]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blame - README.md
[outtmpl] Add alternate forms `F`, `D`
[yt-dlp.git] / README.md
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ec2e44fc 1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b31fdeed 2<div align="center">
3
e980017a 4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
d9d045e2 5
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1aebc0f7 10[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md)
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c76eb41b 17
b31fdeed 18</div>
ec2e44fc 19<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 20
b31fdeed 21yt-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 22
ec2e44fc 23<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24
25<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 26* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 27 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 28* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 29 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 32 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 51 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 52* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 53 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
54 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 55* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 56 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
57 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
58 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 59* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
60 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 61* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 62* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 63* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.06.06 [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/98e248f](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/98e248faa49e69d795abc60f7cdefcf91e2612aa)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
0fdf490d 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
6ccf351a 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
adbc4ec4 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start`
f20f5fe5 92
245524e6 93* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
94
597c1866 95* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
96
b31fdeed 97* **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 98
b31fdeed 99* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 100
e75bb0d6 101* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 102
103* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 104
3de7c2ce 105* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
034b6215 106
597c1866 107* **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 108
109* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
110
418964fa 111* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
fac98805 112
91f071af 113* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 114
91f071af 115* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio etc
c69911e4 116
86c1a8aa 117* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 118
7a5c1cfe 119* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 120
7a5c1cfe 121See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 122
53ed7066 123### Differences in default behavior
124
0930b11f 125Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 126
96565c7e 127* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
28b0eb0f 128* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
96565c7e 129* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
e4f02757 130* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
e75bb0d6 131* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
28b0eb0f 132* 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
133* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
134* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
9222c381 135* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
f279aaee 136* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 137* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
138* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 139* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
28b0eb0f 140* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
09f1580e 141* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 142* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 143* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
e858a9d6 144* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 145* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
e75bb0d6 146* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
53ed7066 147
148For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 149* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
150* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
151* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 152
f20f5fe5 153
d19bb9c0 154# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 155
7bc877a2 156You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 157
a4211baf 158### Using the release binary
0930b11f 159
160You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS: **[[Windows](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)] [[UNIX-like](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)]**
5f326cf5 161
0930b11f 162In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
163
164```
165sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
166sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
167```
168
169```
170sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
171sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
172```
173
174```
175sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
176sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
177```
178
0930b11f 179PS: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
180
a4211baf 181### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 182
183You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
184```
185python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
186```
187
86c1a8aa 188You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 189```
190python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
191```
192
86c1a8aa 193If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 194```
9222c381 195python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
0930b11f 196```
197
198Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
199
a4211baf 200### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 201
202macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
203
204```
205brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
206```
207
a4211baf 208## UPDATE
0930b11f 209You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
210
211If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
212
213If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 214
ec2e44fc 215<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 216## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 217
733d8e8f 218#### Recommended
219
220File|Description
221:---|:---
0930b11f 222[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
223[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
733d8e8f 224
225#### Alternatives
226
0e5927ee
R
227File|Description
228:---|:---
96565c7e 229[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
0930b11f 230[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
96565c7e 231[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
0930b11f 232[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
233[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
733d8e8f 234
235#### Misc
236
237File|Description
238:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
239[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
240[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
241[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 242<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 243
a4211baf 244## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 245Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 246
c9652aa4 247<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
248<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 249On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
c9652aa4 250-->
fac98805 251
e75bb0d6 252While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 253
e75bb0d6 254* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
0930b11f 255* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
256* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
257* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
258* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
259* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
260* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
261* [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
262* [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
263* [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated** [sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
cf59cd4d 264* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 265
cf59cd4d 266To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
267
0930b11f 268The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
d710cc6d 269
e75bb0d6 270**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
d710cc6d 271
5f326cf5 272
a4211baf 273## COMPILE
5f326cf5 274
c76eb41b 275**For Windows**:
49a57e70 276To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodomex, websockets). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
e38df8f9 277
733d8e8f 278 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 279 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 280 py pyinst.py
7581d246 281
fac98805 282Note 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 283
c76eb41b 284**For Unix**:
060ac762 285You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 286Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 287
49a57e70 288**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 289
75b725a7 290You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 291
b31fdeed 292# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 293
ec2e44fc 294<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 295 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 296
c2b5f311 297`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 298<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 299
ec2e44fc 300<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 301## General Options:
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302 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
303 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 304 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
305 sure that you have sufficient permissions
306 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 307 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 308 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 309 even if the postprocessing fails
310 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
311 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
312 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 313 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
314 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 315 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
316 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 317 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 318 extractors and exit
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319 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
320 extractor
321 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
322 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 323 from google videos for the search term
324 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
325 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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326 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
327 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
328 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 329 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 330 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 331 except the one provided by --config-location.
