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94eb2dd1 1youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
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3- [INSTALLATION](#installation)
4- [DESCRIPTION](#description)
5- [OPTIONS](#options)
6- [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
7- [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
8- [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection)
9- [FAQ](#faq)
10- [DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS](#developer-instructions)
11- [BUGS](#bugs)
12- [COPYRIGHT](#copyright)
cfcec693 13
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14# INSTALLATION
15
16To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, OS X, etc.), type:
17
18 sudo curl https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
19 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
20
21If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
22
6e74521d 23 sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
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24 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
25
26Windows users can [download a .exe file](https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe) and place it in their home directory or any other location on their [PATH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_%28variable%29).
27
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28OS X users can install **youtube-dl** with [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/).
29
30 brew install youtube-dl
31
32You can also use pip:
33
34 sudo pip install youtube-dl
35
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36Alternatively, refer to the developer instructions below for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html .
37
cfcec693 38# DESCRIPTION
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39**youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
40YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
a03aaaed 412.6, 2.7, or 3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
280d6789 42your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
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43which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
44
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45 youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
46
cfcec693 47# OPTIONS
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48 -h, --help print this help text and exit
49 --version print program version and exit
50 -U, --update update this program to latest version. Make
51 sure that you have sufficient permissions
52 (run with sudo if needed)
53 -i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors, for example to
98c4b8fa 54 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
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55 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
56 playlist or the command line) if an error
57 occurs
58 --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
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59 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs
60 they would handle
61 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
62 extractors
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63 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
64 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
65 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
f4d66a99 66 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
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67 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
68 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
69 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
70 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
71 this is not possible instead of searching.
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72 --ignore-config Do not read configuration files. When given
73 in the global configuration file /etc
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74 /youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
75 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
76 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
77 on Windows)
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78 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
79 only list them.
08c1d0d3 80
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81## Network Options:
82 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
83 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
84 connection
85 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
86 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
87 (experimental)
88 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
89 (experimental)
90 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
91 (experimental)
92
cfcec693 93## Video Selection:
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94 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
95 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
96 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or
97 caseless sub-string)
98 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
99 caseless sub-string)
100 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
101 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
102 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
103 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
104 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
105 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
106 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded on or before
107 this date (i.e. inclusive)
108 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded on or after
109 this date (i.e. inclusive)
110 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
111 COUNT views
112 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
113 COUNT views
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114 --no-playlist If the URL refers to a video and a
115 playlist, download only the video.
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116 --age-limit YEARS download only videos suitable for the given
117 age
118 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
119 archive file. Record the IDs of all
120 downloaded videos in it.
121 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
122 (experimental)
6bcd846b 123
d5a62e4f 124## Download Options:
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125 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second
126 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
127 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
128 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
129 (default is 1024)
130 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer
131 size. By default, the buffer size is
132 automatically resized from an initial value
133 of SIZE.
2101f5d4 134 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
d5a62e4f 135
cfcec693 136## Filesystem Options:
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137 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for
138 stdin)
780083db 139 --id use only video ID in file name
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140 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to
141 get the title, %(uploader)s for the
142 uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
143 uploader nickname if different,
144 %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
145 incremented number, %(ext)s for the
146 filename extension, %(format)s for the
147 format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
148 "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
149 the format (like Youtube's itags: "137"),
150 %(upload_date)s for the upload date
151 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
152 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
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153 video id, %(playlist_title)s,
154 %(playlist_id)s, or %(playlist)s (=title if
155 present, ID otherwise) for the playlist the
780083db 156 video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
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157 position in the playlist. %(height)s and
158 %(width)s for the width and height of the
159 video format. %(resolution)s for a textual
d63516e9 160 description of the resolution of the video
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161 format. %% for a literal percent. Use - to
162 output to stdout. Can also be used to
163 download to a different directory, for
164 example with -o '/my/downloads/%(uploader)s
165 /%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
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166 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in
167 %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
168 filename template or --auto-number option
169 is given
170 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
171 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
172 filenames
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173 -A, --auto-number [deprecated; use -o
174 "%(autonumber)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" ] number
175 downloaded files starting from 00000
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176 -t, --title [deprecated] use title in file name
177 (default)
178 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
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179 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
180 -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files.
181 By default, youtube-dl will resume
182 downloads if possible.
