520 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
521 live streams
522 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
523 videos. This is default when not
524 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 525 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
526 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
527 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
528 use it for. Currently supports native,
529 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
530 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
531 this option multiple times to set different
532 downloaders for different protocols. For
533 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
534 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
535 http/ftp downloads, and the native
fc5fa964 536 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
537 --external-downloader)
46ee996e 538 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
539 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 540 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
541 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
542 different positions using the same syntax
543 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
544 option multiple times to give different
fc5fa964 545 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
546 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 547
cfcec693 548## Filesystem Options:
940a67a3 549 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
e8dfecb3 550 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
940a67a3 551 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
8a51f564 552 comments and ignored
1e520b55 553 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 554 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 555 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 556 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
6a34813a 557 same TYPES as --output are supported.
de6000d9 558 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 559 (default) and "temp" paths. All
560 intermediary files are first downloaded to
561 the temp path and then the final files are
562 moved over to the home path after download
563 is finished. This option is ignored if
564 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 565 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 566 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 567 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
568 fields in output filename template
569 (default: "NA")
c4af7684
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570 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
571 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
572 filenames
c76eb41b 573 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
574 filenames (default)
0930b11f 575 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
576 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
577 using Windows (default)
c2934512 578 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
579 extension) to the specified number of
580 characters
9b45b9f5 581 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
582 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
583 This option includes --no-continue
584 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
585 related files (default)
c25228e5 586 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
587 (default)
588 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 589 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 590 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 591 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 592 into output file (default)
c4af7684
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593 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
594 into output file
c76eb41b 595 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
596 file modification time (default)
c4af7684
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597 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
598 the file modification time
599 --write-description Write video description to a .description
600 file
6623ac34 601 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 602 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 603 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 604 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 605 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
606 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
607 --write-description etc. (default)
608 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
609 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
08d30158 610 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
75d43ca0 611 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
612 could still contain some personal
613 information (default)
08d30158 614 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 615 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
616 infojson. The comments are fetched even
617 without this option if the extraction is
618 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
619 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
fc5fa964 620 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
621 --no-get-comments)
d845622b 622 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
c4af7684
PH
623 (created with the "--write-info-json"
624 option)
91f071af 625 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
626 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
MB
627 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
628 (default)
f59f5ef8
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629 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
630 The name of the browser and (optionally)
631 the name/path of the profile to load
632 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
633 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
634 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
635 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
636 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
637 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
638 can be (optionally) specified after the
639 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
640 supported keyrings are: basictext,
641 gnomekeyring, kwallet
982ee69a 642 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 643 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 644 can store some downloaded information (such
645 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 646 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
647 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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648 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
649 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 650
b31fdeed 651## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 652 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 653 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 654 (default)
1dc2726f 655 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 656 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
657 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 658
732044af 659## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 660 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
661 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
662 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
663 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
664 OS caches the URL based on the file path
665 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
666 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 667
0744a815 668## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 669 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
670 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 671 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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672 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
673 anything to disk
34488702 674 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
675 options are used
0930b11f 676 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
677 extracting metadata even if the videos are
678 not actually available for download
0cf05715 679 (experimental)
680 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
681 formats are found (default)
e167860c 682 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
683 related files (Alias: --no-download)
ca30f449 684 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
ed5835b4 685 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
686 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
687 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
688 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
689 Implies --quiet and --simulate (unless
690 --no-simulate is used). This option can be
691 used multiple times
bb66c247 692 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
693 Append given template to the file. The
694 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
695 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
696 as the output template. This option can be
697 used multiple times
34488702 698 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
699 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
700 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
701 description of available keys
702 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
703 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
704 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
705 a playlist, the whole playlist information
706 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 707 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 708 written as far as no errors occur, even if
709 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 710 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
1dc2726f
PH
711 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
712 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 713 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 714 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 715 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
716 Template for progress outputs, optionally
717 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
718 "download-title:" (the console title),
719 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
720 The video's fields are accessible under the
721 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 722 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 723 --console-title --progress-template
724 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 725 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
c4af7684
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726 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
727 to debug problems (very verbose)
728 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
729 files in the current directory to debug
730 problems
780083db 731 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 732
36f35428
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733## Workarounds:
734 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
144a3588 735 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
736 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
737 renegotiation
0930b11f 738 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 739 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 740 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 741 supported only for YouTube)
c4af7684 742 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 743 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
c4af7684
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744 option multiple times
