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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
28dff70b 6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=blue&label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
1aebc0f7 7[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
8[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
418964fa 9[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators)
1aebc0f7 10[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md)
28dff70b 11[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=​&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
b31fdeed 12[![Doc Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/badge/?version=latest&style=for-the-badge)](https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
b31fdeed 13[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
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a7191c6f 15[![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/total?style=for-the-badge&color=blue)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
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c76eb41b 17
b31fdeed 18</div>
ec2e44fc 19<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c76eb41b 20
b31fdeed 21yt-dlp is a [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
5c0e5bc4 22
ec2e44fc 23<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24
25<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
034b6215 26* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
53ed7066 27 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
c76eb41b 28* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
17fa3ee2 29 * [Update](#update)
0e5927ee 30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
cf59cd4d 31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
17fa3ee2 32 * [Compile](#compile)
b31fdeed 33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
50865ca8 35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
b31fdeed 36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
50865ca8 37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
b31fdeed 40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
50865ca8 41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
0744a815 42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
50865ca8 43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
50865ca8 47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
7a340e0d 48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
50865ca8 49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
c76eb41b 50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50865ca8 51 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
c76eb41b 52* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
50865ca8 53 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
54 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
c76eb41b 55* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50865ca8 56 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
57 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
58 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
73cd218f 59* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
60 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
5d3a0e79 61* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
f74980cb 62* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
8c6f4daa 63* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
e167860c 64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
8c6f4daa 65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
c76eb41b 68* [MORE](#more)
ec2e44fc 69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
50865ca8 70
71
034b6215 72# NEW FEATURES
91f071af 73
74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.06.06 [commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/98e248f](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/98e248faa49e69d795abc60f7cdefcf91e2612aa)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
034b6215 75
7a340e0d 76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
034b6215 77
7581d246 78* **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using `-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using `--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
034b6215 79
0fdf490d 80* **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from [animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including `--write-comments`, `BiliBiliSearch`, `BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico improvements are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
29b6000e 81
f5546c0b 82* **Youtube improvements**:
6ccf351a 83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
0fdf490d 84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86c1a8aa 86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
a4211baf 87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
f20f5fe5 88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
e6f21b3d 89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
9ee4f0bb 90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
f20f5fe5 91
245524e6 92* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
93
597c1866 94* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
95
b31fdeed 96* **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 97
b31fdeed 98* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
f20f5fe5 99
91f071af 100* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of exisiting ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
86c1a8aa 101
102* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
fac98805 103
3de7c2ce 104* **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 105
597c1866 106* **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 107
108* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
109
418964fa 110* **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 111
91f071af 112* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
0bc0a322 113
91f071af 114* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio etc
c69911e4 115
86c1a8aa 116* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
b31fdeed 117
7a5c1cfe 118* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
aa837ddf 119
7a5c1cfe 120See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
a26c99ac 121
53ed7066 122### Differences in default behavior
123
0930b11f 124Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
53ed7066 125
96565c7e 126* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
28b0eb0f 127* `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
96565c7e 128* 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 129* 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
28b0eb0f 130* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be prefered. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
131* 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
132* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
133* 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 134* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
f279aaee 135* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
28b0eb0f 136* `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
137* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
3acf6d38 138* 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 139* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
09f1580e 140* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
28b0eb0f 141* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
18e674b4 142* 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 143* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
e4f02757 144* 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
0930b11f 145* 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 seperate 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 146
147For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
28b0eb0f 148* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
149* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
150* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
53ed7066 151
f20f5fe5 152
d19bb9c0 153# INSTALLATION
50865ca8 154
7bc877a2 155You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
a61f4b28 156
a4211baf 157### Using the release binary
0930b11f 158
159You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS: **[[Windows](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)] [[UNIX-like](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)]**
5f326cf5 160
0930b11f 161In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
5ba4a0b6
A
162
163```
164sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
165sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
166```
167
168```
169sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
170sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
171```
172
173```
174sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
175sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
176```
177
0930b11f 178PS: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
179
a4211baf 180### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
0930b11f 181
182You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
183```
184python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
185```
186
86c1a8aa 187You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
0930b11f 188```
189python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
190```
191
86c1a8aa 192If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
0930b11f 193```
9222c381 194python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
0930b11f 195```
196
197Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
198
a4211baf 199### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
0930b11f 200
201macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
b8773e63
THD
202
203```
204brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
205```
206
a4211baf 207## UPDATE
0930b11f 208You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
209
210If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
211
212If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
cf59cd4d 213
ec2e44fc 214<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
a4211baf 215## RELEASE FILES
0e5927ee 216
733d8e8f 217#### Recommended
218
219File|Description
220:---|:---
0930b11f 221[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
222[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 223
224#### Alternatives
225
0e5927ee
R
226File|Description
227:---|:---
96565c7e 228[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
0930b11f 229[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 230[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 231[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
232[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 233
