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b31fdeed 1<div align="center">
2
d9d045e2 3# YT-DLP
b31fdeed 4A command-line program to download videos from YouTube and many other [video platforms](supportedsites.md)
d9d045e2 5
e58c22a0 6<!-- GHA doesn't have for-the-badge style
7a5c1cfe 7[![CI Status](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/workflows/Core%20Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
b31fdeed 8-->
9[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Release&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
10[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
11[![Doc Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/badge/?version=latest&style=for-the-badge)](https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
a7191c6f 12[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=discord&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
b31fdeed 13[![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)
14[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
a7191c6f 15[![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/total?style=for-the-badge&color=blue)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
b31fdeed 16[![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
c76eb41b 17
b31fdeed 18</div>
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
034b6215 22* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 23 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 24* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
e58c22a0 25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 26 * [Update](#update)
27 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 28* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
29 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 30 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 31 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 32 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
33 * [Download Options](#download-options)
34 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 35 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 36 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 37 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 38 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
39 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
40 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
41 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 42 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
8a51f564 43 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 44 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 45* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 46 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 47* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 48 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
49 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 50* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 51 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
52 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
53 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 54* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
55 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
f74980cb 56* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
e167860c 57* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
c76eb41b 58* [MORE](#more)
b31fdeed 59</div>
50865ca8 60
61
034b6215 62# NEW FEATURES
f20f5fe5 63The major new features from the latest release of [blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
034b6215 64
7a5c1cfe 65* **[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 66
90505ff1 67* **[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 that what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 68
fac98805 69* **Merged with youtube-dl [commit/a726009](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/a7260099873acc6dc7d76cafad2f6b139087afd0)**: (v2021.04.26) You get all the latest features and patches of [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
034b6215 70
fac98805 71* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--get-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 72
f5546c0b 73* **Youtube improvements**:
0cf05715 74 * All Youtube Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) works and supports downloading multiple pages of content
75 * Youtube search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs work
76 * Youtube mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
f20f5fe5 77 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
78
597c1866 79* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
80
b31fdeed 81* **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 82
b31fdeed 83* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 84
fac98805 85* **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow
f20f5fe5 86
fac98805 87* **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi
88
89* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 90
597c1866 91* **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 92
93* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
94
fac98805 95* **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`
96
97* **Other new options**: `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 98
fac98805 99* **Improvements**: Multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
c69911e4 100
b31fdeed 101* **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
102
7a5c1cfe 103* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 104
29b6000e 105
7a5c1cfe 106See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 107
108
90505ff1 109**PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
f20f5fe5 110
b9650873 111If you are coming from [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare [options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
f20f5fe5 112
53ed7066 113### Differences in default behavior
114
115Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
116
28b0eb0f 117* The options `--id`, `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
118* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
119* 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`
120* 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
121* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
122* 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
123* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
124* 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
125* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-infojson`. Use `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
126* `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
127* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
128* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
129* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Either append a `/featured` to the URL or use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to download only the videos in the home page
130* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
53ed7066 131
132For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 133* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
134* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
135* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 136
f20f5fe5 137
d19bb9c0 138# INSTALLATION
b31fdeed 139yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
50865ca8 140
7bc877a2 141You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
7a5c1cfe 142* Download the binary from the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
a61f4b28 143* Use [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp): `python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
144* Use pip+git: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
145* Install master branch: `python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
146
147Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
5f326cf5 148
5ba4a0b6
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149UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the [latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
150
151```
152sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
153sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
154```
155
156```
157sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
158sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
159```
160
161```
162sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
163sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
164```
165
e58c22a0 166### DEPENDENCIES
a61f4b28 167Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are officially supported. Other versions and implementations may or maynot work correctly.
b31fdeed 168
fac98805 169On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999) 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.
