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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
ae6a1b95 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
fc5fa964 8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
ae6a1b95 9[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
fc5fa964 11[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
ae6a1b95 12[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
fc5fa964 13[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
fc5fa964 14[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 16
b31fdeed 17</div>
ec2e44fc 18<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 19
b31fdeed 20yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 21
ec2e44fc 22<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 25* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 27* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 28 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 31 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 32* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 49* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 51* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 54* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 58* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 60* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 61* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 62* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
43cc91ad 63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
9d339c41 74* Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/a03b977](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a03b9775d544b06a5b4f2aa630214c7c22fc2229)**<!--([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
ae6a1b95 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
ae61d108 82* **YouTube improvements**:
83 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
84 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
85 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
86 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
87 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89
f59f5ef8 90* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 91
5ec1b6b7 92* **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
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
56ba69e4 102* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
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
8a82af35 112* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-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
ae61d108 122Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
123
53ed7066 124### Differences in default behavior
125
0930b11f 126Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 127
96565c7e 128* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
b69fd25c 129* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
a44ca5a4 130* yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
96565c7e 131* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 132* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 133* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 134* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
08d30158 135* `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
28b0eb0f 136* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 137* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
9e907ebd 138* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 139* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
140* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 141* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
b79f9e30 142* Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
64f36541 143* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 144* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 145* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 146* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 147* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 148* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
168bbc4f 149* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
f2df4071 150* youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpful, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
53ed7066 151
152For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
3d3bb168 153
8a82af35 154* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
28b0eb0f 155* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 157
f20f5fe5 158
d19bb9c0 159# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 160
7bc877a2 161You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 162
a4211baf 163### Using the release binary
0930b11f 164
fc5fa964 165You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 166
fc5fa964 167<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
24146491 169[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
170[![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
fc5fa964 171[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
172[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
3d3bb168 173[![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
fc5fa964 174<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
175
176Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
177
178<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 179In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
180
181```
182sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
184```
185
186```
187sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
189```
190
191```
b69fd25c 192sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A
193sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
194```
195
0930b11f 196
a4211baf 197### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 198
199You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
200```
201python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
202```
203
86c1a8aa 204You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 205```
206python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
207```
208
86c1a8aa 209If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 210```
ae6a1b95 211python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
0930b11f 212```
213
8aa0e7cd 214On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
0930b11f 215
fc5fa964 216<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 217### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 218
219macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
220
221```
222brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
223```
224
a4211baf 225## UPDATE
0930b11f 226You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
227
228If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
229
230If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 231
ec2e44fc 232<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 233## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 234
733d8e8f 235#### Recommended
236
237File|Description
238:---|:---
962ffcf8 239[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
0930b11f 240[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
f2df4071 241[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
733d8e8f 242
243#### Alternatives
244
0e5927ee
R
245File|Description
246:---|:---
0930b11f 247[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
8aa0e7cd 248[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
f2df4071 249[yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
250[yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
0930b11f 251[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
252[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
6d916fe7 253[yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
733d8e8f 254
255#### Misc
256
257File|Description
258:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
259[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
260[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
261[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 262<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 263
a4211baf 264## DEPENDENCIES
eff42759 265Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 266
c9652aa4 267<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
268<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 269On 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 270-->
fac98805 271
e75bb0d6 272While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 273
8aa0e7cd 274### Strongly recommended
275
b69fd25c 276* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
8aa0e7cd 277
278 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
279 **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
280
281### Networking
d5820461 282* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
8aa0e7cd 283* [**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>
284* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
285
286### Metadata
287
288* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
289* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
290* [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
291
292### Misc
293
294* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
5d0aeac0 295* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
8aa0e7cd 296* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
cf59cd4d 297* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 298
8aa0e7cd 299#### Deprecated
300
301* [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
302* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
998a3cae 303* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
304* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
8aa0e7cd 305
cf59cd4d 306To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
307
f2df4071 308The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
d710cc6d 309
8aa0e7cd 310If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
d710cc6d 311
5f326cf5 312
a4211baf 313## COMPILE
5f326cf5 314
8aa0e7cd 315### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
316To build the Windows/MacOS executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the Python used.
e38df8f9 317
8aa0e7cd 318 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
319 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
320 python3 pyinst.py
321
322On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
323
324Note 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.
325
326**Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
7581d246 327
8aa0e7cd 328### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
329You will need the build tools `python` (3.6+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
b96a939b 330
8aa0e7cd 331After installing these, simply run `make`.