183 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files
184 (restart from beginning)
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185 --no-part do not use .part files - write directly
186 into output file
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187 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set
188 the file modification time
189 --write-description write video description to a .description
190 file
191 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
192 --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation
193 file
194 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
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195 --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
196 (created with the "--write-json" option)
197 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie
198 jar in
199 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
200 can store some downloaded information
201 permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
202 /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
203 moment, only YouTube player files (for
204 videos with obfuscated signatures) are
205 cached, but that may change.
206 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
207 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 208
cfcec693 209## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
780083db 210 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
6c072e7d 211 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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212 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
213 anything to disk
214 --skip-download do not download the video
215 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
216 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
217 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
218 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
219 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
220 --get-duration simulate, quiet but print video length
221 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
222 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
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223 -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
224 See --output for a description of available
225 keys.
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226 -J, --dump-single-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information
227 for each command-line argument. If the URL
228 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
229 playlist information in a single line.
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230 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
231 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
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232 --newline output progress bar as new lines
233 --no-progress do not print progress bar
234 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
235 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
236 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems
237 (very verbose)
238 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
239 files in the current directory to debug
240 problems
241 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
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242 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dl server for
243 debugging. (Experimental)
6bcd846b 244
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245## Workarounds:
246 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
247 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
248 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
249 information about the video. (Currently
250 supported only for YouTube)
251 --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
9b36dcbd 252 --referer URL specify a custom referer, use if the video
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253 access is restricted to one domain
254 --add-header FIELD:VALUE specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
255 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
256 option multiple times
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257 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
258 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
259 or fribidi executable in PATH
36f35428 260
cfcec693 261## Video Format Options:
780083db 262 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
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263 preference using slashes, as in -f 22/17/18
264 . Instead of format codes, you can select
265 by extension for the extensions aac, m4a,
266 mp3, mp4, ogg, wav, webm. You can also use
267 the special names "best", "bestvideo",
268 "bestaudio", "worst". By default, youtube-
269 dl will pick the best quality. Use commas
270 to download multiple audio formats, such as
271 -f
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272 136/137/mp4/bestvideo,140/m4a/bestaudio.
273 You can merge the video and audio of two
274 formats into a single file using -f <video-
275 format>+<audio-format> (requires ffmpeg or
276 avconv), for example -f
277 bestvideo+bestaudio.
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278 --all-formats download all available video formats
279 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific
280 one is requested
281 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
282 -F, --list-formats list all available formats
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283 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifest on
284 YouTube videos
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285 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
286 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
287 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
288 webm, flv.Ignored if no merge is required
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289
290## Subtitle Options:
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291 --write-sub write subtitle file
292 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube
293 only)
294 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of
295 the video
296 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
297 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
298 youtube only)
299 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download
300 (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
301 language tags like 'en,pt'
6bcd846b 302
cfcec693 303## Authentication Options:
9b36dcbd 304 -u, --username USERNAME login with this account ID
780083db 305 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
b8313f07 306 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR two-factor auth code
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307 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
308 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo, smotri)
6bcd846b 309
cfcec693 310## Post-processing Options:
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311 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files
312 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
313 avprobe)
314 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a",
9b36dcbd 315 "opus", or "wav"; "best" by default
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316 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification,
317 insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
318 (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like
319 128K (default 5)
320 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
321 necessary (currently supported:
09018e19 322 mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv)
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323 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the
324 post-processing; the video is erased by
325 default
326 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the
327 post-processed files are overwritten by
328 default
329 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
330 videos)
d0f2ab69 331 --embed-thumbnail embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
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332 --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
333 --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs
334 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
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335 --fixup POLICY (experimental) Automatically correct known
336 faults of the file. One of never (do
337 nothing), warn (only emit a warning),
338 detect_or_warn(check whether we can do
339 anything about it, warn otherwise
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340 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
341 postprocessors (default)
342 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
343 postprocessors
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344 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
345 downloading, similar to find's -exec
346 syntax. Example: --exec 'adb push {}
347 /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
6bcd846b 348
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349# CONFIGURATION
350
52fc3ba4 351You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dl.conf`.
df4bad32 352
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353# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
354
355The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format `%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
356
357 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
358 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
359 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
360 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
361 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
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362 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
363 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
364 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
7eab8dc7 365 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
d281274b 366 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
02531431 367
1083705f 368The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
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369
370In 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:
371
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372```bash
373$ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
374youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
375$ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
376youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
377```
02531431 378
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379# VIDEO SELECTION
380
381Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
382
383 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
384 - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
385
386Examples:
387
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388```bash
389# Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
390$ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
09c4d509 391
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392# Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
393$ youtube-dl --date 19700101
09c4d509 394
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395$ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
396$ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
397```
e31852ab 398
cfcec693 399# FAQ
447b1d71 400
89294b5f 401### How do I update youtube-dl?