170
07cce701 171Although there are no other required dependencies, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended. Other optional dependencies are `sponskrub`, `AtomicParsley`, `mutagen`, `pycryptodome`, `phantomjs` and any of the supported external downloaders. Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen and pycryptodome included.
b31fdeed 172
c76eb41b 173### UPDATE
b31fdeed 174You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
aa837ddf 175If you are using `pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
5f326cf5 176
c76eb41b 177### COMPILE
5f326cf5 178
c76eb41b 179**For Windows**:
5d25607a 180To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen and pycryptodome)
d19bb9c0 181
a61f4b28 182 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome
e38df8f9 183
a61f4b28 184Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run `py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
5f326cf5 185
e38df8f9 186You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
187
7a5c1cfe 188 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
fac98805 189
190Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
b96a939b 191
c76eb41b 192**For Unix**:
c74d1aa3 193You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `nosetests`
127d0759 194Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 195
e38df8f9 196**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 197
b31fdeed 198# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 199
7a5c1cfe 200 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 201
c2b5f311 202`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
e58c22a0 203<!-- Auto generated -->
c2b5f311 204
c76eb41b 205## General Options:
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206 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
207 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 208 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
209 sure that you have sufficient permissions
210 (run with sudo if needed)
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211 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
212 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
8a51f564 213 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
214 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
215 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
1dc2726f 216 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
4b9f9010 217 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
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218 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
219 extractors
220 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
221 extractor
222 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
223 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
6623ac34 224 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
c4af7684 225 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
6623ac34 226 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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227 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
228 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
229 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 230 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 231 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 232 except the one provided by --config-location.
233 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 234 file, no further configuration files are
235 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
236 compatibility) if this option is found
237 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 238 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 239 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
240 either the path to the config or its
241 containing directory
c4af7684 242 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 243 only list them
6623ac34 244 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
bdf7f139 245 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
597c1866 246 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 247 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 248 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
249 with youtube-dl and youtube-dlc
250 configurations by reverting some of the
251 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
252 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 253
149f05c7 254## Network Options:
28b4f736 255 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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256 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
257 scheme. For example
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258 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
259 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 260 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 261 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 262 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 263 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 264
b31fdeed 265## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
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266 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
267 some geo-restricted sites. The default
268 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 269 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 270 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 271 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 272 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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273 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
274 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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275 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
276 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 277 country code
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278 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
279 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 280 notation
149f05c7 281
cfcec693 282## Video Selection:
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283 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
284 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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285 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
286 indices of the videos in the playlist
287 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
288 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
289 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
290 specify range: "--playlist-items
291 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 292 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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293 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
294 caseless sub-string)
295 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
296 caseless sub-string)
780083db 297 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
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298 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
299 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
300 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
301 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
6623ac34 302 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
303 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
304 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 305 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 306 this date. The date formats accepted is the
307 same as --date
c4af7684 308 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 309 this date. The date formats accepted is the
310 same as --date
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311 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
312 COUNT views
313 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
314 COUNT views
4d2fdb07 315 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
8a51f564 316 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
317 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
318 to check if the key is not present,
277d6ff5 319 key>NUMBER (like "view_count > 12", also
8a51f564 320 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
321 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
322 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
323 !=) to match against a string literal and &
324 to require multiple matches. Values which
325 are not known are excluded unless you put a
326 question mark (?) after the operator. For
327 example, to only match videos that have
8c6c88c7
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328 been liked more than 100 times and disliked
329 less than 50 times (or the dislike
330 functionality is not available at the given
331 service), but who also have a description,
332 use --match-filter "like_count > 100 &
8a51f564 333 dislike_count <? 50 & description"
c76eb41b 334 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 335 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 336 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 337 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 338 a video and a playlist
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339 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
340 age
341 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
342 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 343 downloaded videos in it
8b0d7497 344 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 345 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 346 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 347 a file that has been filtered out
26e2805c 348 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
349 of the playlist is skipped
c76eb41b 350 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
6bcd846b 351
d5a62e4f 352## Download Options:
b31fdeed 353 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
354 video that should be download concurrently
355 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 356 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
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357 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
358 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 359 "infinite"
0be8314d 360 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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361 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
362 ISM)
6623ac34 363 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
364 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 365 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 366 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 367 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 368 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 369 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 370 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
371 downloading is finished (default)
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372 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
373 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 374 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
375 from an initial value of --buffer-size
376 (default)
377 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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378 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
379 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
380 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
381 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
382 (experimental)
2101f5d4 383 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 384 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 385 (default)
31487eb9 386 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 387 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 388 expected file size
9bd20204 389 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
390 allowing some players to play the video
391 while downloading, and reducing the chance
392 of file corruption if download is
393 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
394 live streams
395 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
396 videos. This is default when not
397 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 398 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
399 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
400 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
401 use it for. Currently supports native,
402 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
403 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
404 this option multiple times to set different
405 downloaders for different protocols. For
406 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
407 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
408 http/ftp downloads, and the native
409 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
410 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 411 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
412 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
413 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
29b6000e 414 can use this option multiple times
415 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 416
cfcec693 417## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 418 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
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419 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
420 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 421 comments and ignored
d818eb74 422 -P, --paths TYPES:PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 423 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 424 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
425 same types as --output are supported.
