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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
fc5fa964 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=blue&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9[![Docs](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Docs-blue.svg?color=blue&style=for-the-badge)](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/ "Docs")
10[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
11[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
12[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
13[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
14[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
15[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
16[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
c76eb41b 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
c1653e9e 74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/5add3f4](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/5add3f4373287e6346ca3551239edab549284db3)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
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))
144a3588 91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
f20f5fe5 92
f59f5ef8 93* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
245524e6 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
144a3588 113* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 114
144a3588 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, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, 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
b69fd25c 128* `avconv` is not supported 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
9e907ebd 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`](#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
64f36541 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. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 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
fc5fa964 160You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
5f326cf5 161
fc5fa964 162<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
163[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
164[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
165[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
166[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
167[![ALl versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
168<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
169
170Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
171
172<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
0930b11f 173In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
174
175```
176sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
177sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178```
179
180```
181sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
182sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183```
184
185```
b69fd25c 186sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
5ba4a0b6
A
187sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188```
189
0930b11f 190
a4211baf 191### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 192
193You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
194```
195python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
196```
197
86c1a8aa 198You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 199```
200python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
201```
202
86c1a8aa 203If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 204```
9222c381 205python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
0930b11f 206```
207
208Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
209
fc5fa964 210<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
a4211baf 211### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 212
213macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
214
215```
216brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
217```
218
a4211baf 219## UPDATE
0930b11f 220You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
221
222If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
223
224If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 225
ec2e44fc 226<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 227## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 228
733d8e8f 229#### Recommended
230
231File|Description
232:---|:---
0930b11f 233[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
234[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 235
236#### Alternatives
237
0e5927ee
R
238File|Description
239:---|:---
96565c7e 240[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
0930b11f 241[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 242[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 243[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
244[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 245
246#### Misc
247
248File|Description
249:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
250[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
251[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
252[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 253<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 254
a4211baf 255## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 256Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 257
c9652aa4 258<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
259<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 260On 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 261-->
fac98805 262
e75bb0d6 263While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 264
b69fd25c 265* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
0930b11f 266* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
267* [**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)
268* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
f59f5ef8 269* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
0930b11f 270* [**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)
271* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
272* [**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)
273* [**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)
274* [**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 275* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 276
cf59cd4d 277To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
278
0930b11f 279The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
d710cc6d 280
fc5fa964 281**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
d710cc6d 282
5f326cf5 283
a4211baf 284## COMPILE
5f326cf5 285
c76eb41b 286**For Windows**:
49a57e70 287To 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 288
733d8e8f 289 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 290 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 291 py pyinst.py
7581d246 292
fac98805 293Note 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 294
c76eb41b 295**For Unix**:
060ac762 296You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 297Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 298
49a57e70 299**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 300
75b725a7 301You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 302
b31fdeed 303# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 304
ec2e44fc 305<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 306 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 307
c2b5f311 308`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 309<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 310
ec2e44fc 311<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 312## General Options:
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313 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
314 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 315 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
316 sure that you have sufficient permissions
317 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 318 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 319 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 320 even if the postprocessing fails
321 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
322 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
323 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 324 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
325 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 326 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
327 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 328 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 329 extractors and exit
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330 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
331 extractor
332 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
333 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 334 from google videos for the search term
335 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
336 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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337 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
338 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
339 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 340 this is not possible instead of searching
9e907ebd 341 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
342 except those given by --config-locations.