332 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 333 file, no further configuration files are
334 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
335 compatibility) if this option is found
336 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 337 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 338 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
339 either the path to the config or its
340 containing directory
c4af7684 341 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 342 only list them
6623ac34 343 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
adbc4ec4
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344 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
345 Currently only supported for YouTube
346 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current
347 time (default)
91f071af 348 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
349 available. Pass the minimum number of
350 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
351 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
b5ae35ee 352 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
353 Currently only supported for YouTube
597c1866 354 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 355 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 356 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 357 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 358 configurations by reverting some of the
359 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
360 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 361
149f05c7 362## Network Options:
28b4f736 363 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
0934c9d4
S
364 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
365 scheme. For example
28b4f736
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366 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
367 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 368 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 369 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 370 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 371 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 372
b31fdeed 373## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
S
374 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
375 some geo-restricted sites. The default
376 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 377 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 378 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 379 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 380 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S
381 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
382 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S
383 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
384 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 385 country code
9e18bb4c
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386 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
387 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 388 notation
149f05c7 389
cfcec693 390## Video Selection:
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391 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
392 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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393 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
394 indices of the videos in the playlist
395 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
396 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
397 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
398 specify range: "--playlist-items
399 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 400 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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401 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
402 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
403 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
404 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 405 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 406 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
407 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 408 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 409 this date. The date formats accepted is the
410 same as --date
c4af7684 411 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 412 this date. The date formats accepted is the
413 same as --date
77b87f05
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414 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
415 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 416 number or a string using the operators
417 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
418 also simply specify a field to match if the
419 field is present and "!field" to check if
420 the field is not present. In addition,
421 Python style regular expression matching
422 can be done using "~=", and multiple
423 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
424 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
425 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 426 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 427 matches only videos that are not live, has
428 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 429 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 430 description that contains the phrase "cats
431 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 432 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 433 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 434 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 435 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 436 a video and a playlist
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437 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
438 age
439 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
440 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 441 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 442 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
443 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 444 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 445 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 446 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 447 a file that has been filtered out
91f071af 448 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
449 reject act only on the current input URL
450 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
451 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 452 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
453 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 454
d5a62e4f 455## Download Options:
b31fdeed 456 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
457 video that should be download concurrently
458 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 459 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 460 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 461 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
462 below which throttling is assumed and the
463 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 464 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 465 "infinite"
0be8314d 466 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
b56e41a7
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467 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
468 ISM)
6623ac34 469 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
470 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 471 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 472 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 473 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 474 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 475 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 476 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
477 downloading is finished (default)
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478 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
479 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 480 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
481 from an initial value of --buffer-size
482 (default)
483 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
db157d2a
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484 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
485 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
486 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
487 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
488 (experimental)
2101f5d4 489 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 490 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 491 (default)
31487eb9 492 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 493 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 494 expected file size
9bd20204 495 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
496 allowing some players to play the video
497 while downloading, and reducing the chance
498 of file corruption if download is
499 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
500 live streams
501 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
502 videos. This is default when not
503 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 504 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
505 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
506 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
507 use it for. Currently supports native,
508 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
509 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
510 this option multiple times to set different
511 downloaders for different protocols. For
512 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
513 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
514 http/ftp downloads, and the native
515 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
516 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 517 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
518 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 519 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
520 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
521 different positions using the same syntax
522 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
523 option multiple times to give different
524 arguments to different downloaders
29b6000e 525 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 526
cfcec693 527## Filesystem Options:
940a67a3 528 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
e8dfecb3 529 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
940a67a3 530 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
8a51f564 531 comments and ignored
1e520b55 532 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 533 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 534 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 535 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
536 same types as --output are supported.