234#### Misc
235
236File|Description
237:---|:---
0e5927ee
R
238[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
239[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
240[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
ec2e44fc 241<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
0e5927ee 242
a4211baf 243## DEPENDENCIES
cf59cd4d 244Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
b31fdeed 245
c9652aa4 246<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
247<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
cf59cd4d 248On 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 249-->
fac98805 250
cf59cd4d 251While all the other dependancies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
ec2e44fc 252
cf59cd4d 253* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
0930b11f 254* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
255* [**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)
256* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
257* [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
258* [**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)
259* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
260* [**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)
261* [**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)
262* [**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 263* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
b31fdeed 264
cf59cd4d 265To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
266
0930b11f 267The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
d710cc6d 268
269**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependancy, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds/wiki/Latest#latest-autobuilds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specifc issues solved by these builds
270
5f326cf5 271
a4211baf 272## COMPILE
5f326cf5 273
c76eb41b 274**For Windows**:
49a57e70 275To 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 276
733d8e8f 277 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
49a57e70 278 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
733d8e8f 279 py pyinst.py
7581d246 280
fac98805 281Note 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 282
c76eb41b 283**For Unix**:
060ac762 284You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
127d0759 285Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
5f326cf5 286
49a57e70 287**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
d19bb9c0 288
75b725a7 289You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
59a7a13e 290
b31fdeed 291# USAGE AND OPTIONS
6bcd846b 292
ec2e44fc 293<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
7a5c1cfe 294 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
b50e3bc6 295
c2b5f311 296`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
ec2e44fc 297<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
c2b5f311 298
ec2e44fc 299<!-- Auto generated -->
c76eb41b 300## General Options:
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301 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
302 --version Print program version and exit
8d801631 303 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
304 sure that you have sufficient permissions
305 (run with sudo if needed)
b1940459 306 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
0930b11f 307 The download will be considered successful
b1940459 308 even if the postprocessing fails
309 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
310 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
311 a playlist (default)
8a51f564 312 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
313 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
34488702 314 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
315 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
c4af7684 316 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
34488702 317 extractors and exit
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318 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
319 extractor
320 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
321 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
9ee4f0bb 322 from google videos for the search term
323 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
324 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
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325 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
326 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
327 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
8a51f564 328 this is not possible instead of searching
298f597b 329 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
8a51f564 330 except the one provided by --config-location.
331 When given inside a configuration
298f597b 332 file, no further configuration files are
333 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
334 compatibility) if this option is found
335 inside the system configuration file, the
8a51f564 336 user configuration is not loaded
0202b52a 337 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
338 either the path to the config or its
339 containing directory
c4af7684 340 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
8a51f564 341 only list them
6623ac34 342 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
91f071af 343 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
344 available. Pass the minimum number of
345 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
346 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
b5ae35ee 347 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
348 Currently only supported for YouTube
597c1866 349 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
8a51f564 350 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
53ed7066 351 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
31654882 352 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
53ed7066 353 configurations by reverting some of the
354 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
355 default behavior" for details
08c1d0d3 356
149f05c7 357## Network Options:
28b4f736 358 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
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359 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
360 scheme. For example
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361 socks5://127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in an empty
362 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
149f05c7 363 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
c4af7684 364 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
c4af7684 365 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
c4af7684 366 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
8c6c88c7 367
b31fdeed 368## Geo-restriction:
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369 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
370 some geo-restricted sites. The default
371 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
7550ea50 372 option is not present) is used for the
8a51f564 373 actual downloading
8c6c88c7 374 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
0934c9d4 375 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
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376 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
377 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
8c6c88c7
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378 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
379 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
0934c9d4 380 country code
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381 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
382 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
0934c9d4 383 notation
149f05c7 384
cfcec693 385## Video Selection:
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386 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
387 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
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388 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
389 indices of the videos in the playlist
390 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
391 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
392 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
393 specify range: "--playlist-items
394 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
8a51f564 395 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
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396 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
397 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
398 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
399 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
0930b11f 400 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
6623ac34 401 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
402 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
c4af7684 403 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
c76eb41b 404 this date. The date formats accepted is the
405 same as --date
c4af7684 406 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
c76eb41b 407 this date. The date formats accepted is the
408 same as --date
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409 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
410 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
a047eeb6 411 number or a string using the operators
412 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
413 also simply specify a field to match if the
414 field is present and "!field" to check if
415 the field is not present. In addition,
416 Python style regular expression matching
417 can be done using "~=", and multiple
418 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
419 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
420 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
2e7781a9 421 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
a047eeb6 422 matches only videos that are not live, has
423 a like count more than 100 (or the like
77b87f05 424 field is not available), and also has a
a047eeb6 425 description that contains the phrase "cats
426 & dogs" (ignoring case)
c76eb41b 427 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
c4af7684 428 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
8a51f564 429 to a video and a playlist
c4af7684 430 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
8a51f564 431 a video and a playlist
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432 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
433 age
434 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
435 archive file. Record the IDs of all
8a51f564 436 downloaded videos in it