426 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
427 and "temp" paths. All intermediary files
428 are first downloaded to the temp path and
429 then the final files are moved over to the
430 home path after download is finished. This
431 option is ignored if --output is an
432 absolute path
d818eb74 433 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 434 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 435 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
436 fields in output filename template
437 (default: "NA")
c4af7684
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438 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
439 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
440 filenames
c76eb41b 441 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
442 filenames (default)
c2934512 443 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
444 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
445 using windows (default)
446 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
447 extension) to the specified number of
448 characters
9b45b9f5 449 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
450 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
451 This option includes --no-continue
452 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
453 related files (default)
c25228e5 454 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
455 (default)
456 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 457 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 458 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 459 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 460 into output file (default)
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461 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
462 into output file
c76eb41b 463 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
464 file modification time (default)
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465 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
466 the file modification time
467 --write-description Write video description to a .description
468 file
6623ac34 469 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 470 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 471 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 472 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
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473 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
474 .annotations.xml file
6623ac34 475 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
cac96421 476 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
477 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
478 --write-description etc. (default)
479 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
480 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 481 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
482 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
483 could still contain some personal
484 information (default)
485 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 486 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
487 infojson. The comments are fetched even
488 without this option if the extraction is
489 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
490 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
491 extraction is known to be quick
492 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 493 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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494 (created with the "--write-info-json"
495 option)
496 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
497 jar in
6623ac34 498 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
499 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
500 can store some downloaded information
82674236 501 permanently. By default
6623ac34 502 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
503 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
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504 YouTube player files (for videos with
505 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
8a51f564 506 may change
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507 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
508 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 509
b31fdeed 510## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 511 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 512 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 513 (default)
1dc2726f 514 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
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515 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
516 formats
2b1bd292 517
732044af 518## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 519 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
520 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
521 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
522 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
523 OS caches the URL based on the file path
524 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
525 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 526
0744a815 527## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
1dc2726f 528 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
6c072e7d 529 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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530 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
531 anything to disk
0cf05715 532 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
533 for extracting metadata even if the video
534 is not actually available for download
535 (experimental)
536 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
537 formats are found (default)
e167860c 538 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
539 related files (Alias: --no-download)
53c18592 540 -O, --print TEMPLATE Simulate, quiet but print the given fields.
541 Either a field name or similar formatting
542 as the output template can be used
c4af7684 543 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
8a51f564 544 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
545 available keys
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546 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
547 for each command-line argument. If the URL
548 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
8a51f564 549 playlist information in a single line
c4af7684 550 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
8a51f564 551 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
552 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 553 written as far as no errors occur, even if
554 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 555 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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556 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
557 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
558 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
559 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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560 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
561 to debug problems (very verbose)
562 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
563 files in the current directory to debug
564 problems
780083db 565 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 566
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567## Workarounds:
568 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
1dc2726f 569 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 570 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 571 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 572 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 573 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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574 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
575 access is restricted to one domain
576 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 577 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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578 option multiple times
579 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
580 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
581 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 582 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
583 during data extraction
c4af7684 584 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 585 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
586 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
587 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
588 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
589 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 590 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
591 subtitle download
36f35428 592
cfcec693 593## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 594 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
595 for more details
596 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
597 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 598 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
599 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 600 Formats" for more details
601 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 602 specified sort order (default), see
603 "Sorting Formats" for more details
604 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
605 into a single file
606 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
607 each output file (default)
608 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
609 into a single file
610 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
611 each output file (default)
da9be05e 612 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
613 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
614 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
615 containers irrespective of quality
616 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
617 containers (default)
e8e73840 618 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
619 actually downloadable (Experimental)
535d7b68 620 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
bb6ac836 621 videos
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622 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
623 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
624 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
625 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
63ad4d43 626 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
e58c22a0 627 downloaded. All video post-processing will
63ad4d43 628 also be turned off
629 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
630 listed or downloaded (default)
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631
632## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 633 --write-subs Write subtitle file
634 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
635 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 636 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
637 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
638 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
1dc2726f 639 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
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640 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
641 preference, for example: "srt" or
642 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 643 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
644 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
645 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
646 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
647 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
648 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
649 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 650
cfcec693 651## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 652 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 653 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 654 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 655 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 656 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
29f7c58a 657 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 658 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 659 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
660 a list of available MSOs
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661 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
662 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 663 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
664 interactively
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665 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
666 operators
667
c76eb41b 668## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 669 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 670 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
c4af7684 671 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
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672 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
673 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
674 -x
e4172ac9 675 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
676 value between 0 (better) and 9 (worse) for
677 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 678 (default 5)
c76eb41b 679 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 680 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
681 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
682 target container does not support the
06167fbb 683 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
684 can specify multiple rules; eg.