537 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 538 (default) and "temp" paths. All
539 intermediary files are first downloaded to
540 the temp path and then the final files are
541 moved over to the home path after download
542 is finished. This option is ignored if
543 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 544 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 545 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 546 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
547 fields in output filename template
548 (default: "NA")
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549 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
550 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
551 filenames
c76eb41b 552 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
553 filenames (default)
0930b11f 554 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
555 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
556 using Windows (default)
c2934512 557 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
558 extension) to the specified number of
559 characters
9b45b9f5 560 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
561 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
562 This option includes --no-continue
563 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
564 related files (default)
c25228e5 565 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
566 (default)
567 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 568 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 569 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 570 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 571 into output file (default)
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572 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
573 into output file
c76eb41b 574 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
575 file modification time (default)
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576 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
577 the file modification time
578 --write-description Write video description to a .description
579 file
6623ac34 580 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 581 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 582 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 583 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 584 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
585 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
586 --write-description etc. (default)
587 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
588 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 589 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
590 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
591 could still contain some personal
592 information (default)
593 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 594 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
595 infojson. The comments are fetched even
596 without this option if the extraction is
597 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
598 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
599 extraction is known to be quick
600 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 601 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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602 (created with the "--write-info-json"
603 option)
91f071af 604 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
605 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
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606 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
607 (default)
608 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
609 Load cookies from a user profile of the
610 given web browser. Currently supported
0ef787d7 611 browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
612 edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
613 can specify the user profile name or
614 directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
982ee69a
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615 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
616 given, the most recently accessed one is
617 used
618 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 619 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 620 can store some downloaded information (such
621 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 622 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
623 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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624 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
625 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 626
b31fdeed 627## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 628 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 629 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 630 (default)
1dc2726f 631 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 632 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
633 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 634
732044af 635## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 636 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
637 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
638 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
639 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
640 OS caches the URL based on the file path
641 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
642 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 643
0744a815 644## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 645 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
646 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 647 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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648 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
649 anything to disk
34488702 650 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
651 options are used
0930b11f 652 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
653 extracting metadata even if the videos are
654 not actually available for download
0cf05715 655 (experimental)
656 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
657 formats are found (default)
e167860c 658 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
659 related files (Alias: --no-download)
34488702 660 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
661 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
662 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
663 the output template can be used
664 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
665 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
666 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
667 description of available keys
668 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
669 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
670 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
671 a playlist, the whole playlist information
672 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 673 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 674 written as far as no errors occur, even if
675 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 676 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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677 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
678 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 679 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 680 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 681 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
682 Template for progress outputs, optionally
683 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
684 "download-title:" (the console title),
685 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
686 The video's fields are accessible under the
687 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 688 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 689 --console-title --progress-template
690 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 691 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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692 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
693 to debug problems (very verbose)
694 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
695 files in the current directory to debug
696 problems
780083db 697 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 698
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699## Workarounds:
700 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
0930b11f 701 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 702 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 703 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 704 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 705 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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706 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
707 access is restricted to one domain
708 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 709 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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710 option multiple times
711 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
712 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
713 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 714 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
715 during data extraction
c4af7684 716 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 717 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
718 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
719 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
720 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
721 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 722 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
723 subtitle download
36f35428 724
cfcec693 725## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 726 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
727 for more details
728 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
729 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 730 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
731 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 732 Formats" for more details
733 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 734 specified sort order (default), see
735 "Sorting Formats" for more details
736 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
737 into a single file
738 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
739 each output file (default)
740 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
741 into a single file
742 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
743 each output file (default)
da9be05e 744 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
745 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
746 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
747 containers irrespective of quality
748 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
749 containers (default)
0930b11f 750 --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
0ba692ac 751 actually downloadable
0930b11f 752 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 753 actually downloadable
0930b11f 754 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
755 downloadable
34488702 756 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
757 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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758 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
759 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
760 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
761 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
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762
763## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 764 --write-subs Write subtitle file
765 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
766 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 767 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
768 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
769 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 770 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
771 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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772 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
773 preference, for example: "srt" or
774 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 775 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
776 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 777 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 778 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
779 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
780 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
781 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 782
cfcec693 783## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 784 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 785 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 786 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 787 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 788 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 789 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
790 either the path or its containing
791 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 792 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 793 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 794 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
795 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S
796 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
797 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 798 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
799 interactively
f5e008d1
S
800 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
801 operators
802
c76eb41b 803## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 804 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 805 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 806 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
807 to when -x is used. Currently supported
808 formats are: best (default) or one of
9222c381 809 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
e4172ac9 810 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
86c1a8aa 811 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 812 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 813 (default 5)
c76eb41b 814 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 815 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
816 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
817 target container does not support the
06167fbb 818 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 819 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 820 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
821 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 822 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 823 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
824 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 825 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 826 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 827 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
828 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 829 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
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830 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
831 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 832 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
833 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 834 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
835 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 836 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 837 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
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838 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
839 specified executable only when being used
840 by the specified postprocessor.