5f326cf5 332
8aa0e7cd 333You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The dependencies marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
d19bb9c0 334
8aa0e7cd 335### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
336
337While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
338
339If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
340
341 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
342 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
343 py setup.py py2exe
344
345### Related scripts
346
347* **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on current timestamp
348* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
349
350You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
59a7a13e 351
b31fdeed 352# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 353
ec2e44fc 354<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 355 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 356
c2b5f311 357`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 358<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 359
ec2e44fc 360<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 361## General Options:
2dd5a2e3 362 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
363 --version Print program version and exit
364 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
d32f30ac 365 --no-update Do not update (default)
2dd5a2e3 366 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
367 The download will be considered successful
368 even if the postprocessing fails
369 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
370 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
371 playlist (default)
372 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
373 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
374 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
375 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
376 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
377 extractors and exit
64fa820c 378 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic extractor
2dd5a2e3 379 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
380 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
381 google videos for the search term "python".
382 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
383 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
384 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
385 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
386 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
387 possible instead of searching
388 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
389 except those given by --config-locations.
390 For backward compatibility, if this option
391 is found inside the system configuration
392 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
393 (Alias: --no-config)
394 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
395 (default). When given inside a configuration
396 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
397 defined in the current file
398 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
399 either the path to the config or its
6b9e832d 400 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
401 used multiple times and inside other
402 configuration files
2dd5a2e3 403 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
404 only list them
405 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
406 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
407 Currently only supported for YouTube
408 (Experimental)
409 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
410 (default)
411 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
412 available. Pass the minimum number of
413 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
414 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
415 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
416 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
f2df4071 417 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
418 --no-colours)
2dd5a2e3 419 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
420 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
421 configurations by reverting some of the
422 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
423 default behavior" for details
424 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
425 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
426 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
427 according to the Python string formatting
428 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
429 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
430 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
431 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
432 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
433 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
434 output. Alias options can trigger more
962ffcf8 435 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
2dd5a2e3 436 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
437 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
64fa820c 438 times. This option can be used multiple times
08c1d0d3 439
149f05c7 440## Network Options:
2dd5a2e3 441 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
442 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
443 Eg: socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass
444 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
445 connection
446 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
447 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
448 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
449 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 450
b31fdeed 451## Geo-restriction:
2dd5a2e3 452 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
453 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
454 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
455 is not present) is used for the actual
456 downloading
457 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
458 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
459 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
460 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
461 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
462 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
463 country code
464 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
64fa820c 465 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
149f05c7 466
cfcec693 467## Video Selection:
962ffcf8 468 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
7e88d7d7 469 to download. You can specify a range using
470 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
471 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
472 Use negative indices to count from the right
473 and negative STEP to download in reverse
474 order. Eg: "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
475 playlist of size 15 will download the videos
476 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
2dd5a2e3 477 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
478 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
479 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
480 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
481 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
482 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
483 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
484 Eg: --date today-2weeks
485 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
486 this date. The date formats accepted is the
487 same as --date
488 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
489 this date. The date formats accepted is the
490 same as --date
491 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
492 field can be compared with a number or a
493 string using the operators defined in
494 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
495 specify a field to match if the field is
496 present, use "!field" to check if the field
497 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
498 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
499 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
500 the filter matches if atleast one of the
501 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
502 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
503 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
504 only videos that are not live OR those that
505 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
506 field is not available) and also has a
507 description that contains the phrase "cats &
508 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
509 interactively ask whether to download each
510 video
511 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
512 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
513 to a video and a playlist
514 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
515 a video and a playlist
516 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
517 age
518 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
519 archive file. Record the IDs of all
520 downloaded videos in it
521 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
522 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
523 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
524 a file that is in the archive
525 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
526 a file that has been filtered out
527 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
528 and --max-downloads act only on the current
529 input URL
530 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
531 terminates the entire download queue
532 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
533 the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 534
d5a62e4f 535## Download Options:
2dd5a2e3 536 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
537 video that should be downloaded concurrently
538 (default is 1)
539 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
540 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
541 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
542 below which throttling is assumed and the
543 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
544 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
545 "infinite"
546 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
547 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
548 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
549 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
550 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
551 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
552 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
553 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
554 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]]
555 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can
556 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
557 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
558 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
559 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
560 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
561 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
562 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
563 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
564 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
565 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
566 downloading is finished
567 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
568 downloading is finished (default)
569 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
570 (default is 1024)
571 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
572 from an initial value of --buffer-size
573 (default)
574 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
575 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
576 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
577 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
578 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
579 (experimental)
2dd5a2e3 580 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
7e9a6125 581 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
582 received. This disables n_entries,
583 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
584 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
585 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
2dd5a2e3 586 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
587 expected file size
588 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
589 allowing some players to play the video
590 while downloading, and reducing the chance
591 of file corruption if download is
592 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
593 live streams
594 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
595 videos. This is default when not downloading
596 live streams
5ec1b6b7 597 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
598 the given regular expression. Time ranges
599 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
600 of chapters to download the specified range.