685 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
686 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 687 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
29b6000e 688 re-encoding is necessary. The supported
689 formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 690 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 691 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 692 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
693 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 694 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
695 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
696 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
697 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
698 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
699 FixupStretched, FixupM4a and FixupM3u8. The
700 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
701 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
702 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
703 arguments to the specified executable only
704 when being used by the specified
705 postprocessor. Additionally, for
706 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
707 to the prefix optionally followed by a
708 number to pass the argument before the
709 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
710 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
711 this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 712 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 713 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 714 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 715 after post-processing
c76eb41b 716 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 717 post-processing (default)
718 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
719 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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720 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
721 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 722 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
1dc2726f 723 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
6623ac34 724 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
1dc2726f 725 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
6623ac34 726 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
73cd218f 727 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
728 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
729 for details
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730 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
731 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
732 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
733 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
734 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
735 default; fix file if we can, warn
736 otherwise)
e4172ac9 737 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
738 path to the binary or its containing
739 directory
c4af7684 740 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
9de3ea31 741 downloading and post-processing. Similar
742 syntax to the output template can be used
743 to pass any field as arguments to the
744 command. An additional field "filepath"
745 that contains the final path of the
746 downloaded file is also available. If no
747 fields are passed, "%(filepath)s" is
748 appended to the end of the command
e167860c 749 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
9fc41bcb 750 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
e167860c 751 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 752 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
753 (currently supported: jpg)
72755351 754 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
755 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
756 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
757 to set the output filename for the split
758 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
759 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
760 (default)
6bcd846b 761
8a51f564 762## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
7a5c1cfe 763[SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
8a51f564 764 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
765 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
766
767 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
768 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
769 binary exists (Youtube only)
c76eb41b 770 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
a9e7f546 771 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
772 simply marking them
6623ac34 773 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
774 them out (default)
c76eb41b 775 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
776 downloaded
6623ac34 777 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
778 video was already downloaded (default)
c76eb41b 779 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
780 the path to the binary or its containing
8a51f564 781 directory
a9e7f546 782
78895bd3 783## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 784 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 785 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 786 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 787 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
788 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
789 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 790 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
791 discontinuities such as ad breaks
792 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
793 formats at discontinuities such as ad
794 breaks (default)
795 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
796 data on YouTube videos (default)
797 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
798 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
799 related data on YouTube videos
800 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
801 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
802 on YouTube videos (default)
803 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
804 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
805 related data on YouTube videos
806 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
17cb02d0 807
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808# CONFIGURATION
809
7a5c1cfe 810You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 811
0202b52a 8121. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
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8131. **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.
8141. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 8151. **User Configuration**:
816 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
817 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
818 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
819 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
820 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
821 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
822
7a5c1cfe 823 Note that `~` points to `C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also, `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined
07cce701 8241. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 825
7a5c1cfe 826For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
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827```
828# Lines starting with # are comments
829
830# Always extract audio
831-x
832
833# Do not copy the mtime
834--no-mtime
835
836# Use this proxy
837--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
838
298f597b 839# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
840-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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841```
842
e2e43aea 843Note 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 844
7a5c1cfe 845You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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846
847### Authentication with `.netrc` file
848
7a5c1cfe 849You 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 your `$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
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850```
851touch $HOME/.netrc
852chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
853```
854After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
855```
856machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
857```
858For example:
859```
860machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
861machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
862```
7a5c1cfe 863To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
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864
865On Windows you may also need to setup the `%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
866```
867set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
868```
869
870# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
871
0202b52a 872The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
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873
874**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
875
e58c22a0 876The 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 877
878It 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/2/library/stdtypes.html#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.