91f071af 437 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
438 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
8b0d7497 439 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 440 a file that is in the archive
8b0d7497 441 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
8a51f564 442 a file that has been filtered out
91f071af 443 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
444 reject act only on the current input URL
445 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
446 terminates the entire download queue
26e2805c 447 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
448 of the playlist is skipped
6bcd846b 449
d5a62e4f 450## Download Options:
b31fdeed 451 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
452 video that should be download concurrently
453 (default is 1)
5e3856a2 454 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
c4af7684 455 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
6aecd871 456 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
457 below which throttling is assumed and the
458 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
c4af7684 459 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
8a51f564 460 "infinite"
0be8314d 461 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
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462 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
463 ISM)
6623ac34 464 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
465 hlsnative and ISM (default)
8a51f564 466 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
6623ac34 467 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
8a51f564 468 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
a82f4184 469 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
6623ac34 470 downloading is finished
c76eb41b 471 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
472 downloading is finished (default)
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473 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
474 (default is 1024)
c76eb41b 475 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
476 from an initial value of --buffer-size
477 (default)
478 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
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479 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
480 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
481 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
482 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
483 (experimental)
2101f5d4 484 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
6623ac34 485 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
c76eb41b 486 (default)
31487eb9 487 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
c4af7684 488 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
0934c9d4 489 expected file size
9bd20204 490 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
491 allowing some players to play the video
492 while downloading, and reducing the chance
493 of file corruption if download is
494 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
495 live streams
496 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
497 videos. This is default when not
498 downloading live streams
52a8a1e1 499 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
500 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
501 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
502 use it for. Currently supports native,
503 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
504 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
505 this option multiple times to set different
506 downloaders for different protocols. For
507 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
508 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
509 http/ftp downloads, and the native
510 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
511 (Alias: --external-downloader)
46ee996e 512 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
513 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
330690a2 514 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
515 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
516 different positions using the same syntax
517 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
518 option multiple times to give different
519 arguments to different downloaders
29b6000e 520 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
d5a62e4f 521
cfcec693 522## Filesystem Options:
c4af7684 523 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
e8dfecb3
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524 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
525 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
8a51f564 526 comments and ignored
1e520b55 527 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
6ccf351a 528 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
0202b52a 529 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
de6000d9 530 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
531 same types as --output are supported.
532 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
6ccf351a 533 (default) and "temp" paths. All
534 intermediary files are first downloaded to
535 the temp path and then the final files are
536 moved over to the home path after download
537 is finished. This option is ignored if
538 --output is an absolute path
d818eb74 539 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
c76eb41b 540 TEMPLATE" for details
0bc0a322 541 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
542 fields in output filename template
543 (default: "NA")
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544 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
545 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
546 filenames
c76eb41b 547 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
548 filenames (default)
0930b11f 549 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
550 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
551 using Windows (default)
c2934512 552 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
553 extension) to the specified number of
554 characters
9b45b9f5 555 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
556 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
557 This option includes --no-continue
558 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
559 related files (default)
c25228e5 560 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
561 (default)
562 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
e58c22a0 563 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
c25228e5 564 restart download of the entire file
c76eb41b 565 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
6623ac34 566 into output file (default)
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567 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
568 into output file
c76eb41b 569 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
570 file modification time (default)
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571 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
572 the file modification time
573 --write-description Write video description to a .description
574 file
6623ac34 575 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
1dc2726f 576 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
c25228e5 577 (this may contain personal information)
6623ac34 578 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
cac96421 579 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
580 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
581 --write-description etc. (default)
582 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
583 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
75d43ca0 584 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
585 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
586 could still contain some personal
587 information (default)
588 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
2305e2e5 589 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
590 infojson. The comments are fetched even
591 without this option if the extraction is
592 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
593 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
594 extraction is known to be quick
595 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
d845622b 596 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
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597 (created with the "--write-info-json"
598 option)
91f071af 599 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
600 from and dump cookie jar in
982ee69a
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601 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
602 (default)
603 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
604 Load cookies from a user profile of the
605 given web browser. Currently supported
0ef787d7 606 browsers are: brave, chrome, chromium,
607 edge, firefox, opera, safari, vivaldi. You
608 can specify the user profile name or
609 directory using "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
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610 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
611 given, the most recently accessed one is
612 used
613 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
6623ac34 614 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
3b1fe47d 615 can store some downloaded information (such
616 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
9ee4f0bb 617 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
618 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
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619 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
620 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
6bcd846b 621
b31fdeed 622## Thumbnail Options:
1dc2726f 623 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
6623ac34 624 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
c76eb41b 625 (default)
1dc2726f 626 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
34488702 627 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
628 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
2b1bd292 629
732044af 630## Internet Shortcut Options:
8a51f564 631 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
632 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
633 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
634 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
635 OS caches the URL based on the file path
636 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
637 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
732044af 638
0744a815 639## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
34488702 640 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
