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d94adc26 1% YOUTUBE-DL(1)
6bcd846b 2
cfcec693 3# NAME
94eb2dd1 4youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
6bcd846b 5
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6# SYNOPSIS
7**youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
8
9# DESCRIPTION
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10**youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
11YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
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122.6, 2.7, or 3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
13your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
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14which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
15
cfcec693 16# OPTIONS
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17 -h, --help print this help text and exit
18 --version print program version and exit
19 -U, --update update this program to latest version. Make
20 sure that you have sufficient permissions
21 (run with sudo if needed)
22 -i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors, for example to
98c4b8fa 23 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
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24 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
25 playlist or the command line) if an error
26 occurs
27 --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
28 --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
29 --referer REF specify a custom referer, use if the video
30 access is restricted to one domain
31 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs
32 they would handle
33 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34 extractors
35 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
36 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
37 connection
38 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
39 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
40 can store some downloaded information
41 permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
42 /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
43 moment, only YouTube player files (for
44 videos with obfuscated signatures) are
45 cached, but that may change.
46 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
47 --socket-timeout None Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
48 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
49 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
50 or fribidi executable in PATH
51 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
52 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
53 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
54 apple". By default (with value "auto")
55 youtube-dl guesses.
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56 --ignore-config Do not read configuration files. When given
57 in the global configuration file /etc
58 /youtube-dl.conf: do not read the user
59 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-dl.conf
60 (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on
61 Windows)
08c1d0d3 62
cfcec693 63## Video Selection:
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64 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is 1)
65 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
66 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or
67 caseless sub-string)
68 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
69 caseless sub-string)
70 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
71 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
72 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
73 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
74 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
75 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
76 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded on or before
77 this date (i.e. inclusive)
78 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded on or after
79 this date (i.e. inclusive)
80 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
81 COUNT views
82 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
83 COUNT views
84 --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
85 --age-limit YEARS download only videos suitable for the given
86 age
87 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
88 archive file. Record the IDs of all
89 downloaded videos in it.
90 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
91 (experimental)
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92 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Try to download the DASH manifest on
93 YouTube videos (experimental)
6bcd846b 94
d5a62e4f 95## Download Options:
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96 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second
97 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
98 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is 10)
99 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
100 (default is 1024)
101 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer
102 size. By default, the buffer size is
103 automatically resized from an initial value
104 of SIZE.
d5a62e4f 105
cfcec693 106## Filesystem Options:
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107 -t, --title use title in file name (default)
108 --id use only video ID in file name
109 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
110 -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from 00000
111 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to
112 get the title, %(uploader)s for the
113 uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
114 uploader nickname if different,
115 %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
116 incremented number, %(ext)s for the
117 filename extension, %(format)s for the
118 format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
119 "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
120 the format (like Youtube's itags: "137"),
121 %(upload_date)s for the upload date
122 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
123 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
124 video id, %(playlist)s for the playlist the
125 video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
126 position in the playlist and %% for a
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127 literal percent. %(height)s and %(width)s
128 for the width and height of the video in
129 the picked format. Use - to output to
130 stdout. Can also be used to download to a
131 different directory, for example with -o '/
132 my/downloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.
133 %(ext)s' .
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134 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in
135 %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
136 filename template or --auto-number option
137 is given
138 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
139 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
140 filenames
141 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for
142 stdin)
143 --load-info FILE json file containing the video information
144 (created with the "--write-json" option)
145 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
146 -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files.
147 By default, youtube-dl will resume
148 downloads if possible.
149 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files
150 (restart from beginning)
151 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie
152 jar in
153 --no-part do not use .part files
154 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set
155 the file modification time
156 --write-description write video description to a .description
157 file
158 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
159 --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation
160 file
161 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
6bcd846b 162
cfcec693 163## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
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164 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
165 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
166 anything to disk
167 --skip-download do not download the video
168 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
169 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
170 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
171 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
172 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
173 --get-duration simulate, quiet but print video length
174 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
175 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
176 -j, --dump-json simulate, quiet but print JSON information
177 --newline output progress bar as new lines
178 --no-progress do not print progress bar
179 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
180 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
181 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems
182 (very verbose)
183 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
184 files in the current directory to debug
185 problems
186 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 187
cfcec693 188## Video Format Options:
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189 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specify the order of
190 preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18".
191 "-f mp4" and "-f flv" are also supported.
192 You can also use the special names "best",
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193 "bestaudio", "worst", and "worstaudio". By
194 default, youtube-dl will pick the best
195 quality.
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196 --all-formats download all available video formats
197 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific
198 one is requested
199 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
200 -F, --list-formats list all available formats
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201
202## Subtitle Options:
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203 --write-sub write subtitle file
204 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube
205 only)
206 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of
207 the video
208 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
209 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
210 youtube only)
211 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download
212 (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
213 language tags like 'en,pt'
6bcd846b 214
cfcec693 215## Authentication Options:
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216 -u, --username USERNAME account username
217 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
218 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
219 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo, smotri)
6bcd846b 220
cfcec693 221## Post-processing Options:
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222 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files
223 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
224 avprobe)
225 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a",
226 "opus", or "wav"; best by default
227 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification,
228 insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
229 (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like
230 128K (default 5)
231 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
232 necessary (currently supported:
233 mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
234 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the
235 post-processing; the video is erased by
236 default
237 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the
238 post-processed files are overwritten by
239 default
240 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
241 videos)
242 --add-metadata write metadata to the video file
243 --xattrs write metadata to the video file's xattrs
244 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
245 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
246 postprocessors (default)
247 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
248 postprocessors
6bcd846b 249
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250# CONFIGURATION
251
fe52f9f9 252You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf`.
df4bad32 253
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254# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
255
256The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format `%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
257
258 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
259 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
260 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
261 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
262 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
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263 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
264 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
265 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
7eab8dc7 266 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
d281274b 267 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
02531431 268
1083705f 269The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
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270
271In 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:
272
273 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
274 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
275 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
276 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
277
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278# VIDEO SELECTION
279
280Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
281
282 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
283 - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
284
285Examples:
286
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287 # Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
288 $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
289
290 # Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
291 $ youtube-dl --date 19700101
292
293 $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
294 $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
e31852ab 295
cfcec693 296# FAQ
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297
298### Can you please put the -b option back?