573585c2 402
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403If you've followed [our manual installation instructions](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html), you can simply run `youtube-dl -U` (or, on Linux, `sudo youtube-dl -U`).
404
405If you have used pip, a simple `sudo pip install -U youtube-dl` is sufficient to update.
573585c2 406
89294b5f 407If you have installed youtube-dl using a package manager like *apt-get* or *yum*, use the standard system update mechanism to update. Note that distribution packages are often outdated. As a rule of thumb, youtube-dl releases at least once a month, and often weekly or even daily. Simply go to http://yt-dl.org/ to find out the current version. Unfortunately, there is nothing we youtube-dl developers can do if your distributions serves a really outdated version. You can (and should) complain to your distribution in their bugtracker or support forum.
573585c2 408
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409As a last resort, you can also uninstall the version installed by your package manager and follow our manual installation instructions. For that, remove the distribution's package, with a line like
410
411 sudo apt-get remove -y youtube-dl
412
413Afterwards, simply follow [our manual installation instructions](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html):
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414
415```
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416sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
417sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
418hash -r
419```
420
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421Again, from then on you'll be able to update with `sudo youtube-dl -U`.
422
423### I'm getting an error `Unable to extract OpenGraph title` on YouTube playlists
424
425YouTube changed their playlist format in March 2014 and later on, so you'll need at least youtube-dl 2014.07.25 to download all YouTube videos.
426
08965906 427If you have installed youtube-dl with a package manager, pip, setup.py or a tarball, please use that to update. Note that Ubuntu packages do not seem to get updated anymore. Since we are not affiliated with Ubuntu, there is little we can do. Feel free to [report bugs](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/youtube-dl/+filebug) to the [Ubuntu packaging guys](mailto:ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com?subject=outdated%20version%20of%20youtube-dl) - all they have to do is update the package to a somewhat recent version. See above for a way to update.
89294b5f 428
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429### Do I always have to pass in `--max-quality FORMAT`, or `-citw`?
430
431By default, youtube-dl intends to have the best options (incidentally, if you have a convincing case that these should be different, [please file an issue where you explain that](https://yt-dl.org/bug)). Therefore, it is unnecessary and sometimes harmful to copy long option strings from webpages. In particular, `--max-quality` *limits* the video quality (so if you want the best quality, do NOT pass it in), and the only option out of `-citw` that is regularly useful is `-i`.
432
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433### Can you please put the -b option back?
434
2e1b3afe 435Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the `-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the `-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
447b1d71 436
f2a3a352 437### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
447b1d71 438
2e1b3afe 439Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
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440
441### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
442
443Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
444
445### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
446
a0432a1e 447The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use `--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
447b1d71 448
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449### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
450
5a2ba45e 451youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
454d6691 452
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453### ERROR: unable to download video ###
454
455youtube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
456
5cdfaeb3 457### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
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458
459The error
460
461 File "youtube-dl", line 2
462 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
463
464means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
465
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466### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
467
71f36332 468Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make youtube-dl`.
5cdfaeb3 469
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470### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
471
472To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
473
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474### On Windows, how should I set up ffmpeg and youtube-dl? Where should I put the exe files?
475
476If you put youtube-dl and ffmpeg in the same directory that you're running the command from, it will work, but that's rather cumbersome.
477
478To make a different directory work - either for ffmpeg, or for youtube-dl, or for both - simply create the directory (say, `C:\bin`, or `C:\Users\<User name>\bin`), put all the executables directly in there, and then [set your PATH environment variable](https://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.xml) to include that directory.
479
480From then on, after restarting your shell, you will be able to access both youtube-dl and ffmpeg (and youtube-dl will be able to find ffmpeg) by simply typing `youtube-dl` or `ffmpeg`, no matter what directory you're in.
481
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482### How can I detect whether a given URL is supported by youtube-dl?
483
484For one, have a look at the [list of supported sites](docs/supportedsites). Note that it can sometimes happen that the site changes its URL scheme (say, from http://example.com/v/1234567 to http://example.com/v/1234567 ) and youtube-dl reports an URL of a service in that list as unsupported. In that case, simply report a bug.