343 For backward compatibility, if this option
344 is found inside the system configuration
fc5fa964 345 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
346 (Alias: --no-config)
9e907ebd 347 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
348 (default). When given inside a
349 configuration file, ignore all previous
350 --config-locations defined in the current
351 file
352 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
0202b52a 353 either the path to the config or its
9e907ebd 354 containing directory. Can be used multiple
355 times and inside other configuration files
c4af7684 356 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 357 only list them
6623ac34 358 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
adbc4ec4
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359 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
360 Currently only supported for YouTube
9e907ebd 361 (Experimental)
87e04996 362 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
363 (default)
91f071af 364 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
365 available. Pass the minimum number of
366 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
367 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
b5ae35ee 368 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
369 Currently only supported for YouTube
597c1866 370 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 371 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 372 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 373 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 374 configurations by reverting some of the
375 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
376 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 377
149f05c7 378## Network Options:
28b4f736 379 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
0934c9d4
S
380 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
381 scheme. For example
88f23a18 382 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
383 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
384 connection
149f05c7 385 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 386 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 387 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 388 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 389
b31fdeed 390## Geo-restriction:
c25f1a9b
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391 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
392 some geo-restricted sites. The default
393 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 394 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 395 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 396 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
455a15e2 397 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
8c6c88c7
S
398 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
399 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
S
400 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
401 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 402 country code
9e18bb4c
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403 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
404 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 405 notation
149f05c7 406
cfcec693 407## Video Selection:
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408 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
409 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
c4af7684
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410 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
411 indices of the videos in the playlist
412 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
413 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
414 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
415 specify range: "--playlist-items
416 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 417 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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418 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
419 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
420 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
421 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 422 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 423 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
424 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 425 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 426 this date. The date formats accepted is the
427 same as --date
c4af7684 428 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 429 this date. The date formats accepted is the
430 same as --date
77b87f05
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431 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
432 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 433 number or a string using the operators
434 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
435 also simply specify a field to match if the
436 field is present and "!field" to check if
437 the field is not present. In addition,
438 Python style regular expression matching
439 can be done using "~=", and multiple
440 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
441 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
442 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 443 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 444 matches only videos that are not live, has
445 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 446 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 447 description that contains the phrase "cats
448 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 449 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 450 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 451 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 452 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 453 a video and a playlist
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454 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
455 age
456 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
457 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 458 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 459 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
460 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 461 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 462 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 463 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 464 a file that has been filtered out
91f071af 465 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
466 reject act only on the current input URL
467 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
468 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 469 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
470 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 471
d5a62e4f 472## Download Options:
b31fdeed 473 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
87e04996 474 video that should be downloaded
475 concurrently (default is 1)
5e3856a2 476 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 477 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 478 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
479 below which throttling is assumed and the
480 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 481 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 482 "infinite"
87e04996 483 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
484 error (default is 10), or "infinite"
0be8314d 485 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
b56e41a7
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486 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
487 ISM)
6623ac34 488 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
489 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 490 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 491 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 492 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 493 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 494 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 495 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
496 downloading is finished (default)
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497 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
498 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 499 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
500 from an initial value of --buffer-size
501 (default)
502 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
db157d2a
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503 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
504 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
505 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
506 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
507 (experimental)
2101f5d4 508 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 509 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 510 (default)
31487eb9 511 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 512 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 513 expected file size
9bd20204 514 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
515 allowing some players to play the video
516 while downloading, and reducing the chance
517 of file corruption if download is
518 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
519 live streams
520 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
521 videos. This is default when not
522 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 523 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
524 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
525 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
526 use it for. Currently supports native,
527 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
528 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
529 this option multiple times to set different
530 downloaders for different protocols. For
531 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
532 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
533 http/ftp downloads, and the native
fc5fa964 534 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
535 --external-downloader)
46ee996e 536 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
537 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 538 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
539 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
540 different positions using the same syntax
541 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
542 option multiple times to give different
fc5fa964 543 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
544 --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 545
cfcec693 546## Filesystem Options:
940a67a3 547 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
e8dfecb3 548 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
940a67a3 549 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
8a51f564 550 comments and ignored
1e520b55 551 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 552 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 553 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 554 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
6a34813a 555 same TYPES as --output are supported.