841 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
842 can be appended to the prefix optionally
843 followed by a number to pass the argument
844 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
845 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
846 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 847 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 848 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 849 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 850 after post-processing
c76eb41b 851 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 852 post-processing (default)
853 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
854 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
0be8314d
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855 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
856 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 857 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 858 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 859 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 860 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
861 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
862 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
863 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 864 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 865 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
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866 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
867 (Alias: --add-chapters)
868 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
869 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 870 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
871 mkv/mka video files
872 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
873 to the video file
73cd218f 874 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
875 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
876 for details
e9f4ccd1 877 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
878 Replace text in a metadata field using the
879 given regex. This option can be used
880 multiple times
c4af7684
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881 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
882 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
883 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
884 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
885 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
886 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 887 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
888 already exists
e4172ac9 889 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
890 path to the binary or its containing
891 directory
c4af7684 892 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
34488702 893 downloading and post-processing. Same
894 syntax as the output template can be used
9de3ea31 895 to pass any field as arguments to the
896 command. An additional field "filepath"
897 that contains the final path of the
898 downloaded file is also available. If no
7d1eb38a 899 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
34488702 900 to the end of the command. This option can
901 be used multiple times
902 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
5520aa2d 903 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
904 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
34488702 905 but "filepath" is not available. This
906 option can be used multiple times
907 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
908 --exec-before-download
e167860c 909 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 910 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 911 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 912 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
3de7c2ce 913 (currently supported: jpg|png)
72755351 914 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
915 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
916 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
917 to set the output filename for the split
918 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
919 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
920 (default)
7a340e0d 921 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 922 given regular expression. Time ranges
923 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
924 of chapters to remove the specified range.
925 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
926 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 927 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 928 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
929 (default)
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930 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
931 removing/splitting them. Requires a
e75bb0d6 932 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
7a340e0d
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933 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
934 around the cuts
935 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
936 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 937 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
938 postprocessors to be enabled, and
939 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
e75bb0d6 940 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
3ae5e797 941 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
942 The "when" argument determines when the
943 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
944 "pre_process" (after extraction),
945 "before_dl" (before video download),
946 "post_process" (after video download;
947 default) or "after_move" (after moving file
948 to their final locations). This option can
949 be used multiple times to add different
950 postprocessors
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951
952## SponsorBlock Options:
953Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
954 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 955 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
956
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957 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
958 for, separated by commas. Available
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959 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
960 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
961 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
962 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
963 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
964 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
965 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
7a340e0d
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966 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
967 the video file, separated by commas. If a
968 category is present in both mark and
969 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
970 and available categories are the same as
8157a09d
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971 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
972 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
973 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
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974 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
975 The title template for SponsorBlock
976 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
977 The same syntax as the output template is
978 used, but the only available fields are
979 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
980 name, category_names. Defaults to
981 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
982 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
983 --sponsorblock-remove
984 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
985 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 986
78895bd3 987## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 988 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 989 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 990 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 991 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
992 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
993 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 994 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
995 discontinuities such as ad breaks
996 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
997 formats at discontinuities such as ad
998 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 999 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1000 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1001 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 1002 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1003
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1004# CONFIGURATION
1005
7a5c1cfe 1006You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1007
0202b52a 10081. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
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10091. **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.
10101. **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 10111. **User Configuration**:
1012 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1013 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1014 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1015 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1016 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1017 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1018
ec2e44fc 1019 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
07cce701 10201. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1021
7a5c1cfe 1022For 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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1023```
1024# Lines starting with # are comments
1025
1026# Always extract audio
1027-x
1028
1029# Do not copy the mtime
1030--no-mtime
1031
1032# Use this proxy
1033--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1034
298f597b 1035# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1036-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1037```
1038
e2e43aea 1039Note 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 1040
a4211baf 1041You can use `--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If `--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if `--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
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1042
1043### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1044
0001fcb5 1045You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with `--username` and `--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a [`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a `.netrc` file in `--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
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1046```
1047touch $HOME/.netrc
1048chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1049```
1050After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1051```
0001fcb5 1052machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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1053```
1054For example:
1055```
1056machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1057machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1058```
7a5c1cfe 1059To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1060
0001fcb5 1061The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1062
1063# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1064
0202b52a 1065The `-o` option is used to indicate a template for the output file names while `-P` option is used to specify the path each type of file should be saved to.