601 Eg: --download-sections "*10:15-15:00"
602 --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
603 This option can be used multiple times to
604 download multiple sections
2dd5a2e3 605 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
606 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
607 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
608 use it for. Currently supports native,
609 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
610 wget. You can use this option multiple times
611 to set different downloaders for different
612 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
613 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
614 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
615 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
616 (Alias: --external-downloader)
617 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
618 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
619 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
620 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
621 positions using the same syntax as
622 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
623 option multiple times to give different
624 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
625 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 626
cfcec693 627## Filesystem Options:
2dd5a2e3 628 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
629 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
630 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
631 comments and ignored
632 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
633 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
634 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
635 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
636 TYPES as --output are supported.
637 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
638 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
639 files are first downloaded to the temp path
640 and then the final files are moved over to
641 the home path after download is finished.
642 This option is ignored if --output is an
643 absolute path
644 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
645 TEMPLATE" for details
646 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
647 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
648 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
649 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
650 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
651 filenames (default)
652 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
653 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
654 using Windows (default)
655 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
656 extension) to the specified number of
657 characters
658 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
659 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
660 option includes --no-continue
661 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
662 related files (default)
663 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
664 (default)
665 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
666 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
667 restart download of the entire file
668 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
669 into output file (default)
670 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
671 output file
672 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
673 modification time (default)
674 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
675 the file modification time
64fa820c 676 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
2dd5a2e3 677 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
678 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
679 (this may contain personal information)
680 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
681 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
682 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
683 --write-description etc. (default)
684 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
685 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
686 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
687 from the infojson. Note that it could still
688 contain some personal information (default)
689 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
690 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
691 infojson. The comments are fetched even
692 without this option if the extraction is
693 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
694 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
695 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
696 --no-get-comments)
697 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
64fa820c 698 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
2dd5a2e3 699 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
700 and dump cookie jar in
701 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
702 (default)
f59f5ef8 703 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
2dd5a2e3 704 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
705 name/path of the profile to load cookies
706 from, separated by a ":". Currently
707 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
708 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
709 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
710 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
711 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
712 be (optionally) specified after the browser
713 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
64fa820c 714 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring, kwallet
2dd5a2e3 715 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
716 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
717 can store some downloaded information (such
718 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
719 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
720 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
721 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
722 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 723
b31fdeed 724## Thumbnail Options:
2dd5a2e3 725 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
64fa820c 726 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
2dd5a2e3 727 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
728 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
729 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 730
732044af 731## Internet Shortcut Options:
2dd5a2e3 732 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
733 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
734 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
735 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
736 OS caches the URL based on the file path
737 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
738 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 739
0744a815 740## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
2dd5a2e3 741 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
742 print the log to stderr
743 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
744 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
745 anything to disk
746 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
747 options are used
748 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
749 extracting metadata even if the videos are
750 not actually available for download
751 (experimental)
752 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
753 formats are found (default)
754 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
755 related files (Alias: --no-download)
756 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
757 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
758 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
759 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
760 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
761 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
762 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
763 used. This option can be used multiple times
bb66c247 764 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
2dd5a2e3 765 Append given template to the file. The
766 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
767 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
768 output template. This option can be used
769 multiple times
770 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
771 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
772 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
773 description of available keys
774 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
775 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
776 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
777 a playlist, the whole playlist information
778 is dumped in a single line
779 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
780 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
781 another simulation option is used (Alias:
782 --force-download-archive)
783 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
784 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
785 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
786 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 787 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 788 Template for progress outputs, optionally
789 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
790 "download-title:" (the console title),
791 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
792 The video's fields are accessible under the
793 "info" key and the progress attributes are
794 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
795 --console-title --progress-template
796 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
797 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
798 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
799 to debug problems (very verbose)
800 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
801 in the current directory to debug problems
802 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 803
36f35428 804## Workarounds:
2dd5a2e3 805 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
806 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
807 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
808 renegotiation
809 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
810 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
811 information about the video (Currently
812 supported only for YouTube)
813 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
814 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
815 option multiple times
816 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
817 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
818 or fribidi executable in PATH
819 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
820 during data extraction
821 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
822 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
823 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
824 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
825 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
826 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
827 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
828 subtitle download
36f35428 829
cfcec693 830## Video Format Options:
2dd5a2e3 831 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
832 for more details
833 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
834 "Sorting Formats" for more details
835 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
836 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
837 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
838 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
839 specified sort order (default)
840 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
841 into a single file
842 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
843 output file (default)
844 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
845 into a single file
846 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
847 output file (default)
848 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
849 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
850 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
851 irrespective of quality
852 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
853 containers (default)
854 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
855 those that are actually downloadable
856 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
857 actually downloadable
858 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
859 downloadable
860 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
861 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
862 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
863 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
864 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
865 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
PH
866
867## Subtitle Options:
2dd5a2e3 868 --write-subs Write subtitle file
869 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
870 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
871 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
872 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
873 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
874 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
875 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
876 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
877 Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
878 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
879 be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
880 --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
881 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
882 the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
883 all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
884 of available language tags
6bcd846b 885
cfcec693 886## Authentication Options:
2dd5a2e3 887 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
888 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
889 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
890 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
891 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
892 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
893 either the path or its containing directory.