de6000d9 556 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 557 (default) and "temp" paths. All
558 intermediary files are first downloaded to
559 the temp path and then the final files are
560 moved over to the home path after download
561 is finished. This option is ignored if
562 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 563 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 564 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 565 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
566 fields in output filename template
567 (default: "NA")
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568 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
569 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
570 filenames
c76eb41b 571 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
572 filenames (default)
0930b11f 573 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
574 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
575 using Windows (default)
c2934512 576 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
577 extension) to the specified number of
578 characters
9b45b9f5 579 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
580 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
581 This option includes --no-continue
582 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
583 related files (default)
c25228e5 584 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
585 (default)
586 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 587 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 588 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 589 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 590 into output file (default)
c4af7684
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591 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
592 into output file
c76eb41b 593 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
594 file modification time (default)
c4af7684
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595 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
596 the file modification time
597 --write-description Write video description to a .description
598 file
6623ac34 599 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 600 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 601 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 602 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 603 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
604 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
605 --write-description etc. (default)
606 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
607 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 608 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
609 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
610 could still contain some personal
611 information (default)
612 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 613 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
614 infojson. The comments are fetched even
615 without this option if the extraction is
616 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
617 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
fc5fa964 618 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
619 --no-get-comments)
d845622b 620 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
c4af7684
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621 (created with the "--write-info-json"
622 option)
91f071af 623 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
624 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
MB
625 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
626 (default)
f59f5ef8
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627 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
628 The name of the browser and (optionally)
629 the name/path of the profile to load
630 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
631 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
632 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
633 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
634 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
635 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
636 can be (optionally) specified after the
637 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
638 supported keyrings are: basictext,
639 gnomekeyring, kwallet
982ee69a 640 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 641 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 642 can store some downloaded information (such
643 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 644 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
645 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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646 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
647 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 648
b31fdeed 649## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 650 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 651 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 652 (default)
1dc2726f 653 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 654 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
655 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 656
732044af 657## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 658 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
659 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
660 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
661 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
662 OS caches the URL based on the file path
663 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
664 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 665
0744a815 666## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 667 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
668 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 669 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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670 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
671 anything to disk
34488702 672 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
673 options are used
0930b11f 674 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
675 extracting metadata even if the videos are
676 not actually available for download
0cf05715 677 (experimental)
678 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
679 formats are found (default)
e167860c 680 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
681 related files (Alias: --no-download)
ca30f449 682 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
ed5835b4 683 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
684 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
685 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
686 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
687 Implies --quiet and --simulate (unless
688 --no-simulate is used). This option can be
689 used multiple times
bb66c247 690 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
691 Append given template to the file. The
692 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
693 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
694 as the output template. This option can be
695 used multiple times
34488702 696 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
697 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
698 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
699 description of available keys
700 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
701 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
702 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
703 a playlist, the whole playlist information
704 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 705 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 706 written as far as no errors occur, even if
707 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 708 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
1dc2726f
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709 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
710 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 711 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 712 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 713 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
714 Template for progress outputs, optionally
715 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
716 "download-title:" (the console title),
717 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
718 The video's fields are accessible under the
719 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 720 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 721 --console-title --progress-template
722 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 723 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
c4af7684
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724 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
725 to debug problems (very verbose)
726 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
727 files in the current directory to debug
728 problems
780083db 729 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 730
36f35428
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731## Workarounds:
732 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
144a3588 733 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
734 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
735 renegotiation
0930b11f 736 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 737 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 738 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 739 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 740 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
c4af7684
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741 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
742 access is restricted to one domain
743 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 744 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
c4af7684
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745 option multiple times
746 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
747 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
748 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 749 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
750 during data extraction
c4af7684 751 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 752 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
753 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
754 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
755 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
756 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 757 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
758 subtitle download
36f35428 759
cfcec693 760## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 761 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
762 for more details