879
880The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
e625be0d 8811. **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)`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`. Note that the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
8821. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
8831. **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`
8841. **Default**: A default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
a439a3a4 885
886To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
887```
e625be0d 888%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 889```
de6000d9 890
5112f26a 891Additionally, 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`, `infojson`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video.
e29663c6 892
893The available fields are:
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894
895 - `id` (string): Video identifier
896 - `title` (string): Video title
897 - `url` (string): Video URL
898 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
899 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 900 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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901 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
902 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
903 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
904 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
905 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
906 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
907 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
908 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
909 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
910 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
911 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
912 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 913 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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914 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
915 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
916 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
917 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
918 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 919 - `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)
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920 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
921 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 922 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 923 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 924 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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925 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
926 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 927 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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928 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
929 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
930 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
931 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
932 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
933 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
934 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
935 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
936 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
937 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
938 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
939 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
940 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
941 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
942 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
943 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
944 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
945 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
946 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
947 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
948 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
949 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
950 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
951 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
952 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
953 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
954
955Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
956
957 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
958 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
959 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
960
961Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
962
963 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
964 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
965 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
966 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
967 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
968 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
969 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
970
971Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
972
973 - `track` (string): Title of the track
974 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
975 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
976 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
977 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
978 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
979 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
980 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
981 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
982 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
983
b050d210 984Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 985
986 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
987 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
988 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
989 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
990
53c18592 991Available only when used in `--print`:
992
993 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
994 - `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
995
a820dc72 996Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note 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 997
7a5c1cfe 998For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
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999
1000For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1001
1002Output 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.
1003
1004To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1005
91ebc640 1006The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
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1007
1008In 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:
1009
1010#### Output template and Windows batch files
1011
1012If 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"`.
1013
1014#### Output template examples
1015
de6000d9 1016Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
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1017
1018```bash
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P
1019$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1020youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1021
7a5c1cfe
P
1022$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1023youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
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1024
1025# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 1026$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 1027
b050d210 1028# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 1029$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 1030
b7770046 1031# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 1032$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
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1033
1034# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 1035$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P '~/MyVideos' -o '%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
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1036
1037# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 1038$ 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
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1039
1040# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1041$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1042```
1043
1044# FORMAT SELECTION
1045
7a5c1cfe
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1046By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1047This 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 1048
eff63539 1049The 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.
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1050
1051**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1052
a439a3a4 1053The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
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1054
1055You 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.
1056
1057You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1058
e094cec1 1059 - `all`: Select all formats
f8d4ad9a 1060 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1061 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1062 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
909d24dd 1063 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1064 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1065 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1066 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1067 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1068 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1069 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1070 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1071 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1072 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1073
e58c22a0 1074For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo`. It is however recommended not to use `worst` and related options. When your format selector is `worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of `-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
eff63539 1075
1076You 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 1077
eb8a4433 1078If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
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1079
1080If 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`.
1081
e4172ac9 1082You 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. If `--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if `--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` 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 1083
1084## Filtering Formats
1085
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1086You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1087
1088The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1089
1090 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1091 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1092 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1093 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1094 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1095 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1096 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1097 - `fps`: Frame rate
1098
1099Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1100
1101 - `ext`: File extension
1102 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1103 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1104 - `container`: Name of the container format
1105 - `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`)
1106 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1107 - `language`: Language code
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1108
1109Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1110
e58c22a0 1111Note 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 1112
e094cec1 1113Formats 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 1114
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1115Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1116
eb8a4433 1117## Sorting Formats
1118
1119You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`. The available fields are:
1120
63be1aab 1121 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1122 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1123 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1124 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1125 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1126 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
a7191c6f 1127 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native` > `m3u8` > `http_dash_segments` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1128 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
63be1aab 1129 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1130 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1131 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1132 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1133 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
eb8a4433 1134 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
63be1aab 1135 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1136 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1137 - `height`: Height of video
1138 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1139 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1140 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1141 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1142 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1143 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1144 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1145 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
eb8a4433 1146
e58c22a0 1147Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All 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.