299
2e1b3afe 300Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the `-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the `-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
447b1d71 301
f2a3a352 302### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
447b1d71 303
2e1b3afe 304Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
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305
306### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
307
308Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
309
310### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
311
a0432a1e 312The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use `--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
447b1d71 313
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314### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
315
5a2ba45e 316youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
454d6691 317
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318### ERROR: unable to download video ###
319
320youtube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
321
5cdfaeb3 322### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
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323
324The error
325
326 File "youtube-dl", line 2
327 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
328
329means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
330
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331### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
332
71f36332 333Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make youtube-dl`.
5cdfaeb3 334
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335### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
336
337To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
338
a96ed916 339# DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
803abae2 340
63ef36e8 341Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can [download the builds](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution.
803abae2 342
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343To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything either. Simply execute
344
345 python -m youtube_dl
346
347To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work:
348
349 python -m unittest discover
350 python test/test_download.py
351 nosetests
352
353If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
354
355* python
356* make
357* pandoc
358* zip
359* nosetests
6bcd846b 360
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361### Adding support for a new site
362
0d4b4865 363If you want to add support for a new site, copy *any* [recently modified](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/commits/master/youtube_dl/extractor) file in `youtube_dl/extractor`, add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py). Have a look at [`youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Don't forget to run the tests with `python test/test_download.py TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`! For a detailed tutorial, refer to [this blog post](http://filippo.io/add-support-for-a-new-video-site-to-youtube-dl/).
a96ed916 364
cfcec693 365# BUGS
e133e121 366
2a18bc9a 367Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues> . Unless you were prompted so or there is another pertinent reason (e.g. GitHub fails to accept the bug report), please do not send bug reports via personal email.
e133e121 368
2a18bc9a 369Please include the full output of the command when run with `--verbose`. The output (including the first lines) contain important debugging information. Issues without the full output are often not reproducible and therefore do not get solved in short order, if ever.
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370
371For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
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372
373When you submit a request, please re-read it once to avoid a couple of mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
374
375### Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
376
377We often get issue reports that we cannot really decipher. While in most cases we eventually get the required information after asking back multiple times, this poses an unnecessary drain on our resources. Many contributors, including myself, are also not native speakers, so we may misread some parts.
378
379So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
380
381- What the problem is
382- How it could be fixed
383- How your proposed solution would look like
384
385If your report is shorter than two lines, it is almost certainly missing some of these, which makes it hard for us to respond to it. We're often too polite to close the issue outright, but the missing info makes misinterpretation likely. As a commiter myself, I often get frustrated by these issues, since the only possible way for me to move forward on them is to ask for clarification over and over.
386
387For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
388
389Site support requests must contain an example URL. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
390
391### Are you using the latest version?
392
3d97cbbd 393Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
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394
395### Is the issue already documented?
396
397Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you're trying to open. Search at the top of the window or at https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/search?type=Issues . If there is an issue, feel free to write something along the lines of "This affects me as well, with version 2015.01.01. Here is some more information on the issue: ...". While some issues may be old, a new post into them often spurs rapid activity.
398
399### Why are existing options not enough?
400
401Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at [the list of supported options](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). Many feature requests are for features that actually exist already! Please, absolutely do show off your work in the issue report and detail how the existing similar options do *not* solve your problem.
402
403### Is there enough context in your bug report?
404
405People want to solve problems, and often think they do us a favor by breaking down their larger problems (e.g. wanting to skip already downloaded files) to a specific request (e.g. requesting us to look whether the file exists before downloading the info page). However, what often happens is that they break down the problem into two steps: One simple, and one impossible (or extremely complicated one).
406
407We are then presented with a very complicated request when the original problem could be solved far easier, e.g. by recording the downloaded video IDs in a separate file. To avoid this, you must include the greater context where it is non-obvious. In particular, every feature request that does not consist of adding support for a new site should contain a use case scenario that explains in what situation the missing feature would be useful.
408
409### Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
410
411Some of our users seem to think there is a limit of issues they can or should open. There is no limit of issues they can or should open. While it may seem appealing to be able to dump all your issues into one ticket, that means that someone who solves one of your issues cannot mark the issue as closed. Typically, reporting a bunch of issues leads to the ticket lingering since nobody wants to attack that behemoth, until someone mercifully splits the issue into multiple ones.
412
413In particular, every site support request issue should only pertain to services at one site (generally under a common domain, but always using the same backend technology). Do not request support for vimeo user videos, Whitehouse podcasts, and Google Plus pages in the same issue. Also, make sure that you don't post bug reports alongside feature requests. As a rule of thumb, a feature request does not include outputs of youtube-dl that are not immediately related to the feature at hand. Do not post reports of a network error alongside the request for a new video service.
414
415### Is anyone going to need the feature?
416
417Only post features that you (or an incapicated friend you can personally talk to) require. Do not post features because they seem like a good idea. If they are really useful, they will be requested by someone who requires them.
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418
419### Is your question about youtube-dl?
420
421It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.
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422
423# COPYRIGHT
424
425youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
426
427This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.