641 --verbose, print the log to stderr
6c072e7d 642 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
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643 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
644 anything to disk
34488702 645 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
646 options are used
0930b11f 647 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
648 extracting metadata even if the videos are
649 not actually available for download
0cf05715 650 (experimental)
651 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
652 formats are found (default)
e167860c 653 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
654 related files (Alias: --no-download)
34488702 655 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
656 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
657 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
658 the output template can be used
659 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
660 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
661 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
662 description of available keys
663 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
664 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
665 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
666 a playlist, the whole playlist information
667 is dumped in a single line
8a51f564 668 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
e58c22a0 669 written as far as no errors occur, even if
670 -s or another simulation option is used
8a51f564 671 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
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672 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
673 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
819e0531 674 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
1dc2726f 675 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
819e0531 676 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
677 Template for progress outputs, optionally
678 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
679 "download-title:" (the console title),
680 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
681 The video's fields are accessible under the
682 "info" key and the progress attributes are
0930b11f 683 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
819e0531 684 --console-title --progress-template
685 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
1dc2726f 686 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
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687 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
688 to debug problems (very verbose)
689 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
690 files in the current directory to debug
691 problems
780083db 692 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
6bcd846b 693
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694## Workarounds:
695 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
0930b11f 696 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
c4af7684 697 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
e167860c 698 information about the video (Currently
05a7ffb1 699 supported only for YouTube)
1dc2726f 700 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
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701 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
702 access is restricted to one domain
703 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
45016689 704 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
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705 option multiple times
706 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
707 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
708 or fribidi executable in PATH
1cf376f5 709 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
710 during data extraction
c4af7684 711 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
e167860c 712 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
713 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
714 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
715 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
716 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
1cf376f5 717 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
718 subtitle download
36f35428 719
cfcec693 720## Video Format Options:
eb8a4433 721 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
722 for more details
723 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
724 "Sorting Formats" for more details
8a51f564 725 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
726 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
eb8a4433 727 Formats" for more details
728 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
c76eb41b 729 specified sort order (default), see
730 "Sorting Formats" for more details
731 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
732 into a single file
733 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
734 each output file (default)
735 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
736 into a single file
737 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
738 each output file (default)
da9be05e 739 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
740 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
741 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
742 containers irrespective of quality
743 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
744 containers (default)
0930b11f 745 --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
0ba692ac 746 actually downloadable
0930b11f 747 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
0ba692ac 748 actually downloadable
0930b11f 749 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
750 downloadable
34488702 751 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
752 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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753 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
754 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
755 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
756 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
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757
758## Subtitle Options:
c76eb41b 759 --write-subs Write subtitle file
760 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
761 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
e167860c 762 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
763 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
764 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
34488702 765 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
766 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
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767 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
768 preference, for example: "srt" or
769 "ass/srt/best"
c32b0aab 770 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
771 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
a4211baf 772 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
c32b0aab 773 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
774 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
775 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
776 list of available language tags
6bcd846b 777
cfcec693 778## Authentication Options:
1dc2726f 779 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
c4af7684 780 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
7a5c1cfe 781 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
dc48a354 782 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
1dc2726f 783 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
0001fcb5 784 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
785 either the path or its containing
786 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
29f7c58a 787 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
f5e008d1 788 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
909d24dd 789 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
790 a list of available MSOs
f5e008d1
S
791 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
792 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
c74d1aa3 793 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
794 interactively
f5e008d1
S
795 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
796 operators
797
c76eb41b 798## Post-Processing Options:
c4af7684 799 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
e4172ac9 800 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
3de7c2ce 801 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
802 to when -x is used. Currently supported
803 formats are: best (default) or one of
9222c381 804 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
e4172ac9 805 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
86c1a8aa 806 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
e4172ac9 807 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
c4af7684 808 (default 5)
c76eb41b 809 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
29b6000e 810 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
811 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
812 target container does not support the
06167fbb 813 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
3de7c2ce 814 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
06167fbb 815 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
816 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
c76eb41b 817 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
3de7c2ce 818 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
819 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
1b77b347 820 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
43820c03 821 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
45016689 822 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
823 to give the argument to the specified
8fa43c73 824 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
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825 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
826 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
8fa43c73 827 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
828 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
6aecd871 829 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
830 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
8fa43c73 831 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
9ee4f0bb 832 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
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833 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
834 specified executable only when being used
835 by the specified postprocessor.