b7770046 1066
ec2e44fc 1067<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1068**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1069<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1070
e58c22a0 1071The 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 1072
0930b11f 1073It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
a439a3a4 1074
1075The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 10761. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
ec2e44fc 1077
e625be0d 10781. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
ec2e44fc 1079
e625be0d 10801. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
ec2e44fc 1081
e75bb0d6 10821. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1083
e978789f
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10841. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1085
e75bb0d6 10861. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1087
e0fd9573 10881. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, 'F' can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M), and to sanitize as **F**ilename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1089
524e2e4f 10901. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
a439a3a4 1091
1092To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1093```
e978789f 1094%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1095```
de6000d9 1096
940a67a3 1097Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates (except default) is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1098
1099The available fields are:
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1100
1101 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1102 - `title` (string): Video title
1103 - `url` (string): Video URL
1104 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1105 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1106 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1107 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1108 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1109 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1110 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
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1111 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1112 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1113 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1114 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
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1115 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1116 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1117 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1118 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1119 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1120 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1121 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1122 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1123 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1124 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1125 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1126 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
b7770046 1127 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1128 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1129 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1130 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1131 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1132 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
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1133 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1134 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1135 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1136 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1137 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1138 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1139 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1140 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1141 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1142 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1143 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1144 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1145 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1146 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1147 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1148 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1149 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1150 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1151 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1152 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1153 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1154 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1155 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1156 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
e6f21b3d 1157 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
b7770046 1158 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
e6f21b3d 1159 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1160 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
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1161 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1162 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1163 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1164 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1165 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1166 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1167 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1168 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1169
1170Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1171
1172 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1173 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1174 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1175
1176Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1177
1178 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1179 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1180 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1181 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1182 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1183 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1184 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1185
1186Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1187
1188 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1189 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1190 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1191 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1192 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1193 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1194 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1195 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1196 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1197 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1198
b050d210 1199Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1200
1201 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1202 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1203 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1204 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1205
53c18592 1206Available only when used in `--print`:
1207
1208 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1209 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
7a340e0d
NA
1210
1211Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1212
1213 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1214 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1215 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1216 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1217 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1218 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1219
49a57e70 1220Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1221
1222Note 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 1223
0930b11f 1224**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1225
49a57e70 1226For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
b7770046 1227
940a67a3 1228Output templates can also contain arbitrary hierarchical path, e.g. `-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"` which will result in downloading each video in a directory corresponding to this path template. Any missing directory will be automatically created for you.
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1229
1230To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1231
91ebc640 1232The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1233
f304da8a 1234In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title.
b7770046 1235
ec2e44fc 1236<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
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1237#### Output template and Windows batch files
1238
1239If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
ec2e44fc 1240<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046
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1241
1242#### Output template examples
1243
b7770046 1244```bash
940a67a3 1245$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1246test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1247
940a67a3 1248$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1249youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1250
940a67a3 1251$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1252youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1253
1254# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1255$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1256
b050d210 1257# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1258$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1259
e978789f
P
1260# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1261$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1262
b7770046 1263# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1264$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
b7770046
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1265
1266# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1267$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
b7770046
U
1268
1269# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1270$ 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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1271
1272# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1273$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1274```
1275
1276# FORMAT SELECTION
1277
7a5c1cfe
P
1278By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1279This 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 1280
c111cefa 1281**Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to `-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the `-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1282
eff63539 1283The general syntax for format selection is `-f FORMAT` (or `--format FORMAT`) where `FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
b7770046 1284
ec2e44fc 1285<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1286**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1287<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1288
a439a3a4 1289The 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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1290
1291You 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.
1292
fa9f30b8 1293You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1294
b7770046
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1295You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1296
59a7a13e 1297 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1298 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1299 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1300 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1301 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1302 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1303 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1304 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1305 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1306 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1307 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1308 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1309 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1310 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1311
e58c22a0 1312For 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 1313
1314You 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 1315
eb8a4433 1316If 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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1317
1318If 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`.
1319
d806c9fd 1320You 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.