763 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
764 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 765 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
766 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 767 Formats" for more details
768 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 769 specified sort order (default), see
770 "Sorting Formats" for more details
771 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
772 into a single file
773 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
774 each output file (default)
775 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
776 into a single file
777 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
778 each output file (default)
da9be05e 779 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
780 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
781 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
782 containers irrespective of quality
783 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
784 containers (default)
0930b11f 785 --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
0ba692ac 786 actually downloadable
0930b11f 787 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 788 actually downloadable
0930b11f 789 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
790 downloadable
34488702 791 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
792 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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793 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
794 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
795 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
796 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
8ae7be3e
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797
798## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 799 --write-subs Write subtitle file
800 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
801 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 802 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
803 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
804 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 805 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
806 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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807 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
808 preference, for example: "srt" or
809 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 810 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
811 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 812 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 813 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
fc5fa964 814 from the requested languages. (Eg:
815 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
816 for a list of available language tags
6bcd846b 817
cfcec693 818## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 819 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 820 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 821 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 822 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 823 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 824 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
825 either the path or its containing
826 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 827 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 828 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 829 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
830 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S
831 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
832 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 833 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
834 interactively
f5e008d1
S
835 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
836 operators
837
c76eb41b 838## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 839 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 840 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 841 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
842 to when -x is used. Currently supported
843 formats are: best (default) or one of
9222c381 844 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
e4172ac9 845 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
86c1a8aa 846 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 847 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 848 (default 5)
c76eb41b 849 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 850 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
851 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
852 target container does not support the
06167fbb 853 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 854 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 855 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
856 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 857 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 858 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
859 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 860 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 861 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 862 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
863 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 864 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
7a340e0d
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865 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
866 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 867 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
868 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 869 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
870 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 871 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 872 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
7a340e0d
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873 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
874 specified executable only when being used
875 by the specified postprocessor.
876 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
877 can be appended to the prefix optionally
878 followed by a number to pass the argument
879 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
880 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
881 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 882 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 883 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 884 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 885 after post-processing
c76eb41b 886 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 887 post-processing (default)
888 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
889 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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890 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
891 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 892 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 893 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 894 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 895 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
896 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
897 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
898 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 899 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 900 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
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901 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
902 (Alias: --add-chapters)
903 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
904 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 905 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
906 mkv/mka video files
907 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
908 to the video file
73cd218f 909 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
910 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
911 for details
e9f4ccd1 912 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
913 Replace text in a metadata field using the
914 given regex. This option can be used
915 multiple times
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916 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
917 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
3b603dbd 918 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
fc5fa964 919 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
920 (default; only when the videos form a
3b603dbd 921 single show). All the video files must have
922 same codecs and number of streams to be
923 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
924 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
925 the output filename for the split files.
926 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
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927 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
928 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
929 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
930 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 931 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
87e04996 932 already exists)
e4172ac9 933 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
934 path to the binary or its containing
935 directory
1e43a6f7 936 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
937 when to execute it (after_move if
938 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
939 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
940 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
941 output template can be used to pass any
942 field as arguments to the command. After
943 download, an additional field "filepath"
9de3ea31 944 that contains the final path of the
1e43a6f7 945 downloaded file is also available, and if
946 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
947 appended to the end of the command. This
34488702 948 option can be used multiple times
1e43a6f7 949 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
e167860c 950 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 951 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 952 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 953 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
72073451 954 (currently supported: jpg|png|webp)
72755351 955 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
956 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
957 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
958 to set the output filename for the split
959 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
960 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
961 (default)
7a340e0d 962 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 963 given regular expression. Time ranges
964 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
965 of chapters to remove the specified range.