836 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
837 can be appended to the prefix optionally
838 followed by a number to pass the argument
839 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
840 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
841 use this option multiple times to give
e4172ac9 842 different arguments to different
5b1ecbb3 843 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
c76eb41b 844 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
6623ac34 845 after post-processing
c76eb41b 846 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
6623ac34 847 post-processing (default)
848 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
849 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
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850 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
851 webm and mkv videos)
c76eb41b 852 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
6aecd871 853 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
6623ac34 854 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
9222c381 855 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
856 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
857 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
858 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
7a340e0d 859 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
6aecd871 860 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
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861 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
862 (Alias: --add-chapters)
863 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
864 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
9222c381 865 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
866 mkv/mka video files
867 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
868 to the video file
73cd218f 869 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
870 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
871 for details
e9f4ccd1 872 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
873 Replace text in a metadata field using the
874 given regex. This option can be used
875 multiple times
c4af7684
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876 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
877 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
878 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
879 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
880 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
881 default; fix file if we can, warn
6aecd871 882 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
883 already exists
e4172ac9 884 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
885 path to the binary or its containing
886 directory
c4af7684 887 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
34488702 888 downloading and post-processing. Same
889 syntax as the output template can be used
9de3ea31 890 to pass any field as arguments to the
891 command. An additional field "filepath"
892 that contains the final path of the
893 downloaded file is also available. If no
7d1eb38a 894 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
34488702 895 to the end of the command. This option can
896 be used multiple times
897 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
5520aa2d 898 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
899 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
34488702 900 but "filepath" is not available. This
901 option can be used multiple times
902 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
903 --exec-before-download
e167860c 904 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
3de7c2ce 905 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
e167860c 906 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
8fa43c73 907 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
3de7c2ce 908 (currently supported: jpg|png)
72755351 909 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
910 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
911 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
912 to set the output filename for the split
913 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
914 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
915 (default)
7a340e0d 916 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
2d9ec704 917 given regular expression. Time ranges
918 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
919 of chapters to remove the specified range.
920 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
921 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
7a340e0d 922 be used multiple times
9ee4f0bb 923 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
924 (default)
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925 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
926 removing/splitting them. Requires a
927 reencode and thus is very slow, but the
928 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
929 around the cuts
930 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
931 when cutting/splitting (default)
3ae5e797 932 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
933 postprocessors to be enabled, and
934 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
935 seperated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
936 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
937 The "when" argument determines when the
938 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
939 "pre_process" (after extraction),
940 "before_dl" (before video download),
941 "post_process" (after video download;
942 default) or "after_move" (after moving file
943 to their final locations). This option can
944 be used multiple times to add different
945 postprocessors
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946
947## SponsorBlock Options:
948Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
949 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
8a51f564 950 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
951
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952 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
953 for, separated by commas. Available
8157a09d
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954 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
955 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
956 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
957 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
958 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
959 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
960 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
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961 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
962 the video file, separated by commas. If a
963 category is present in both mark and
964 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
965 and available categories are the same as
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966 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
967 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
968 poi_highlight is not available
7a340e0d
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969 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
970 The title template for SponsorBlock
971 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
972 The same syntax as the output template is
973 used, but the only available fields are
974 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
975 name, category_names. Defaults to
976 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
977 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
978 --sponsorblock-remove
979 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
980 https://sponsor.ajay.app
a9e7f546 981
78895bd3 982## Extractor Options:
5ef7d9bd 983 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
d6e51845 984 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
6623ac34 985 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
8a51f564 986 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
987 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
988 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
e409895f 989 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
990 discontinuities such as ad breaks
991 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
992 formats at discontinuities such as ad
993 breaks (default)
5d3a0e79 994 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
995 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
996 use this option multiple times to give
245524e6 997 arguments for different extractors
17cb02d0 998
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999# CONFIGURATION
1000
7a5c1cfe 1001You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
e2e43aea 1002
0202b52a 10031. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
7a5c1cfe
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10041. **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.
10051. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
e2e43aea 10061. **User Configuration**:
1007 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1008 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1009 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1010 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1011 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1012 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1013
ec2e44fc 1014 `%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 10151. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
b7770046 1016
7a5c1cfe 1017For 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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1018```
1019# Lines starting with # are comments
1020
1021# Always extract audio
1022-x
1023
1024# Do not copy the mtime
1025--no-mtime
1026
1027# Use this proxy
1028--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1029
298f597b 1030# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1031-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
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1032```
1033
e2e43aea 1034Note 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 1035
a4211baf 1036You 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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1037
1038### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1039
0001fcb5 1040You 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:
b7770046
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1041```
1042touch $HOME/.netrc
1043chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1044```
1045After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1046```
0001fcb5 1047machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
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1048```
1049For example:
1050```
1051machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1052machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1053```
7a5c1cfe 1054To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
b7770046 1055
0001fcb5 1056The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
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1057
1058# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1059
0202b52a 1060The `-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 1061
ec2e44fc 1062<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1063**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
ec2e44fc 1064<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1065
e58c22a0 1066The 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 1067
0930b11f 1068It 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 1069
1070The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
2b8a2973 10711. **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 1072
e625be0d 10731. **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 1074
e625be0d 10751. **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 1076
7c37ff97 10771. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified seperated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1078
e978789f
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10791. **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.