745 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
746 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
747 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 748 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
749 during data extraction
c4af7684 750 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 751 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
752 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
753 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
754 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
755 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 756 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
757 subtitle download
36f35428 758
cfcec693 759## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 760 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
761 for more details
762 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
763 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 764 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
765 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 766 Formats" for more details
767 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 768 specified sort order (default), see
769 "Sorting Formats" for more details
770 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
771 into a single file
772 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
773 each output file (default)
774 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
775 into a single file
776 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
777 each output file (default)
da9be05e 778 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
779 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
780 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
781 containers irrespective of quality
782 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
783 containers (default)
0930b11f 784 --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
0ba692ac 785 actually downloadable
0930b11f 786 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 787 actually downloadable
0930b11f 788 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
789 downloadable
34488702 790 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
791 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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792 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
793 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
794 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
795 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
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796
797## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 798 --write-subs Write subtitle file
799 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
800 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 801 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
802 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
803 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 804 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
805 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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806 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
807 preference, for example: "srt" or
808 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 809 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
810 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 811 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 812 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
fc5fa964 813 from the requested languages. (Eg:
814 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
815 for a list of available language tags
6bcd846b 816
cfcec693 817## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 818 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 819 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 820 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 821 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 822 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 823 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
824 either the path or its containing
825 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 826 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 827 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 828 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
829 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S
830 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
831 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 832 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
833 interactively
f5e008d1
S
834 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
835 operators
836
c76eb41b 837## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 838 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 839 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 840 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
841 to when -x is used. Currently supported
842 formats are: best (default) or one of
9222c381 843 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
e4172ac9 844 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
86c1a8aa 845 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 846 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 847 (default 5)
c76eb41b 848 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 849 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
850 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
851 target container does not support the
06167fbb 852 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 853 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 854 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
855 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 856 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 857 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
858 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 859 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 860 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 861 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
862 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 863 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
7a340e0d
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864 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
865 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 866 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
867 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 868 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
869 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 870 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 871 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
NA
872 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
873 specified executable only when being used
874 by the specified postprocessor.
875 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
876 can be appended to the prefix optionally
877 followed by a number to pass the argument
878 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
879 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
880 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 881 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 882 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 883 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 884 after post-processing
c76eb41b 885 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 886 post-processing (default)
887 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
888 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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889 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
890 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 891 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 892 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 893 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 894 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
895 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
896 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
897 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 898 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 899 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
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900 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
901 (Alias: --add-chapters)
902 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
903 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 904 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
905 mkv/mka video files
906 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
907 to the video file
73cd218f 908 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
909 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
910 for details
e9f4ccd1 911 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
912 Replace text in a metadata field using the
913 given regex. This option can be used
914 multiple times
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915 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
916 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
3b603dbd 917 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
fc5fa964 918 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
919 (default; only when the videos form a
3b603dbd 920 single show). All the video files must have
921 same codecs and number of streams to be
922 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
923 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
924 the output filename for the split files.
925 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
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926 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
927 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
928 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
929 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 930 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
87e04996 931 already exists)
e4172ac9 932 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
933 path to the binary or its containing
934 directory
1e43a6f7 935 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
936 when to execute it (after_move if
937 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
938 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
939 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
940 output template can be used to pass any
941 field as arguments to the command. After
942 download, an additional field "filepath"
9de3ea31 943 that contains the final path of the
1e43a6f7 944 downloaded file is also available, and if
945 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
946 appended to the end of the command. This
34488702 947 option can be used multiple times
1e43a6f7 948 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
e167860c 949 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 950 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 951 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 952 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
72073451 953 (currently supported: jpg|png|webp)
72755351 954 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
955 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
956 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
957 to set the output filename for the split
958 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
959 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
960 (default)
7a340e0d 961 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 962 given regular expression. Time ranges
963 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
964 of chapters to remove the specified range.