894 Defaults to ~/.netrc
895 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
896 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
897 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
898 a list of available MSOs
899 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
900 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
901 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
902 interactively
903 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
904 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
905 format. May include the private key
906 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
907 Path to private key file for client
908 certificate
bb58c9ed 909 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
2dd5a2e3 910 Password for client certificate private key,
911 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
912 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
f5e008d1 913
c76eb41b 914## Post-Processing Options:
2dd5a2e3 915 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
916 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
35faefee 917 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
918 used. (currently supported: best (default),
e0ab9854 919 mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac,
920 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
921 similar syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 922 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
923 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
924 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
925 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
926 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
927 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
35faefee 928 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
929 m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
2dd5a2e3 930 target container does not support the
931 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
932 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
933 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
35faefee 934 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
2dd5a2e3 935 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
936 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
937 are the same as --remux-video
938 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
939 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
940 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
941 to give the argument to the specified
942 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
943 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
944 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
945 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
946 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
947 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
948 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
949 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
950 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
951 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
952 specified executable only when being used by
953 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
954 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
955 appended to the prefix optionally followed
956 by a number to pass the argument before the
957 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
958 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
959 this option multiple times to give different
960 arguments to different postprocessors.
961 (Alias: --ppa)
962 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
963 after post-processing
964 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
965 post-processing (default)
966 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
967 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
968 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
969 webm and mkv videos)
970 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
971 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
972 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
973 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
974 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
975 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
976 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
977 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
978 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
979 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
980 (Alias: --add-chapters)
981 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
982 --no-add-chapters)
983 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
984 mkv/mka video files
985 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
986 to the video file
987 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
988 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
989 for details
e9f4ccd1 990 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
2dd5a2e3 991 Replace text in a metadata field using the
992 given regex. This option can be used
993 multiple times
994 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
995 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
996 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
997 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
998 (default; only when the videos form a single
999 show). All the video files must have same
1000 codecs and number of streams to be
1001 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
1002 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1003 the output filename for the concatenated
1004 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1005 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
1006 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
1007 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
1008 default; fix file if we can, warn
1009 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
1010 already exists)
1011 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
64fa820c 1012 path to the binary or its containing directory
2dd5a2e3 1013 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
1014 when to execute it (after_move if
1015 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
1016 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
1017 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
1018 output template can be used to pass any
1019 field as arguments to the command. After
1020 download, an additional field "filepath"
1021 that contains the final path of the
1022 downloaded file is also available, and if no
1023 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
1024 to the end of the command. This option can
1025 be used multiple times
1026 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1027 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1028 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
1029 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1030 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
00bbc5f1 1031 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1032 can specify multiple rules using similar
1033 syntax as --remux-video
2dd5a2e3 1034 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1035 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1036 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1037 the output filename for the split files. See
1038 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
64fa820c 1039 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
2dd5a2e3 1040 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
5ec1b6b7 1041 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1042 same as --download-sections. This option can
2dd5a2e3 1043 be used multiple times
1044 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1045 (default)
5ec1b6b7 1046 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1047 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1048 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1049 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1050 around the cuts
2dd5a2e3 1051 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1052 when cutting/splitting (default)
1053 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1054 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1055 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1056 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1057 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1058 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1059 The "when" argument determines when the
1060 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1061 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1062 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1063 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1064 "post_process" (after each video download;
1065 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1066 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1067 (after downloading and processing all
1068 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1069 of playlist). This option can be used
64fa820c 1070 multiple times to add different postprocessors
7a340e0d
NA
1071
1072## SponsorBlock Options:
1073Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1074 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1075 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1076
2dd5a2e3 1077 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1078 for, separated by commas. Available
1079 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1080 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1081 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1082 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1083 with a "-" to exclude it. See [1] for
1084 description of the categories. Eg:
1085 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1086 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1087 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1088 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1089 category is present in both mark and remove,
1090 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1091 available categories are the same as for
1092 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1093 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1094 not available
7a340e0d 1095 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
2dd5a2e3 1096 An output template for the title of the
1097 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1098 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1099 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1100 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1101 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1102 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1103 --sponsorblock-remove
1104 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1105 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1106
78895bd3 1107## Extractor Options:
2dd5a2e3 1108 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1109 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1110 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1111 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1112 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1113 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1114 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1115 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1116 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1117 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1118 (default)
1119 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1120 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1121 use this option multiple times to give