966 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
967 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 968 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 969 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
970 (default)
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971 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
972 removing/splitting them. Requires a
e75bb0d6 973 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
7a340e0d
NA
974 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
975 around the cuts
976 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
977 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 978 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
979 postprocessors to be enabled, and
980 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
e75bb0d6 981 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
3ae5e797 982 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
983 The "when" argument determines when the
984 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
09b49e1f 985 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
986 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
987 "before_dl" (before each video download),
988 "post_process" (after each video download;
989 default), "after_move" (after moving video
990 file to it's final locations),
991 "after_video" (after downloading and
992 processing all formats of a video), or
993 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
994 option can be used multiple times to add
995 different postprocessors
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996
997## SponsorBlock Options:
998Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
999 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 1000 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1001
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1002 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1003 for, separated by commas. Available
8157a09d
NA
1004 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1005 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1006 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1007 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1008 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1009 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1010 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
7a340e0d
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1011 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1012 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1013 category is present in both mark and
1014 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1015 and available categories are the same as
8157a09d
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1016 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1017 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1018 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
NA
1019 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1020 The title template for SponsorBlock
1021 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1022 The same syntax as the output template is
1023 used, but the only available fields are
1024 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1025 name, category_names. Defaults to
1026 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1027 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1028 --sponsorblock-remove
1029 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1030 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 1031
78895bd3 1032## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 1033 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 1034 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 1035 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 1036 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1037 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1038 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 1039 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1040 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1041 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1042 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1043 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 1044 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1045 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1046 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 1047 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 1048
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1049# CONFIGURATION
1050
7a5c1cfe 1051You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1052
0202b52a 10531. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe 10541. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
88f23a18 10551. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10561. **User Configuration**:
1057 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1058 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1059 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1060 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1061 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1062 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1063
ec2e44fc 1064 `%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 10651. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1066
7a5c1cfe 1067For 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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1068```
1069# Lines starting with # are comments
1070
1071# Always extract audio
1072-x
1073
1074# Do not copy the mtime
1075--no-mtime
1076
1077# Use this proxy
1078--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1079
298f597b 1080# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1081-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1082```
1083
e2e43aea 1084Note 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 1085
a4211baf 1086You 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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1087
1088### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1089
0001fcb5 1090You 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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1091```
1092touch $HOME/.netrc
1093chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1094```
1095After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1096```
0001fcb5 1097machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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1098```
1099For example:
1100```
1101machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1102machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1103```
7a5c1cfe 1104To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1105
0001fcb5 1106The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1107
1108# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1109
0202b52a 1110The `-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 1111
ec2e44fc 1112<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1113**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1114<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1115
e58c22a0 1116The 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 1117
0930b11f 1118It 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 1119
1120The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 11211. **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 1122
e625be0d 11231. **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 1124
e625be0d 11251. **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 1126
e75bb0d6 11271. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1128
e978789f
P
11291. **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.
1130
e75bb0d6 11311. **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 1132
abbeeebc 11331. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` 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) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
ec2e44fc 1134
524e2e4f 11351. **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 1136
1137To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1138```
e978789f 1139%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1140```
de6000d9 1141
dbcea058 1142Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1143
1144The available fields are:
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1145
1146 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1147 - `title` (string): Video title
455a15e2 1148 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
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1149 - `url` (string): Video URL
1150 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1151 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1152 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1153 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1154 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1155 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1156 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
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1157 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1158 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1159 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
f0d785d3 1160 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1161 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1162 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified
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1163 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1164 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1165 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
6c73052c 1166 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
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1167 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1168 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1169 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1170 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1171 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1172 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1173 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1174 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1175 - `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 1176 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940a67a3 1177 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
b7770046 1178 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1179 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1180 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
940a67a3 1181 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
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1182 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1183 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1184 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1185 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1186 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1187 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1188 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1189 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1190 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1191 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1192 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1193 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1194 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1195 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1196 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1197 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1198 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1199 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1200 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1201 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1202 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1203 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
455a15e2 1204 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
b7770046 1205 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
9c906919 1206 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
e6f21b3d 1207 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
455a15e2 1208 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1209 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1210 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
f0d785d3 1211 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
e6f21b3d 1212 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1213 - `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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1214 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1215 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1216 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1217 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1218 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1219 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1220
1221Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1222
1223 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1224 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1225 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1226
1227Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1228
1229 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1230 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1231 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1232 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1233 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1234 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1235 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1236
1237Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1238
1239 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1240 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1241 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1242 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1243 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1244 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1245 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1246 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1247 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1248 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1249
b050d210 1250Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1251
1252 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1253 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1254 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1255 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1256
53c18592 1257Available only when used in `--print`:
1258
1259 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1260 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
ed5835b4 1261 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1262 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1263 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1264 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1265
7a340e0d
NA
1266
1267Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1268
1269 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1270 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1271 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1272 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1273 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1274 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1275
49a57e70 1276Each 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.