965 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
966 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 967 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 968 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
969 (default)
7a340e0d
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970 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
971 removing/splitting them. Requires a
e75bb0d6 972 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
7a340e0d
NA
973 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
974 around the cuts
975 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
976 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 977 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
978 postprocessors to be enabled, and
979 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
e75bb0d6 980 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
3ae5e797 981 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
982 The "when" argument determines when the
983 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
09b49e1f 984 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
985 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
986 "before_dl" (before each video download),
987 "post_process" (after each video download;
988 default), "after_move" (after moving video
989 file to it's final locations),
990 "after_video" (after downloading and
991 processing all formats of a video), or
992 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
993 option can be used multiple times to add
994 different postprocessors
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995
996## SponsorBlock Options:
997Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
998 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 999 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1000
7a340e0d
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1001 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1002 for, separated by commas. Available
8157a09d
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1003 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1004 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1005 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1006 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1007 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1008 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1009 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
7a340e0d
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1010 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1011 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1012 category is present in both mark and
1013 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1014 and available categories are the same as
8157a09d
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1015 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1016 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1017 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
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1018 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1019 The title template for SponsorBlock
1020 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1021 The same syntax as the output template is
1022 used, but the only available fields are
1023 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1024 name, category_names. Defaults to
1025 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1026 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1027 --sponsorblock-remove
1028 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1029 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1030
78895bd3 1031## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 1032 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 1033 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 1034 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 1035 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1036 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1037 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 1038 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1039 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1040 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1041 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1042 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 1043 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1044 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1045 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 1046 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1047
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1048# CONFIGURATION
1049
7a5c1cfe 1050You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1051
0202b52a 10521. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10531. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10541. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10551. **User Configuration**:
1056 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1057 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1058 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1059 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1060 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1061 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1062
ec2e44fc 1063 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
07cce701 10641. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1065
7a5c1cfe 1066For 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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1067```
1068# Lines starting with # are comments
1069
1070# Always extract audio
1071-x
1072
1073# Do not copy the mtime
1074--no-mtime
1075
1076# Use this proxy
1077--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1078
298f597b 1079# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1080-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1081```
1082
e2e43aea 1083Note 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 1084
a4211baf 1085You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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1086
1087### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1088
0001fcb5 1089You 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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1090```
1091touch $HOME/.netrc
1092chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1093```
1094After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1095```
0001fcb5 1096machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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1097```
1098For example:
1099```
1100machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1101machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1102```
7a5c1cfe 1103To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1104
0001fcb5 1105The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1106
1107# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1108
0202b52a 1109The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1110
ec2e44fc 1111<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1112**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1113<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1114
e58c22a0 1115The 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 1116
0930b11f 1117It 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 1118
1119The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 11201. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1121
e625be0d 11221. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1123
e625be0d 11241. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1125
e75bb0d6 11261. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1127
e978789f
P
11281. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1129
e75bb0d6 11301. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1131
abbeeebc 11321. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1133
524e2e4f 11341. **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 1135
1136To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1137```
e978789f 1138%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1139```
de6000d9 1140
dbcea058 1141Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1142
1143The available fields are:
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1144
1145 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1146 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1147 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
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1148 - `url` (string): Video URL
1149 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1150 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1151 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1152 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1153 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1154 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1155 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1156 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1157 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1158 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1159 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1160 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1161 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
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1162 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1163 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1164 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1165 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
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1166 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1167 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1168 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1169 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1170 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1171 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1172 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1173 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1174 - `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 1175 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1176 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1177 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1178 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1179 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1180 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
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1181 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1182 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1183 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1184 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1185 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1186 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1187 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1188 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1189 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1190 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1191 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1192 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1193 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1194 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1195 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1196 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1197 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1198 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1199 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1200 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1201 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1202 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1203 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1204 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1205 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1206 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1207 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1208 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1209 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1210 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1211 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1212 - `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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1213 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1214 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1215 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1216 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1217 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1218 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1219
1220Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1221
1222 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1223 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1224 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1225
1226Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1227
1228 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1229 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1230 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1231 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1232 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1233 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1234 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1235
1236Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1237
1238 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1239 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1240 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1241 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1242 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1243 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1244 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1245 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1246 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1247 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1248
b050d210 1249Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1250
1251 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1252 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1253 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1254 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1255
53c18592 1256Available only when used in `--print`:
1257
1258 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1259 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1260 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1261 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1262 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1263 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1264
7a340e0d
NA
1265
1266Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1267
1268 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1269 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1270 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1271 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1272 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1273 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1274
49a57e70 1275Each 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.