1080
7c37ff97 10811. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` seperator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
ec2e44fc 1082
4476d2c7 10831. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma seperated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-seperated) and a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), respectively
ec2e44fc 1084
524e2e4f 10851. **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 1086
1087To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1088```
e978789f 1089%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
a439a3a4 1090```
de6000d9 1091
08438d2c 1092Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`. For example, `-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates (except default) is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
e29663c6 1093
1094The available fields are:
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1095
1096 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1097 - `title` (string): Video title
1098 - `url` (string): Video URL
1099 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1100 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
597c1866 1101 - `description` (string): The description of the video
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1102 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1103 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1104 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1105 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
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1106 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1107 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
e6f21b3d 1108 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1109 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
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1110 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1111 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1112 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1113 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1114 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
53c18592 1115 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
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1116 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1117 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1118 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1119 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1120 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
277d6ff5 1121 - `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 1122 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
3dbb2a9d 1123 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
b7770046 1124 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
f76ede8e 1125 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
6cfda058 1126 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
c224251a 1127 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
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1128 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1129 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
29b6000e 1130 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
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1131 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1132 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1133 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1134 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1135 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1136 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1137 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1138 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1139 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1140 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1141 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
176f1866 1142 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
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1143 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1144 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1145 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1146 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1147 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1148 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1149 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1150 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1151 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
e6f21b3d 1152 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
b7770046 1153 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
e6f21b3d 1154 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1155 - `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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1156 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1157 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1158 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1159 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
bd99f6e6 1160 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
0bb322b9 1161 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1162 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
bd99f6e6 1163 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
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1164
1165Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1166
1167 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1168 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1169 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1170
1171Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1172
1173 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1174 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1175 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1176 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1177 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1178 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1179 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1180
1181Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1182
1183 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1184 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1185 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1186 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1187 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1188 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1189 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1190 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1191 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1192 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1193
b050d210 1194Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
72755351 1195
1196 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1197 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1198 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1199 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1200
53c18592 1201Available only when used in `--print`:
1202
1203 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1204 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use `--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
7a340e0d
NA
1205
1206Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1207
1208 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1209 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1210 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1211 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1212 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1213 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
53c18592 1214
49a57e70 1215Each 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.
1216
1217Note 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 1218
0930b11f 1219**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
b7770046 1220
49a57e70 1221For 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`.
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1222
1223Output 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.
1224
1225To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1226
91ebc640 1227The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
b7770046 1228
f304da8a 1229In 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 1230
ec2e44fc 1231<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1232#### Output template and Windows batch files
1233
1234If 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 1235<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
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1236
1237#### Output template examples
1238
de6000d9 1239Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
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1240
1241```bash
9222c381 1242$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o 'test video.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1243test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1244
7a5c1cfe 1245$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
9222c381 1246youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
b7770046 1247
7a5c1cfe 1248$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
9222c381 1249youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
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1250
1251# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
7a5c1cfe 1252$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
b7770046 1253
b050d210 1254# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
7a5c1cfe 1255$ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
e29663c6 1256
e978789f
P
1257# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1258$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1259
b7770046 1260# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
7a5c1cfe 1261$ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
b7770046
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1262
1263# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
7a5c1cfe 1264$ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P '~/MyVideos' -o '%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
b7770046
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1265
1266# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
7a5c1cfe 1267$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
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1268
1269# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
7a5c1cfe 1270$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
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1271```
1272
1273# FORMAT SELECTION
1274
7a5c1cfe
P
1275By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1276This 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 1277
c111cefa 1278**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.
1279
eff63539 1280The 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 1281
ec2e44fc 1282<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1283**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
ec2e44fc 1284<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
b7770046 1285
a439a3a4 1286The 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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1287
1288You 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.
1289
1290You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1291
59a7a13e 1292 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1293 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1294 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1295 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1296 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1297 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1298 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1299 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1300 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
909d24dd 1301 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1302 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
909d24dd 1303 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
909d24dd 1304 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
909d24dd 1305 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
b7770046 1306
e58c22a0 1307For 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 1308
1309You 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 1310
eb8a4433 1311If 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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1312
1313If 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`.
1314
d806c9fd 1315You 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.
1316
1317**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
1318
1319Unless `--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 1320
1321## Filtering Formats
1322
b7770046
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1323You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1324
1325The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1326
1327 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1328 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1329 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1330 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1331 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1332 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1333 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1334 - `fps`: Frame rate
1335
1336Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1337
1338 - `ext`: File extension
1339 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1340 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1341 - `container`: Name of the container format
1342 - `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`)
1343 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
29f7c58a 1344 - `language`: Language code
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1345
1346Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain).
1347
e58c22a0 1348Note 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 1349
e094cec1 1350Formats 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 1351
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1352Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1353
eb8a4433 1354## Sorting Formats
1355
2e7781a9 1356You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1357
1358The available fields are:
eb8a4433 1359
63be1aab 1360 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1361 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1362 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1363 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
dca3ff4a 1364 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
63be1aab 1365 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
e36d50c5 1366 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > other > `mms`/`rtsp` > unknown > `f4f`/`f4m`)
155d2b48 1367 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other > unknown)
aeb2a9ad 1368 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other > unknown)
eb8a4433 1369 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
63be1aab 1370 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is prefered.