1277
1278Note 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 1279
0930b11f 1280**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1281
49a57e70 1282For 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 1283
940a67a3 1284Output 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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1285
1286To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1287
91ebc640 1288The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1289
f304da8a 1290In 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 1291
ec2e44fc 1292<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1293#### Output template and Windows batch files
1294
1295If 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 1296<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1297
1298#### Output template examples
1299
b7770046 1300```bash
940a67a3 1301$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1302test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1303
940a67a3 1304$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1305youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1306
940a67a3 1307$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1308youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1309
1310# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
940a67a3 1311$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
b7770046 1312
b050d210 1313# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
940a67a3 1314$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
e29663c6 1315
e978789f 1316# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
6a34813a 1317$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
e978789f 1318
b7770046 1319# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
940a67a3 1320$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
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1321
1322# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
940a67a3 1323$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
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1324
1325# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
940a67a3 1326$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
b7770046 1327
6a34813a 1328# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1329# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1330$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1331
1332# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1333$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1334
b7770046 1335# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1336$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1337```
1338
1339# FORMAT SELECTION
1340
7a5c1cfe
P
1341By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1342This 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 1343
c111cefa 1344**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.
1345
eff63539 1346The 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 1347
ec2e44fc 1348<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1349**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1350<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1351
a439a3a4 1352The 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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1353
1354You 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.
1355
fa9f30b8 1356You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1357
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1358You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1359
59a7a13e 1360 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1361 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1362 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1363 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1364 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1365 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1366 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1367 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1368 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1369 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1370 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1371 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1372 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1373 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1374
e58c22a0 1375For 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 1376
1377You 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 1378
eb8a4433 1379If 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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1380
1381If 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`.
1382
d806c9fd 1383You 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.
1384
1385**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
1386
1387Unless `--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 1388
1389## Filtering Formats
1390
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1391You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1392
1393The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1394
1395 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1396 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1397 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1398 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1399 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1400 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1401 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1402 - `fps`: Frame rate
1403
1ce9a3cb 1404Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
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1405
1406 - `ext`: File extension
1407 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1408 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1409 - `container`: Name of the container format
1410 - `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`)
1411 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1412 - `language`: Language code
b7770046 1413
1ce9a3cb 1414Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
b7770046 1415
e58c22a0 1416Note 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 1417
e094cec1 1418Formats 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 1419
940a67a3 1420Format 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 1421
eb8a4433 1422## Sorting Formats
1423
2e7781a9 1424You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1425
1426The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1427
63be1aab 1428 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1429 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
ed8d87f9 1430 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1431 - `lang`: The language preference
1432 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1433 - `source`: The preference of the source
d80d98e7 1434 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1435 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1436 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
eb8a4433 1437 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
d80d98e7 1438 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1439 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
63be1aab 1440 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1441 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1442 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1443 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1444 - `height`: Height of video
1445 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1446 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1447 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1448 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1449 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1450 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1451 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1452 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1453 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1454
1455**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 1456
9ee4f0bb 1457All 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.