1276
1277Note 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 1278
0930b11f 1279**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1280
49a57e70 1281For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1282
940a67a3 1283Output 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.
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1284
1285To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1286
91ebc640 1287The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1288
f304da8a 1289In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
b7770046 1290
ec2e44fc 1291<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1292#### Output template and Windows batch files
1293
1294If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1295<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1296
1297#### Output template examples
1298
b7770046 1299```bash
940a67a3 1300$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1301test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1302
940a67a3 1303$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1304youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1305
940a67a3 1306$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1307youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1308
1309# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1310$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1311
b050d210 1312# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1313$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1314
e978789f 1315# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1316$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1317
b7770046 1318# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1319$ 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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1320
1321# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1322$ 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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1323
1324# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1325$ 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 1326
6a34813a 1327# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1328# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1329$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1330
1331# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1332$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1333
b7770046 1334# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1335$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1336```
1337
1338# FORMAT SELECTION
1339
7a5c1cfe
P
1340By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1341This 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 1342
c111cefa 1343**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.
1344
eff63539 1345The 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 1346
ec2e44fc 1347<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1348**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1349<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1350
a439a3a4 1351The 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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1352
1353You 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.
1354
fa9f30b8 1355You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1356
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1357You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1358
59a7a13e 1359 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1360 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1361 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1362 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1363 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1364 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1365 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1366 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
59a7a13e 1367 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1368 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1369 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1370 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1371 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1372 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1373
ae6a1b95 1374For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1375
1376You 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 1377
eb8a4433 1378If 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.
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1379
1380If 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`.
1381
d806c9fd 1382You 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.
1383
1384**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
1385
1386Unless `--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 1387
1388## Filtering Formats
1389
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1390You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1391
1392The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1393
1394 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1395 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1396 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1397 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1398 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1399 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1400 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1401 - `fps`: Frame rate
1402
1ce9a3cb 1403Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
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1404
1405 - `ext`: File extension
1406 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1407 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1408 - `container`: Name of the container format
1409 - `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`)
1410 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1411 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1412
1ce9a3cb 1413Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
b7770046 1414
e58c22a0 1415Note 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 1416
e094cec1 1417Formats 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 1418
940a67a3 1419Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1420
eb8a4433 1421## Sorting Formats
1422
2e7781a9 1423You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1424
1425The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1426
63be1aab 1427 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1428 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1429 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1430 - `lang`: The language preference
1431 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1432 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1433 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1434 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1435 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1436 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1437 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1438 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1439 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1440 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1441 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1442 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1443 - `height`: Height of video
1444 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1445 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1446 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1447 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1448 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1449 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1450 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1451 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1452 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1453
1454**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 1455
9ee4f0bb 1456All 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.