1122 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1123
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1124# CONFIGURATION
1125
7a5c1cfe 1126You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1127
0202b52a 11281. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 11291. **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 11301. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 11311. **User Configuration**:
1132 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1133 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1134 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1135 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1136 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1137 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
3d3bb168 1138
ec2e44fc 1139 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
3d3bb168 1140
07cce701 11411. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1142
7a5c1cfe 1143For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
b7770046
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1144```
1145# Lines starting with # are comments
1146
1147# Always extract audio
1148-x
1149
1150# Do not copy the mtime
1151--no-mtime
1152
1153# Use this proxy
1154--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1155
298f597b 1156# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1157-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
b7770046
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1158```
1159
e2e43aea 1160Note 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 1161
a4211baf 1162You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
b7770046 1163
88f60feb 1164### Config file encoding
a904a7f8 1165
88f60feb 1166The config files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
a904a7f8 1167
88f60feb 1168If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
a904a7f8 1169
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1170### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1171
0001fcb5 1172You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
b7770046
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1173```
1174touch $HOME/.netrc
1175chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1176```
1177After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1178```
0001fcb5 1179machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
b7770046
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1180```
1181For example:
1182```
1183machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1184machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1185```
7a5c1cfe 1186To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1187
0001fcb5 1188The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1189
1190# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1191
0202b52a 1192The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1193
ec2e44fc 1194<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1195**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1196<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1197
e58c22a0 1198The simplest usage of `-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
a439a3a4 1199
0930b11f 1200It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). 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 1201
1202The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
3d3bb168 1203
2b8a2973 12041. **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 1205
e625be0d 12061. **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 1207
e625be0d 12081. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1209
e75bb0d6 12101. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1211
e978789f
P
12121. **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.
1213
e75bb0d6 12141. **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 1215
f5ea4748 12161. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
ec2e44fc 1217
524e2e4f 12181. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1219
1220To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1221```
e978789f 1222%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1223```
de6000d9 1224
dbcea058 1225Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. 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 1226
1227The available fields are:
b7770046
U
1228
1229 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1230 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1231 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
b7770046
U
1232 - `url` (string): Video URL
1233 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1234 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1235 - `description` (string): The description of the video
b7770046
U
1236 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1237 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1238 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1239 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
b7770046 1240 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
ae6a1b95 1241 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1242 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
ae6a1b95 1243 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
f0d785d3 1244 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
ae6a1b95 1245 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
b7770046
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1246 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1247 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1248 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1249 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
b7770046
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1250 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1251 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1252 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
b7770046
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1253 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1254 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1255 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1256 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1257 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1258 - `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 1259 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1260 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1261 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1262 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1263 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1264 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
b7770046
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1265 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1266 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1267 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
b7770046
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1268 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1269 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1270 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1271 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1272 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1273 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1274 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1275 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1276 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1277 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1278 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1279 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
8aa0e7cd 1280 - `stretched_ratio` (float): `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
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1281 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1282 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1283 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1284 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1285 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1286 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1287 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1288 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1289 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1290 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1291 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1292 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1293 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1294 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1295 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1296 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1297 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
b7770046
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1298 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1299 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1300 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1301 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1302 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1303 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
b7770046
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1304
1305Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1306
1307 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1308 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1309 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1310
1311Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1312
1313 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1314 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1315 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1316 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1317 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1318 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1319 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1320
1321Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1322
1323 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1324 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1325 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1326 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1327 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1328 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1329 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1330 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1331 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1332 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1333
5ec1b6b7 1334Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1335
1336 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1337 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1338 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1339 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1340
53c18592 1341Available only when used in `--print`:
1342
1343 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1344 - `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 1345 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1346 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1347 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1348 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1349
7a340e0d
NA
1350
1351Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1352
1353 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1354 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1355 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1356 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1357 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1358 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1359
49a57e70 1360Each 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.