1458
176f1866 1459The 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 1460
e75bb0d6 1461Note 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 1462
e58c22a0 1463If 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 1464
1465**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1466
eb8a4433 1467## Format Selection examples
b7770046 1468
b7770046 1469```bash
e58c22a0 1470# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1471# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
940a67a3 1472$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
909d24dd 1473
1474# Download best format that contains video,
1475# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
940a67a3 1476$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
2af884ff 1477
1478# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1479$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1480
6fd35a11 1481# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1482# For this case, an output template should be used since
1483# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
940a67a3 1484$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
909d24dd 1485
f8d4ad9a 1486# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1487# and all audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1488$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
f8d4ad9a 1489
1490# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1491# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
940a67a3 1492$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1493
6fd35a11 1494
1495# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1496# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1497
1498# Download the worst video available (old method)
940a67a3 1499$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
eb8a4433 1500
1501# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
940a67a3 1502$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
eb8a4433 1503
1504# Download the smallest video available
940a67a3 1505$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
eb8a4433 1506
1507
909d24dd 1508
eb8a4433 1509# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
940a67a3 1510$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
eb8a4433 1511
1512# Download the best video with the best extension
1513# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
940a67a3 1514$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
eb8a4433 1515
1516
909d24dd 1517
eb8a4433 1518# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1519# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1520$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
b7770046 1521
eb8a4433 1522# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1523# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
940a67a3 1524$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
b7770046 1525
eb8a4433 1526# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1527# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1528# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1529# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
940a67a3 1530$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
b7770046 1531
b7770046 1532
909d24dd 1533
eb8a4433 1534# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1535# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1536$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
eb8a4433 1537
1538# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1539# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
940a67a3 1540$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
eb8a4433 1541
1542# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
940a67a3 1543$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
eb8a4433 1544
1545
909d24dd 1546
eb8a4433 1547# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1548# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
940a67a3 1549$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1550
1551# Download best video available via the best protocol
1552# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
940a67a3 1553$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
eb8a4433 1554
1555
909d24dd 1556
1ce9a3cb
LF
1557# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1558# or the best video if there is no such video
1559$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
eb8a4433 1560
1561# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1562# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1563$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1564
1565# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1566# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
940a67a3 1567$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
eb8a4433 1568
1569
1570
1571# More complex examples
1572
e58c22a0 1573# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1574# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
940a67a3 1575$ 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 1576
1577# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1578# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1579# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
940a67a3 1580$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
eb8a4433 1581
1582
909d24dd 1583
eb8a4433 1584# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1585# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1586# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
940a67a3 1587$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
b7770046 1588```
eb8a4433 1589
73cd218f 1590# MODIFYING METADATA
1591
a4211baf 1592The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1593
418964fa 1594`--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 1595
2e7781a9 1596The 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 1597
1598Note 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`.
1599
9c2b75b5 1600This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1601* 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
88968992 1602* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1603
1604For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1605
1606Metadata fields|From
1607:---|:---
1608`title`|`track` or `title`
1609`date`|`upload_date`
1610`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1611`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1612`track`|`track_number`
1613`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1614`genre`|`genre`
1615`album`|`album`
1616`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1617`disc`|`disc_number`
1618`show`|`series`
1619`season_number`|`season_number`
1620`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1621`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1622`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1623**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1624
73cd218f 1625
1626## Modifying metadata examples
1627
73cd218f 1628```bash
1629# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
940a67a3 1630$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
73cd218f 1631
1632# Regex example
940a67a3 1633$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
73cd218f 1634
1635# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
940a67a3 1636$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
73cd218f 1637
1638# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
940a67a3 1639$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
73cd218f 1640
0930b11f 1641# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
940a67a3 1642$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
0930b11f 1643
e9f4ccd1 1644# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
940a67a3 1645$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
e9f4ccd1 1646
73cd218f 1647```
1648
5d3a0e79 1649# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1650
59a7a13e 1651Some 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 1652
1653The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1654
1655#### youtube
1656* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
d0d012d4 1657* `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 1658* `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 1659* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
96565c7e 1660* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
e75bb0d6 1661* `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 1662 * 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.
1663* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1664 * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
96565c7e 1665
1666#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1667* `skip`: One or more of `webpage` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
a30a6ed3 1668* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
96565c7e 1669
1670#### funimation
1671* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1672* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1673
a9d4da60 1674#### crunchyroll
1675* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1676* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1677
706dfe44
JH
1678#### crunchyroll:beta
1679* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1680 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1681* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1682
96565c7e 1683#### vikichannel
1684* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1685
aa4b0545 1686#### youtubewebarchive
1687* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1688
d43de682
M
1689#### gamejolt
1690* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1691
26f2aa3d
AG
1692#### hotstar
1693* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1694* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1695* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1696
046cab39
M
1697#### tiktok
1698* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1699* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1700
7eaf7f9a 1701#### rokfinchannel
1702* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1703
1704
bc97cdae 1705NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1706
ec2e44fc 1707<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1708
3acf6d38 1709
f74980cb 1710# PLUGINS
b7770046 1711
3ae5e797 1712Plugins 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
1713
1714Plugins 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`.