eb8a4433 1148
dca3ff4a 1149The fields `hasvid`, `ie_pref`, `lang` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `quality,res,fps,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1150
e58c22a0 1151If 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 1152
1153**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1154
eb8a4433 1155## Format Selection examples
b7770046
U
1156
1157Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1158
1159```bash
e58c22a0 1160# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1161# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1162$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1163
1164# Download best format that contains video,
1165# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1166$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1167
1168# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1169$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1170
6fd35a11 1171# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1172# For this case, an output template should be used since
1173# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1174$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1175
f8d4ad9a 1176# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1177# and all audio-only formats into one file
1178$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1179
1180# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1181# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1182$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1183
6fd35a11 1184
1185# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1186# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1187
1188# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1189$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1190
1191# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1192$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1193
1194# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1195$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1196
1197
909d24dd 1198
eb8a4433 1199# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1200$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1201
1202# Download the best video with the best extension
1203# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1204$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1205
1206
909d24dd 1207
eb8a4433 1208# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1209# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1210$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1211
eb8a4433 1212# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1213# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1214$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1215
eb8a4433 1216# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1217# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1218# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1219# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1220$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1221
b7770046 1222
909d24dd 1223
eb8a4433 1224# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1225# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1226$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1227
1228# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1229# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1230$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1231
1232# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1233$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1234
1235
909d24dd 1236
eb8a4433 1237# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1238# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1239$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1240
1241# Download best video available via the best protocol
1242# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1243$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1244
1245
909d24dd 1246
eb8a4433 1247# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1248$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1249
1250# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1251# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1252$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1253
1254# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1255# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1256$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1257
1258
1259
1260# More complex examples
1261
e58c22a0 1262# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1263# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1264$ 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 1265
1266# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1267# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1268# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1269$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1270
1271
909d24dd 1272
eb8a4433 1273# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1274# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1275# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1276$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1277```
eb8a4433 1278
73cd218f 1279# MODIFYING METADATA
1280
b31fdeed 1281The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata FROM:TO`. The general syntax is to give the name of a field or a template (with similar syntax to [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 1282
1283Note 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`.
1284
9c2b75b5 1285This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1286* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. You can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis", for example
1287* 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
73cd218f 1288
1289## Modifying metadata examples
1290
1291Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1292
1293```bash
1294# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1295$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1296
1297# Regex example
02aabd45 1298$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1299
1300# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1301$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1302
1303# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1304$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1305
1306```
1307
f74980cb 1308# PLUGINS
b7770046 1309
f74980cb 1310Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only `extractor` plugins are supported. Support for `downloader` and `postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
b7770046 1311
7a5c1cfe 1312**Note**: `<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`)
b7770046 1313
e167860c 1314# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1315
1316These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1317
f4536226 1318#### Not recommended
e58c22a0 1319While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
f4536226 1320
53c18592 1321 --get-description --print description
1322 --get-duration --print duration_string
1323 --get-filename --print filename
1324 --get-format --print format
1325 --get-id --print id
1326 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1327 -e, --get-title --print title
1328 -g, --get-url --print urls
d9aa2332 1329 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1330 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
e167860c 1331 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1332 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
73cd218f 1333 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1334 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1335 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1336 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1337 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
f4536226 1338 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1339 --test Used by developers for testing extractors. Not intended for the end user
a06916d9 1340 --youtube-print-sig-code Used for testing youtube signatures
f4536226 1341
1342
1343#### Old aliases
1344These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1345
1346 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1347 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1348 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1349 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1350 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1351 --load-info --load-info-json
1352 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1353 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1354 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1355 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1356 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1357 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1358 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1359 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1360 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1361
1362#### No longer supported
1363These options may no longer work as intended
1364
1365 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1366 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1367 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1368 --no-call-home Default
1369 --include-ads No longer supported
1370 --no-include-ads Default
486fb179 1371
1372#### Removed
1373These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1374
f4536226 1375 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1376 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1377 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1378 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1379
e167860c 1380
c2b5f311 1381# MORE
5bfa4862 1382For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the [original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)