1361
1362Note 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 1363
0930b11f 1364**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1365
49a57e70 1366For 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 1367
940a67a3 1368Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
b7770046
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1369
1370To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1371
91ebc640 1372The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1373
f304da8a 1374In 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 1375
ec2e44fc 1376<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
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1377#### Output template and Windows batch files
1378
1379If 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 1380<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
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1381
1382#### Output template examples
1383
b7770046 1384```bash
940a67a3 1385$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1386test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1387
940a67a3 1388$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1389youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1390
940a67a3 1391$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1392youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
b7770046
U
1393
1394# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1395$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1396
b050d210 1397# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1398$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1399
e978789f 1400# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1401$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1402
b7770046 1403# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1404$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
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1405
1406# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1407$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
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1408
1409# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1410$ 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 1411
6a34813a 1412# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1413# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1414$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1415
1416# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1417$ 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
1418
b7770046 1419# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1420$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
b7770046
U
1421```
1422
1423# FORMAT SELECTION
1424
7a5c1cfe
P
1425By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1426This 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 1427
c111cefa 1428**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.
1429
eff63539 1430The 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 1431
ec2e44fc 1432<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1433**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1434<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1435
a439a3a4 1436The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
b7770046
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1437
1438You 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.
1439
fa9f30b8 1440You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1441
b7770046
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1442You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1443
59a7a13e 1444 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1445 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1446 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1447 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1448 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1449 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1450 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
ae6a1b95 1451 - `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 1452 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1453 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1454 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1455 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1456 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1457 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1458
ae6a1b95 1459For 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 1460
1461You 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 1462
eb8a4433 1463If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
b7770046
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1464
1465If 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`.
1466
d806c9fd 1467You 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.
1468
1469**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
1470
1471Unless `--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 1472
1473## Filtering Formats
1474
b7770046
U
1475You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1476
1477The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1478
1479 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1480 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1481 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1482 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1483 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1484 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1485 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1486 - `fps`: Frame rate
1487
1ce9a3cb 1488Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
b7770046
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1489
1490 - `ext`: File extension
1491 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1492 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1493 - `container`: Name of the container format
1494 - `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`)
1495 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1496 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1497
1ce9a3cb 1498Any 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 1499
e58c22a0 1500Note 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 1501
e094cec1 1502Formats 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 1503
940a67a3 1504Format 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 1505
eb8a4433 1506## Sorting Formats
1507
2e7781a9 1508You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1509
1510The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1511
63be1aab 1512 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1513 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1514 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1515 - `lang`: The language preference
1516 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1517 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1518 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1519 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1520 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1521 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1522 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1523 - `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 1524 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1525 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1526 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1527 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1528 - `height`: Height of video
1529 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1530 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1531 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1532 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1533 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1534 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1535 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1536 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1537 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1538
1539**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 1540
9ee4f0bb 1541All 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.
1542
176f1866 1543The 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 1544
e75bb0d6 1545Note 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 1546
e58c22a0 1547If 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 1548
1549**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1550
eb8a4433 1551## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1552
b7770046 1553```bash
e58c22a0 1554# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1555# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1556$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1557
1558# Download best format that contains video,
1559# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1560$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1561
1562# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1563$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1564
6fd35a11 1565# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1566# For this case, an output template should be used since
1567# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1568$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1569
f8d4ad9a 1570# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1571# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1572$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1573
1574# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1575# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1576$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1577
6fd35a11 1578
1579# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1580# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1581
1582# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1583$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1584
1585# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1586$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1587
1588# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1589$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1590
1591
909d24dd 1592
eb8a4433 1593# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1594$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1595
1596# Download the best video with the best extension
1597# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1598$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1599
1600
909d24dd 1601
eb8a4433 1602# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1603# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1604$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1605
eb8a4433 1606# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1607# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1608$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1609
eb8a4433 1610# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1611# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1612# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1613# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1614$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1615
b7770046 1616
909d24dd 1617
eb8a4433 1618# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1619# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1620$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1621
1622# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1623# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1624$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1625
1626# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1627$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1628
1629
909d24dd 1630
eb8a4433 1631# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1632# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1633$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1634
1635# Download best video available via the best protocol
1636# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1637$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1638
1639
909d24dd 1640
1ce9a3cb
LF
1641# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1642# or the best video if there is no such video
1643$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1644
1645# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1646# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1647$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1648
1649# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1650# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1651$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1652
1653
1654
1655# More complex examples
1656
e58c22a0 1657# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1658# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1659$ 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 1660
1661# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1662# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1663# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1664$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1665
1666
909d24dd 1667
eb8a4433 1668# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1669# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1670# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1671$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1672```
eb8a4433 1673
73cd218f 1674# MODIFYING METADATA
1675
a4211baf 1676The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1677
418964fa 1678`--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 1679
2e7781a9 1680The 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 1681
1682Note 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`.