1321
1322**Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1323
1324Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
eb8a4433 1325
1326## Filtering Formats
1327
b7770046
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1328You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1329
1330The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1331
1332 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1333 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1334 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1335 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1336 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1337 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1338 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1339 - `fps`: Frame rate
1340
1341Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1342
1343 - `ext`: File extension
1344 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1345 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1346 - `container`: Name of the container format
1347 - `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`)
1348 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1349 - `language`: Language code
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1350
1351Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1352
e58c22a0 1353Note 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 1354
e094cec1 1355Formats 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 1356
940a67a3 1357Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
b7770046 1358
eb8a4433 1359## Sorting Formats
1360
2e7781a9 1361You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1362
1363The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1364
63be1aab 1365 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1366 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1367 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1368 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1369 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1370 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
e36d50c5 1371 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1372 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
aeb2a9ad 1373 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1374 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
e75bb0d6 1375 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
63be1aab 1376 - `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`.
1377 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1378 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1379 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1380 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1381 - `height`: Height of video
1382 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1383 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1384 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1385 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1386 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1387 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1388 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1389 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1390 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1391
1392**Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
eb8a4433 1393
9ee4f0bb 1394All 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.
1395
176f1866 1396The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
eb8a4433 1397
e75bb0d6 1398Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
eb8a4433 1399
e58c22a0 1400If 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 1401
1402**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1403
eb8a4433 1404## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1405
b7770046 1406```bash
e58c22a0 1407# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1408# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1409$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1410
1411# Download best format that contains video,
1412# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1413$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1414
1415# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1416$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1417
6fd35a11 1418# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1419# For this case, an output template should be used since
1420# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1421$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1422
f8d4ad9a 1423# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1424# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1425$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1426
1427# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1428# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1429$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1430
6fd35a11 1431
1432# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1433# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1434
1435# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1436$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1437
1438# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1439$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1440
1441# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1442$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1443
1444
909d24dd 1445
eb8a4433 1446# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1447$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1448
1449# Download the best video with the best extension
1450# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1451$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1452
1453
909d24dd 1454
eb8a4433 1455# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1456# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1457$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1458
eb8a4433 1459# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1460# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1461$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1462
eb8a4433 1463# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1464# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1465# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1466# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1467$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1468
b7770046 1469
909d24dd 1470
eb8a4433 1471# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1472# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1473$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1474
1475# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1476# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1477$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1478
1479# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1480$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1481
1482
909d24dd 1483
eb8a4433 1484# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1485# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1486$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1487
1488# Download best video available via the best protocol
1489# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1490$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1491
1492
909d24dd 1493
eb8a4433 1494# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
940a67a3 1495$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1496
1497# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1498# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1499$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1500
1501# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1502# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1503$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1504
1505
1506
1507# More complex examples
1508
e58c22a0 1509# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1510# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1511$ 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 1512
1513# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1514# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1515# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1516$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1517
1518
909d24dd 1519
eb8a4433 1520# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1521# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1522# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1523$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1524```
eb8a4433 1525
73cd218f 1526# MODIFYING METADATA
1527
a4211baf 1528The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1529
418964fa 1530`--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE` is used to replace text in any metadata field using [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax). [Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
e9f4ccd1 1531
2e7781a9 1532The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
73cd218f 1533
1534Note 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`.
1535
9c2b75b5 1536This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1537* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
b11d2101 1538* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1539
1540For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1541
1542Metadata fields|From
1543:---|:---
1544`title`|`track` or `title`
1545`date`|`upload_date`
1546`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1547`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1548`track`|`track_number`
1549`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1550`genre`|`genre`
1551`album`|`album`
1552`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1553`disc`|`disc_number`
1554`show`|`series`
1555`season_number`|`season_number`
1556`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1557`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1558`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1559**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1560
73cd218f 1561
1562## Modifying metadata examples
1563
73cd218f 1564```bash
1565# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1566$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1567
1568# Regex example
940a67a3 1569$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1570
1571# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1572$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1573
1574# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
940a67a3 1575$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1576
0930b11f 1577# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1578$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1579
e9f4ccd1 1580# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1581$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1582
73cd218f 1583```
1584
5d3a0e79 1585# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1586
59a7a13e 1587Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
5d3a0e79 1588
1589The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1590
1591#### youtube
1592* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
d0d012d4 1593* `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android`, `ios`, `mweb`. These also have `_music`, `_embedded`, `_agegate`, and `_creator` variants (Eg: `web_embedded`) (`mweb` has only `_agegate`). By default, `android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
96565c7e 1594* `player_skip`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs` (skip client configs), `webpage` (skip initial webpage), `js` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
adbc4ec4 1595* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1596* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
e75bb0d6 1597* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`.