1715
1716See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1717
1718Note 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
1719
1720If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1721
b7770046 1722
8c6f4daa 1723
1724# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1725
1726yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1727
1728Your 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.
1729
1730From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1731
1732```python
59a7a13e 1733from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1734
093a1710 1735ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
59a7a13e 1736with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
8c6f4daa 1737 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1738```
1739
ed8d87f9 1740Most 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#L191).
8c6f4daa 1741
093a1710 1742Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
8c6f4daa 1743
1744```python
1745import json
8c6f4daa 1746import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1747
1748
1749class MyLogger:
1750 def debug(self, msg):
e75bb0d6 1751 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
8c6f4daa 1752 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1753 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1754 pass
1755 else:
1756 self.info(msg)
1757
1758 def info(self, msg):
1759 pass
1760
1761 def warning(self, msg):
1762 pass
1763
1764 def error(self, msg):
1765 print(msg)
1766
1767
093a1710 1768# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
59a7a13e 1769class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
093a1710 1770 # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
8c6f4daa 1771 def run(self, info):
1772 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1773 return [], info
1774
1775
093a1710 1776# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1777def my_hook(d):
1778 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1779 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1780
1781
093a1710 1782def format_selector(ctx):
1783 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1784 This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1785
1786 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1787 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1788
1789 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1790 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1791 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1792
1793 # find compatible audio extension
1794 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1795 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1796 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1797 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1798
1799 yield {
1800 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1801 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1802 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1803 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
e75bb0d6 1804 # Must be + separated list of protocols
093a1710 1805 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1806 }
1807
1808
1809# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
8c6f4daa 1810ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1811 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1812 'postprocessors': [{
093a1710 1813 # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
1814 # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
1815 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
1816 'add_chapters': True,
1817 'add_metadata': True,
8c6f4daa 1818 }],
1819 'logger': MyLogger(),
1820 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1821}
1822
59a7a13e 1823
1824# Add custom headers
1825yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
1826
093a1710 1827# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
1828# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
8c6f4daa 1829with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1830 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1831 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
093a1710 1832
1833 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
8c6f4daa 1834 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1835```
1836
49a57e70 1837**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
1838
8c6f4daa 1839
ec2e44fc 1840<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1841
e167860c 1842# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1843
1844These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1845
8130779d 1846#### Almost redundant options
1847While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1848
1849 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1850 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
0bfc53d0 1851 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
8130779d 1852 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1853
6ccf351a 1854#### Redundant options
1855While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1856
53c18592 1857 --get-description --print description
1858 --get-duration --print duration_string
1859 --get-filename --print filename
1860 --get-format --print format
1861 --get-id --print id
1862 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1863 -e, --get-title --print title
1864 -g, --get-url --print urls
8f18aca8 1865 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1866 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1867 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1868 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
6ccf351a 1869
1870
1871#### Not recommended
1872While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1873
1e43a6f7 1874 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1875 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
d9aa2332 1876 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1877 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1878 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1879 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1880 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1881 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1882 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1883 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1884 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1885 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1886 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1887 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1888 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1889 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1890 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1891
1892
1893#### Developer options
1894These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1895
34488702 1896 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1897 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1898 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1899 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1900
1901
1902#### Old aliases
1903These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1904
1905 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
3856407a 1906 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
f4536226 1907 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1908 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1909 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1910 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1911 --load-info --load-info-json
3856407a 1912 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
f4536226 1913 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1914 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1915 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1916 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1917 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1918 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1919 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1920 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1921 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1922
7a340e0d 1923#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 1924Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
1925
1926 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1927 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1928 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1929 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1930 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1931 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1932 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1933 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1934
f4536226 1935#### No longer supported
1936These options may no longer work as intended
1937
1938 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1939 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1940 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1941 --no-call-home Default
1942 --include-ads No longer supported
1943 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1944 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1945 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1946
1947#### Removed
1948These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1949
f4536226 1950 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1951 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1952 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1953
8c6f4daa 1954# CONTRIBUTING
1955See [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 1956
c2b5f311 1957# MORE
8c6f4daa 1958For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)