485
966ea3ae 486It is *not* possible to detect whether a URL is supported or not. That's because youtube-dl contains a generic extractor which matches **all** URLs. You may be tempted to disable, exclude, or remove the generic extractor, but the generic extractor not only allows users to extract videos from lots of websites that embed a video from another service, but may also be used to extract video from a service that it's hosting itself. Therefore, we neither recommend nor support disabling, excluding, or removing the generic extractor.
416c7fcb 487
966ea3ae 488If you want to find out whether a given URL is supported, simply call youtube-dl with it. If you get no videos back, chances are the URL is either not referring to a video or unsupported. You can find out which by examining the output (if you run youtube-dl on the console) or catching an `UnsupportedError` exception if you run it from a Python program.
416c7fcb 489
a96ed916 490# DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
803abae2 491
63ef36e8 492Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can [download the builds](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution.
803abae2 493
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494To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything either. Simply execute
495
496 python -m youtube_dl
497
498To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work:
499
500 python -m unittest discover
501 python test/test_download.py
502 nosetests
503
504If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
505
506* python
507* make
508* pandoc
509* zip
510* nosetests
6bcd846b 511
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512### Adding support for a new site
513
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514If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick list (assuming your service is called `yourextractor`):
515
5161. [Fork this repository](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/fork)
5172. Check out the source code with `git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube-dl.git`
5183. Start a new git branch with `cd youtube-dl; git checkout -b yourextractor`
5194. Start with this simple template and save it to `youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py`:
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520 ```python
521 # coding: utf-8
522 from __future__ import unicode_literals
523
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524 from .common import InfoExtractor
525
526
527 class YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor):
528 _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?yourextractor\.com/watch/(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
529 _TEST = {
530 'url': 'http://yourextractor.com/watch/42',
7f5c0c4a 531 'md5': 'TODO: md5 sum of the first 10241 bytes of the video file (use --test)',
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532 'info_dict': {
533 'id': '42',
534 'ext': 'mp4',
535 'title': 'Video title goes here',
218f7549 536 'thumbnail': 're:^https?://.*\.jpg$',
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537 # TODO more properties, either as:
538 # * A value
539 # * MD5 checksum; start the string with md5:
540 # * A regular expression; start the string with re:
541 # * Any Python type (for example int or float)
5fbd672c 542 }
1ce464ab 543 }
5fbd672c 544
1ce464ab 545 def _real_extract(self, url):
4bc77c84 546 video_id = self._match_id(url)
c920d7f0 547 webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
5fbd672c 548
1ce464ab 549 # TODO more code goes here, for example ...
1ce464ab 550 title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h1>(.*?)</h1>', webpage, 'title')
d1b3e3dd 551
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552 return {
553 'id': video_id,
554 'title': title,
c3e74731 555 'description': self._og_search_description(webpage),
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556 # TODO more properties (see youtube_dl/extractor/common.py)
557 }
558 ```
5fbd672c 5595. Add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py).
ace52c57 5606. Run `python test/test_download.py TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`. This *should fail* at first, but you can continually re-run it until you're done. If you decide to add more than one test, then rename ``_TEST`` to ``_TESTS`` and make it into a list of dictionaries. The tests will be then be named `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`, `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_1`, `TestDownload.test_YourExtractor_2`, etc.
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5617. Have a look at [`youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Add tests and code for as many as you want.
5628. If you can, check the code with [pyflakes](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes) (a good idea) and [pep8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pep8) (optional, ignore E501).
982a58d0 5639. When the tests pass, [add](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add) the new files and [commit](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit) them and [push](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-push) the result, like this:
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564
565 $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
566 $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py
567 $ git commit -m '[yourextractor] Add new extractor'
568 $ git push origin yourextractor
569
57010. Finally, [create a pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request). We'll then review and merge it.
571
572In any case, thank you very much for your contributions!
a96ed916 573
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574# EMBEDDING YOUTUBE-DL
575
576youtube-dl makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language. If you encounter any problems parsing its output, feel free to [create a report](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/new).
577
578From a Python program, you can embed youtube-dl in a more powerful fashion, like this:
579
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580```python
581import youtube_dl
03df7baa 582
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583ydl_opts = {}
584with youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
585 ydl.download(['http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
586```
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587
588Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of what can be done, have a look at [youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py#L69). For a start, if you want to intercept youtube-dl's output, set a `logger` object.