1371 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other > unknown). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1372 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
0930b11f 1373 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
63be1aab 1374 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1375 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
eb8a4433 1376 - `height`: Height of video
1377 - `width`: Width of video
63be1aab 1378 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1379 - `fps`: Framerate of video
49a57e70 1380 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
63be1aab 1381 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1382 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1383 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1384 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1385 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
d806c9fd 1386
1387**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 1388
9ee4f0bb 1389All 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.
1390
176f1866 1391The 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 1392
176f1866 1393Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not prefered. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not prefered. 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 1394
e58c22a0 1395If 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 1396
1397**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1398
eb8a4433 1399## Format Selection examples
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1400
1401Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1402
1403```bash
e58c22a0 1404# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
909d24dd 1405# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
7a5c1cfe 1406$ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
909d24dd 1407
1408# Download best format that contains video,
1409# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
7a5c1cfe 1410$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
2af884ff 1411
1412# Same as above
7a5c1cfe 1413$ yt-dlp
909d24dd 1414
6fd35a11 1415# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1416# For this case, an output template should be used since
1417# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
7a5c1cfe 1418$ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
909d24dd 1419
f8d4ad9a 1420# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1421# and all audio-only formats into one file
1422$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1423
1424# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1425# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1426$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
909d24dd 1427
6fd35a11 1428
1429# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
f8d4ad9a 1430# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
6fd35a11 1431
1432# Download the worst video available (old method)
7a5c1cfe 1433$ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
eb8a4433 1434
1435# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
7a5c1cfe 1436$ yt-dlp -S '+res'
eb8a4433 1437
1438# Download the smallest video available
7a5c1cfe 1439$ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
eb8a4433 1440
1441
909d24dd 1442
eb8a4433 1443# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
7a5c1cfe 1444$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
eb8a4433 1445
1446# Download the best video with the best extension
1447# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
7a5c1cfe 1448$ yt-dlp -S 'ext'
eb8a4433 1449
1450
909d24dd 1451
eb8a4433 1452# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1453# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1454$ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
b7770046 1455
eb8a4433 1456# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1457# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
7a5c1cfe 1458$ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
b7770046 1459
eb8a4433 1460# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1461# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1462# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1463# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
7a5c1cfe 1464$ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
b7770046 1465
b7770046 1466
909d24dd 1467
eb8a4433 1468# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1469# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1470$ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
eb8a4433 1471
1472# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1473# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1474$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
eb8a4433 1475
1476# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
7a5c1cfe 1477$ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
eb8a4433 1478
1479
909d24dd 1480
eb8a4433 1481# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1482# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1483$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1484
1485# Download best video available via the best protocol
1486# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
7a5c1cfe 1487$ yt-dlp -S 'proto'
eb8a4433 1488
1489
909d24dd 1490
eb8a4433 1491# Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1492$ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
eb8a4433 1493
1494# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1495# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1496$ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1497
1498# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1499# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1500$ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
eb8a4433 1501
1502
1503
1504# More complex examples
1505
e58c22a0 1506# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1507# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
7a5c1cfe 1508$ 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 1509
1510# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
f8d4ad9a 1511# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1512# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1513$ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
eb8a4433 1514
1515
909d24dd 1516
eb8a4433 1517# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1518# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
e58c22a0 1519# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
7a5c1cfe 1520$ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
b7770046 1521```
eb8a4433 1522
73cd218f 1523# MODIFYING METADATA
1524
a4211baf 1525The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
e9f4ccd1 1526
418964fa 1527`--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 1528
2e7781a9 1529The 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 1530
1531Note 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`.
1532
9c2b75b5 1533This option also has a few special uses:
28b0eb0f 1534* You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
b11d2101 1535* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
c31be5b0 1536
1537For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1538
1539Metadata fields|From
1540:---|:---
1541`title`|`track` or `title`
1542`date`|`upload_date`
1543`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1544`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1545`track`|`track_number`
1546`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1547`genre`|`genre`
1548`album`|`album`
1549`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1550`disc`|`disc_number`
1551`show`|`series`
1552`season_number`|`season_number`
1553`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1554`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1555`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1556**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1557
73cd218f 1558
1559## Modifying metadata examples
1560
1561Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1562
1563```bash
1564# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
02aabd45 1565$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
73cd218f 1566
1567# Regex example
02aabd45 1568$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
73cd218f 1569
1570# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
02aabd45 1571$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
73cd218f 1572
1573# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
02aabd45 1574$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
73cd218f 1575
0930b11f 1576# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1577$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ':(?P<formats>)' -j
1578
e9f4ccd1 1579# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1580$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1581
73cd218f 1582```
1583
5d3a0e79 1584# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1585
59a7a13e 1586Some 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 1587
1588The following extractors use this feature:
96565c7e 1589
1590#### youtube
1591* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
d0d012d4 1592* `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 1593* `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
1594* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
1595* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
46383212 1596* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-seperated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`.
1597 * 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.