46383212 1598 * E.g. `all,all,1000,10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total.
1599* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1600 * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
96565c7e 1601
1602#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1603* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
1604
1605#### funimation
1606* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1607* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1608
a9d4da60 1609#### crunchyroll
1610* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1611* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1612
96565c7e 1613#### vikichannel
1614* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1615
aa4b0545 1616#### youtubewebarchive
1617* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1618
bc97cdae 1619NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1620
ec2e44fc 1621<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1622
3acf6d38 1623
f74980cb 1624# PLUGINS
b7770046 1625
3ae5e797 1626Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`; where `<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip` version
1627
1628Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1629
1630See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1631
1632Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
1633
1634If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1635
b7770046 1636
8c6f4daa 1637
1638# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1639
1640yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1641
1642Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J`, `--print`, `--progress-template`, `--exec` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1643
1644From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1645
1646```python
59a7a13e 1647from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1648
093a1710 1649ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
59a7a13e 1650with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
8c6f4daa 1651 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1652```
1653
f304da8a 1654Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L162).
8c6f4daa 1655
093a1710 1656Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
8c6f4daa 1657
1658```python
1659import json
8c6f4daa 1660import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1661
1662
1663class MyLogger:
1664 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1665 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1666 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1667 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1668 pass
1669 else:
1670 self.info(msg)
1671
1672 def info(self, msg):
1673 pass
1674
1675 def warning(self, msg):
1676 pass
1677
1678 def error(self, msg):
1679 print(msg)
1680
1681
093a1710 1682# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
59a7a13e 1683class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
093a1710 1684 # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
8c6f4daa 1685 def run(self, info):
1686 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1687 return [], info
1688
1689
093a1710 1690# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1691def my_hook(d):
1692 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1693 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1694
1695
093a1710 1696def format_selector(ctx):
1697 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1698 This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1699
1700 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1701 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1702
1703 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1704 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1705 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1706
1707 # find compatible audio extension
1708 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1709 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1710 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1711 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1712
1713 yield {
1714 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1715 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1716 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1717 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1718 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1719 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1720 }
1721
1722
1723# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
8c6f4daa 1724ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1725 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1726 'postprocessors': [{
093a1710 1727 # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
1728 # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
1729 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
1730 'add_chapters': True,
1731 'add_metadata': True,
8c6f4daa 1732 }],
1733 'logger': MyLogger(),
1734 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1735}
1736
59a7a13e 1737
1738# Add custom headers
1739yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
1740
093a1710 1741# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
1742# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
8c6f4daa 1743with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1744 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1745 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
093a1710 1746
1747 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
8c6f4daa 1748 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1749```
1750
49a57e70 1751**Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info` as shown in the example above
1752
8c6f4daa 1753
ec2e44fc 1754<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1755
e167860c 1756# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1757
1758These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1759
6ccf351a 1760#### Redundant options
1761While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1762
53c18592 1763 --get-description --print description
1764 --get-duration --print duration_string
1765 --get-filename --print filename
1766 --get-format --print format
1767 --get-id --print id
1768 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1769 -e, --get-title --print title
1770 -g, --get-url --print urls
2b8a2973 1771 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
8f18aca8 1772 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1773 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1774 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1775 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
6ccf351a 1776
1777
1778#### Not recommended
1779While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1780
d9aa2332 1781 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1782 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1783 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1784 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1785 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1786 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1787 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1788 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1789 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1790 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1791 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1792 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1793 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1794 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1795 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1796
1797
1798#### Developer options
1799These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1800
34488702 1801 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1802 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1803 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1804 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1805
1806
1807#### Old aliases
1808These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1809
1810 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1811 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1812 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1813 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1814 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1815 --load-info --load-info-json
1816 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1817 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1818 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1819 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1820 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1821 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1822 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1823 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1824 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1825
7a340e0d 1826#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 1827Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
1828
1829 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1830 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1831 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1832 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1833 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1834 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1835 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1836 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1837
f4536226 1838#### No longer supported
1839These options may no longer work as intended
1840
1841 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1842 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1843 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1844 --no-call-home Default
1845 --include-ads No longer supported
1846 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1847 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1848 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1849
1850#### Removed
1851These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1852
f4536226 1853 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1854 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1855 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1856
8c6f4daa 1857# CONTRIBUTING
1858See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
e167860c 1859
c2b5f311 1860# MORE
8c6f4daa 1861For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)