1683
9c2b75b5 1684This option also has a few special uses:
3d3bb168 1685
28b0eb0f 1686* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
3d3bb168 1687
88968992 1688* 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 1689
08d30158 1690**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.
1691
c31be5b0 1692For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1693
08d30158 1694Metadata fields | From
1695:--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1696`title` | `track` or `title`
1697`date` | `upload_date`
1698`description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1699`purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1700`track` | `track_number`
1701`artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1702`genre` | `genre`
1703`album` | `album`
1704`album_artist` | `album_artist`
1705`disc` | `disc_number`
1706`show` | `series`
1707`season_number` | `season_number`
1708`episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1709`episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1710`language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1711
c31be5b0 1712**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1713
73cd218f 1714
1715## Modifying metadata examples
1716
73cd218f 1717```bash
1718# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1719$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1720
1721# Regex example
940a67a3 1722$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1723
1724# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1725$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1726
a44ca5a4 1727# Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1728$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1729
1730# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1731# handling multiple lines correctly
940a67a3 1732$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1733
8aa0e7cd 1734# Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1735$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1736
0930b11f 1737# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1738$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1739
e9f4ccd1 1740# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1741$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1742
73cd218f 1743```
1744
5d3a0e79 1745# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1746
a44ca5a4 1747Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1748
1749The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1750
1751#### youtube
8aa0e7cd 1752* `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
56ba69e4 1753* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1754* `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 1755* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1756* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
a44ca5a4 1757* `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`
1758 * 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
2ae778b8 1759* `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
1760 * e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`
1761 * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com`
1762* `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
96565c7e 1763
1764#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1765* `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 1766* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1767
1768#### funimation
1769* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1770* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1771
a9d4da60 1772#### crunchyroll
1773* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1774* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1775
ae6a1b95 1776#### crunchyrollbeta
706dfe44
JH
1777* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1778 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1779* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1780
96565c7e 1781#### vikichannel
1782* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1783
7bdcb4a4
LNO
1784#### niconico
1785* `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.**
1786
aa4b0545 1787#### youtubewebarchive
1788* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1789
d43de682
M
1790#### gamejolt
1791* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1792
26f2aa3d
AG
1793#### hotstar
1794* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1795* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1796* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1797
046cab39
M
1798#### tiktok
1799* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1800* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1801
7eaf7f9a 1802#### rokfinchannel
1803* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1804
1805
bc97cdae 1806NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1807
ec2e44fc 1808<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1809
3acf6d38 1810
f74980cb 1811# PLUGINS
b7770046 1812
3ae5e797 1813Plugins 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
1814
1815Plugins 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`.
1816
1817See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1818
1819Note 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
1820
1821If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1822
b7770046 1823
8c6f4daa 1824
1825# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1826
1827yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1828
1829Your 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.
1830
1831From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1832
1833```python
59a7a13e 1834from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1835
3d3bb168 1836URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1837with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1838 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 1839```
1840
1890fc63 1841Most 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#L180).