1598* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1599 * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
96565c7e 1600
1601#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1602* `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)
1603
1604#### funimation
1605* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1606* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1607
a9d4da60 1608#### crunchyroll
1609* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1610* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1611
96565c7e 1612#### vikichannel
1613* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
73d829c1 1614
aa4b0545 1615#### youtubewebarchive
1616* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1617
bc97cdae 1618NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
5d3a0e79 1619
ec2e44fc 1620<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1621
3acf6d38 1622
f74980cb 1623# PLUGINS
b7770046 1624
3ae5e797 1625Plugins 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
1626
1627Plugins 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`.
1628
1629See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1630
1631Note 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
1632
1633If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
b7770046 1634
b7770046 1635
8c6f4daa 1636
1637# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1638
1639yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1640
1641Your 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.
1642
1643From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1644
1645```python
59a7a13e 1646from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1647
093a1710 1648ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
59a7a13e 1649with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
8c6f4daa 1650 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1651```
1652
f304da8a 1653Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L162).
8c6f4daa 1654
093a1710 1655Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
8c6f4daa 1656
1657```python
1658import json
8c6f4daa 1659import yt_dlp
8c6f4daa 1660
1661
1662class MyLogger:
1663 def debug(self, msg):
1664 # For compatability with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1665 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1666 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1667 pass
1668 else:
1669 self.info(msg)
1670
1671 def info(self, msg):
1672 pass
1673
1674 def warning(self, msg):
1675 pass
1676
1677 def error(self, msg):
1678 print(msg)
1679
1680
093a1710 1681# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
59a7a13e 1682class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
093a1710 1683 # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
8c6f4daa 1684 def run(self, info):
1685 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1686 return [], info
1687
1688
093a1710 1689# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
8c6f4daa 1690def my_hook(d):
1691 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1692 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1693
1694
093a1710 1695def format_selector(ctx):
1696 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1697 This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1698
1699 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1700 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1701
1702 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1703 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1704 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1705
1706 # find compatible audio extension
1707 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1708 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1709 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1710 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1711
1712 yield {
1713 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1714 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1715 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1716 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1717 # Must be + seperated list of protocols
1718 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1719 }
1720
1721
1722# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
8c6f4daa 1723ydl_opts = {
093a1710 1724 'format': format_selector,
8c6f4daa 1725 'postprocessors': [{
093a1710 1726 # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
1727 # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
1728 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
1729 'add_chapters': True,
1730 'add_metadata': True,
8c6f4daa 1731 }],
1732 'logger': MyLogger(),
1733 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1734}
1735
59a7a13e 1736
1737# Add custom headers
1738yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
1739
093a1710 1740# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
1741# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
8c6f4daa 1742with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1743 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1744 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
093a1710 1745
1746 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
8c6f4daa 1747 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1748```
1749
49a57e70 1750**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
1751
8c6f4daa 1752
ec2e44fc 1753<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1754
e167860c 1755# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1756
1757These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1758
6ccf351a 1759#### Redundant options
1760While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
f4536226 1761
53c18592 1762 --get-description --print description
1763 --get-duration --print duration_string
1764 --get-filename --print filename
1765 --get-format --print format
1766 --get-id --print id
1767 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1768 -e, --get-title --print title
1769 -g, --get-url --print urls
2b8a2973 1770 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
8f18aca8 1771 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1772 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1773 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1774 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
6ccf351a 1775
1776
1777#### Not recommended
1778While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1779
d9aa2332 1780 --all-formats -f all
c32b0aab 1781 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
b7b04c78 1782 --print-json -j --no-simulate
e167860c 1783 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
a439a3a4 1784 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
19b824f6 1785 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
73cd218f 1786 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
52a8a1e1 1787 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1788 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
53ed7066 1789 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1790 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
5d3a0e79 1791 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1792 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1793 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1794 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
6ccf351a 1795
1796
1797#### Developer options
1798These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1799
34488702 1800 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
6ccf351a 1801 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
88acdbc2 1802 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1803 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
f4536226 1804
1805
1806#### Old aliases
1807These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1808
1809 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1810 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1811 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1812 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1813 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1814 --load-info --load-info-json
1815 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
e167860c 1816 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
e167860c 1817 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1818 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
f4536226 1819 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1820 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
e167860c 1821 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
f4536226 1822 --write-srt --write-subs
e167860c 1823 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
f4536226 1824
7a340e0d 1825#### Sponskrub Options
f304da8a 1826Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
7a340e0d
NA
1827
1828 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1829 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1830 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1831 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1832 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1833 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1834 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1835 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1836
f4536226 1837#### No longer supported
1838These options may no longer work as intended
1839
1840 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1841 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1842 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1843 --no-call-home Default
1844 --include-ads No longer supported
1845 --no-include-ads Default
0bb1bc1b 1846 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1847 --no-write-annotations Default
486fb179 1848
1849#### Removed
1850These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1851
f4536226 1852 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1853 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1854 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1855
8c6f4daa 1856# CONTRIBUTING
1857See [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 1858
c2b5f311 1859# MORE
8c6f4daa 1860For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)