1457
176f1866 1458The 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 1459
e75bb0d6 1460Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1461
e58c22a0 1462If 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 1463
1464**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1465
eb8a4433 1466## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1467
b7770046 1468```bash
e58c22a0 1469# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1470# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1471$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1472
1473# Download best format that contains video,
1474# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1475$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1476
1477# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1478$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1479
6fd35a11 1480# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1481# For this case, an output template should be used since
1482# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1483$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1484
f8d4ad9a 1485# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1486# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1487$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1488
1489# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1490# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1491$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1492
6fd35a11 1493
1494# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1495# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1496
1497# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1498$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1499
1500# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1501$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1502
1503# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1504$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1505
1506
909d24dd 1507
eb8a4433 1508# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1509$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1510
1511# Download the best video with the best extension
1512# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1513$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1514
1515
909d24dd 1516
eb8a4433 1517# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1518# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1519$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1520
eb8a4433 1521# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1522# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1523$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1524
eb8a4433 1525# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1526# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1527# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1528# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1529$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1530
b7770046 1531
909d24dd 1532
eb8a4433 1533# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1534# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1535$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1536
1537# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1538# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1539$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1540
1541# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1542$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1543
1544
909d24dd 1545
eb8a4433 1546# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1547# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1548$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1549
1550# Download best video available via the best protocol
1551# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1552$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1553
1554
909d24dd 1555
1ce9a3cb
LF
1556# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1557# or the best video if there is no such video
1558$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1559
1560# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1561# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1562$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1563
1564# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1565# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1566$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1567
1568
1569
1570# More complex examples
1571
e58c22a0 1572# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1573# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1574$ 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 1575
1576# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1577# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1578# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1579$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1580
1581
909d24dd 1582
eb8a4433 1583# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1584# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1585# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1586$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1587```
eb8a4433 1588
73cd218f 1589# MODIFYING METADATA
1590
a4211baf 1591The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1592
418964fa 1593`--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 1594
2e7781a9 1595The 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 1596
1597Note 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`.
1598
9c2b75b5 1599This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1600* 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
88968992 1601* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1602
08d30158 1603**Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1604
c31be5b0 1605For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1606
08d30158 1607Metadata fields | From
1608:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1609`title` | `track` or `title`
1610`date` | `upload_date`
1611`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1612`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1613`track` | `track_number`
1614`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1615`genre` | `genre`
1616`album` | `album`
1617`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1618`disc` | `disc_number`
1619`show` | `series`
1620`season_number` | `season_number`
1621`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1622`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1623`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1624
c31be5b0 1625**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1626
73cd218f 1627
1628## Modifying metadata examples
1629
73cd218f 1630```bash
1631# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1632$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1633
1634# Regex example
940a67a3 1635$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1636
1637# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1638$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1639
1640# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
940a67a3 1641$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1642
0930b11f 1643# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1644$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1645
e9f4ccd1 1646# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1647$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1648
73cd218f 1649```
1650
5d3a0e79 1651# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1652
59a7a13e 1653Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1654
1655The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1656
1657#### youtube
1658* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
d0d012d4 1659* `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, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1660* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1661* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1662* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
e75bb0d6 1663* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`.
46383212 1664 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total.
1665* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1666 * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
96565c7e 1667
1668#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1669* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1670* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1671
1672#### funimation
1673* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1674* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1675
a9d4da60 1676#### crunchyroll
1677* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1678* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1679
ae6a1b95 1680#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH
1681* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1682 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1683* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1684
96565c7e 1685#### vikichannel
1686* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1687
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1688#### niconico
1689* `segment_duration`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1690
aa4b0545 1691#### youtubewebarchive
1692* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1693
d43de682
M
1694#### gamejolt
1695* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1696
26f2aa3d
AG
1697#### hotstar
1698* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1699* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1700* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1701
046cab39
M
1702#### tiktok
1703* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1704* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1705
7eaf7f9a 1706#### rokfinchannel
1707* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1708
1709
bc97cdae 1710NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1711
ec2e44fc 1712<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1713
3acf6d38 1714
f74980cb 1715# PLUGINS
b7770046 1716
3ae5e797 1717Plugins 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
1718
1719Plugins 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`.