8c6f4daa 1842
43cc91ad 1843**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
3d3bb168 1844
1845## Embedding examples
1846
43cc91ad 1847#### Extracting information
8c6f4daa 1848
1849```python
1850import json
8c6f4daa 1851import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1852
3d3bb168 1853URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1854
1855# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1856ydl_opts = {}
1857with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1858 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1859
1860 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1861 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1862```
43cc91ad 1863#### Download using an info-json
3d3bb168 1864
1865```python
1866import yt_dlp
1867
1868INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1869
1870with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1871 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1872
1873print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1874 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1875```
1876
43cc91ad 1877#### Extract audio
3d3bb168 1878
1879```python
1880import yt_dlp
1881
1882URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1883
1884ydl_opts = {
0a41f331 1885 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
3d3bb168 1886 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1887 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1888 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1889 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1890 }]
1891}
1892
1893with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1894 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1895```
0a41f331 1896
1897#### Filter videos
1898
1899```python
1900import yt_dlp
1901
1902URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1903
1904def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1905 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1906 duration = info.get('duration')
1907 if duration and duration < 60:
1908 return 'The video is too short'
1909
1910ydl_opts = {
1911 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1912}
1913
1914with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1915 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1916```
1917
43cc91ad 1918#### Adding logger and progress hook
3d3bb168 1919
1920```python
1921import yt_dlp
1922
1923URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
8c6f4daa 1924
1925class MyLogger:
1926 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1927 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1928 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1929 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1930 pass
1931 else:
1932 self.info(msg)
1933
1934 def info(self, msg):
1935 pass
1936
1937 def warning(self, msg):
1938 pass
1939
1940 def error(self, msg):
1941 print(msg)
1942
1943
3d3bb168 1944# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1945def my_hook(d):
1946 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1947 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1948
1949
1950ydl_opts = {
1951 'logger': MyLogger(),
1952 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1953}
1954
1955with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1956 ydl.download(URLS)
1957```
1958
43cc91ad 1959#### Add a custom PostProcessor
3d3bb168 1960
1961```python
1962import yt_dlp
1963
1964URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1965
1966# ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
59a7a13e 1967class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
8c6f4daa 1968 def run(self, info):
1969 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1970 return [], info
1971
1972
3d3bb168 1973with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
8aa0e7cd 1974 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1975 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
3d3bb168 1976 ydl.download(URLS)
1977```
8c6f4daa 1978
1979
43cc91ad 1980#### Use a custom format selector
3d3bb168 1981
1982```python
1983import yt_dlp
1984
1985URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1986
093a1710 1987def format_selector(ctx):
1988 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
3d3bb168 1989 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
093a1710 1990
1991 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1992 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1993
1994 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1995 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1996 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1997
1998 # find compatible audio extension
1999 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2000 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2001 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2002 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2003
3d3bb168 2004 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
093a1710 2005 yield {
093a1710 2006 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2007 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2008 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 2009 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 2010 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2011 }
2012
2013
8c6f4daa 2014ydl_opts = {
093a1710 2015 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 2016}
2017
2018with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
3d3bb168 2019 ydl.download(URLS)
8c6f4daa 2020```
2021
ec2e44fc 2022<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2023
e167860c 2024# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2025
2026These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2027
8130779d 2028#### Almost redundant options
2029While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2030
2031 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2032 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 2033 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 2034 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2035
6ccf351a 2036#### Redundant options
2037While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 2038
53c18592 2039 --get-description --print description
2040 --get-duration --print duration_string
2041 --get-filename --print filename
2042 --get-format --print format
2043 --get-id --print id
2044 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2045 -e, --get-title --print title
2046 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 2047 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2048 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2049 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2050 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
8b7539d2 2051 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2052 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
7e88d7d7 2053 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2054 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2055 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2056 --no-playlist-reverse Default
6ccf351a 2057
2058
2059#### Not recommended
2060While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2061
1e43a6f7 2062 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2063 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 2064 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 2065 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 2066 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 2067 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 2068 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 2069 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 2070 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 2071 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2072 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 2073 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2074 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 2075 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2076 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2077 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2078 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 2079
2080
2081#### Developer options
2082These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2083
34488702 2084 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
f95b9dee 2085 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
6ccf351a 2086 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 2087 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2088 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 2089
2090
2091#### Old aliases
2092These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2093
2094 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 2095 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 2096 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2097 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2098 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2099 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2100 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 2101 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 2102 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 2103 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 2104 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2105 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 2106 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2107 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 2108 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 2109 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 2110 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 2111
7a340e0d 2112#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 2113Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
2114
2115 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2116 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2117 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2118 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2119 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2120 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2121 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2122 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2123
f4536226 2124#### No longer supported
2125These options may no longer work as intended
2126
2127 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2128 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2129 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2130 --no-call-home Default
2131 --include-ads No longer supported
2132 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 2133 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2134 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 2135
2136#### Removed
2137These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2138
f4536226 2139 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
3d3bb168 2140 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
f4536226 2141
8c6f4daa 2142# CONTRIBUTING
2143See [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 2144
c2b5f311 2145# MORE
8c6f4daa 2146For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)