589
71b640cc 590Here's a more complete example of a program that outputs only errors (and a short message after the download is finished), and downloads/converts the video to an mp3 file:
4f026faf 591
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592```python
593import youtube_dl
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594
595
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596class MyLogger(object):
597 def debug(self, msg):
598 pass
4f026faf 599
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600 def warning(self, msg):
601 pass
4f026faf 602
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603 def error(self, msg):
604 print(msg)
4f026faf 605
71b640cc 606
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607def my_hook(d):
608 if d['status'] == 'finished':
609 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
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610
611
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612ydl_opts = {
613 'format': 'bestaudio/best',
614 'postprocessors': [{
615 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
616 'preferredcodec': 'mp3',
617 'preferredquality': '192',
618 }],
619 'logger': MyLogger(),
620 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
621}
622with youtube_dl.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
623 ydl.download(['http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
624```
4f026faf 625
cfcec693 626# BUGS
e133e121 627
b3efb3eb 628Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues> . Unless you were prompted so or there is another pertinent reason (e.g. GitHub fails to accept the bug report), please do not send bug reports via personal email. For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
e133e121 629
2a18bc9a 630Please include the full output of the command when run with `--verbose`. The output (including the first lines) contain important debugging information. Issues without the full output are often not reproducible and therefore do not get solved in short order, if ever.
4b235346 631
b3efb3eb 632Please re-read your issue once again to avoid a couple of common mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
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633
634### Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
635
636We often get issue reports that we cannot really decipher. While in most cases we eventually get the required information after asking back multiple times, this poses an unnecessary drain on our resources. Many contributors, including myself, are also not native speakers, so we may misread some parts.
637
638So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
639
640- What the problem is
641- How it could be fixed
642- How your proposed solution would look like
643
644If your report is shorter than two lines, it is almost certainly missing some of these, which makes it hard for us to respond to it. We're often too polite to close the issue outright, but the missing info makes misinterpretation likely. As a commiter myself, I often get frustrated by these issues, since the only possible way for me to move forward on them is to ask for clarification over and over.
645
646For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
647
3ef79a97 648Site support requests **must contain an example URL**. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
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649
650### Are you using the latest version?
651
3d97cbbd 652Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
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653
654### Is the issue already documented?
655
656Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you're trying to open. Search at the top of the window or at https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/search?type=Issues . If there is an issue, feel free to write something along the lines of "This affects me as well, with version 2015.01.01. Here is some more information on the issue: ...". While some issues may be old, a new post into them often spurs rapid activity.
657
658### Why are existing options not enough?
659
660Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at [the list of supported options](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). Many feature requests are for features that actually exist already! Please, absolutely do show off your work in the issue report and detail how the existing similar options do *not* solve your problem.
661
662### Is there enough context in your bug report?
663
664People want to solve problems, and often think they do us a favor by breaking down their larger problems (e.g. wanting to skip already downloaded files) to a specific request (e.g. requesting us to look whether the file exists before downloading the info page). However, what often happens is that they break down the problem into two steps: One simple, and one impossible (or extremely complicated one).
665
666We are then presented with a very complicated request when the original problem could be solved far easier, e.g. by recording the downloaded video IDs in a separate file. To avoid this, you must include the greater context where it is non-obvious. In particular, every feature request that does not consist of adding support for a new site should contain a use case scenario that explains in what situation the missing feature would be useful.
667
668### Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
669
670Some of our users seem to think there is a limit of issues they can or should open. There is no limit of issues they can or should open. While it may seem appealing to be able to dump all your issues into one ticket, that means that someone who solves one of your issues cannot mark the issue as closed. Typically, reporting a bunch of issues leads to the ticket lingering since nobody wants to attack that behemoth, until someone mercifully splits the issue into multiple ones.
671
672In particular, every site support request issue should only pertain to services at one site (generally under a common domain, but always using the same backend technology). Do not request support for vimeo user videos, Whitehouse podcasts, and Google Plus pages in the same issue. Also, make sure that you don't post bug reports alongside feature requests. As a rule of thumb, a feature request does not include outputs of youtube-dl that are not immediately related to the feature at hand. Do not post reports of a network error alongside the request for a new video service.
673
674### Is anyone going to need the feature?
675
676Only post features that you (or an incapicated friend you can personally talk to) require. Do not post features because they seem like a good idea. If they are really useful, they will be requested by someone who requires them.
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677
678### Is your question about youtube-dl?
679
680It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.
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681
682# COPYRIGHT
683
684youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
685
686This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.