1720
1721See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1722
1723Note 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
1724
1725If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1726
b7770046 1727
8c6f4daa 1728
1729# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1730
1731yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1732
1733Your 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.
1734
1735From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1736
1737```python
59a7a13e 1738from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1739
093a1710 1740ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
59a7a13e 1741with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
8c6f4daa 1742 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1743```
1744
ed8d87f9 1745Most 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#L191).
8c6f4daa 1746
093a1710 1747Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
8c6f4daa 1748
1749```python
1750import json
8c6f4daa 1751import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1752
1753
1754class MyLogger:
1755 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1756 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1757 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1758 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1759 pass
1760 else:
1761 self.info(msg)
1762
1763 def info(self, msg):
1764 pass
1765
1766 def warning(self, msg):
1767 pass
1768
1769 def error(self, msg):
1770 print(msg)
1771
1772
093a1710 1773# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
59a7a13e 1774class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
093a1710 1775 # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
8c6f4daa 1776 def run(self, info):
1777 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1778 return [], info
1779
1780
093a1710 1781# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1782def my_hook(d):
1783 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1784 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1785
1786
093a1710 1787def format_selector(ctx):
1788 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1789 This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1790
1791 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1792 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1793
1794 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1795 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1796 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1797
1798 # find compatible audio extension
1799 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1800 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1801 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1802 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1803
1804 yield {
1805 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1806 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1807 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1808 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1809 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1810 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1811 }
1812
1813
1814# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
8c6f4daa 1815ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1816 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1817 'postprocessors': [{
093a1710 1818 # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
1819 # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
1820 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
1821 'add_chapters': True,
1822 'add_metadata': True,
8c6f4daa 1823 }],
1824 'logger': MyLogger(),
1825 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
08d30158 1826 # Add custom headers
1827 'http_headers': {'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'}
8c6f4daa 1828}
1829
59a7a13e 1830
093a1710 1831# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
1832# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
8c6f4daa 1833with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1834 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1835 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
093a1710 1836
1837 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
8c6f4daa 1838 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1839```
1840
49a57e70 1841**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
1842
8c6f4daa 1843
ec2e44fc 1844<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1845
e167860c 1846# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1847
1848These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1849
8130779d 1850#### Almost redundant options
1851While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1852
1853 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1854 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1855 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1856 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1857
6ccf351a 1858#### Redundant options
1859While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1860
53c18592 1861 --get-description --print description
1862 --get-duration --print duration_string
1863 --get-filename --print filename
1864 --get-format --print format
1865 --get-id --print id
1866 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1867 -e, --get-title --print title
1868 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1869 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1870 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1871 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1872 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 1873 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1874 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
6ccf351a 1875
1876
1877#### Not recommended
1878While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1879
1e43a6f7 1880 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1881 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 1882 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1883 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1884 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1885 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1886 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1887 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1888 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1889 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1890 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1891 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1892 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1893 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1894 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1895 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1896 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1897
1898
1899#### Developer options
1900These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1901
34488702 1902 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1903 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1904 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1905 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1906
1907
1908#### Old aliases
1909These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1910
1911 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 1912 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 1913 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1914 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1915 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1916 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1917 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 1918 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 1919 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1920 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1921 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1922 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1923 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1924 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1925 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1926 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1927 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1928
7a340e0d 1929#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 1930Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
1931
1932 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1933 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1934 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1935 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1936 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1937 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1938 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1939 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1940
f4536226 1941#### No longer supported
1942These options may no longer work as intended
1943
1944 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1945 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1946 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1947 --no-call-home Default
1948 --include-ads No longer supported
1949 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1950 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1951 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1952
1953#### Removed
1954These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1955
f4536226 1956 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1957 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1958 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1959
8c6f4daa 1960# CONTRIBUTING
1961See [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 1962
c2b5f311 1963# MORE
8c6f4daa 1964For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)