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1<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
2<div align="center">
3
4[![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
5
6[![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=blue&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7[![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
8[![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9[![Docs](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Docs-blue.svg?color=blue&style=for-the-badge)](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/ "Docs")
10[![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
11[![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
12[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
13[![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
14[![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
15[![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
16[![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
17
18</div>
19<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20
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
22
23<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24
25<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
26* [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
27 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
28* [INSTALLATION](#installation)
29 * [Update](#update)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [Compile](#compile)
33* [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50* [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
52* [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
53 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
54 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
55* [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
56 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
57 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
58 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
59* [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
60 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
61* [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
62* [PLUGINS](#plugins)
63* [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
64* [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
65* [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
68* [MORE](#more)
69<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
70
71
72# NEW FEATURES
73
74* Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/5add3f4](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/5add3f4373287e6346ca3551239edab549284db3)** and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
75
76* **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
77
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))
79
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.
81
82* **Youtube improvements**:
83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
92
93* **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
94
95* **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
96
97* **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use `--concurrent-fragments` (`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
98
99* **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
100
101* **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
102
103* **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
104
105* **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See [commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
106
107* **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using `--paths` (`-P`)
108
109* **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
110
111* **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
112
113* **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
114
115* **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in `--match-filter`, multiple `--postprocessor-args` and `--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple `--config-locations`, `--exec` at different stages, etc
116
117* **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
118
119* **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
120
121See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
122
123### Differences in default behavior
124
125Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
126
127* The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
128* `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
129* The default [output template](#output-template) is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use `--compat-options filename`
130* The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the `--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use `--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
131* The default format selector is `bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use `-f bv+ba/b` or `--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
132* Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of `-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using `--audio-multistreams` and `--video-multistreams`. You can also use `--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
133* `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
134* When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use `--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or `--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
135* `--add-metadata` attaches the `infojson` to `mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with `--write-info-json`. Use `--no-embed-info-json` or `--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
136* Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using `--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably, `comment` field contains the `webpage_url` and `synopsis` contains the `description`. You can [use `--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use `--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
137* `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like `--playlist-reverse` and `--playlist-items`. See [#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use `--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
138* The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
139* All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
140* Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
141* Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to `/video`. Append a `/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent `UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also, `/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use `--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
142* Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
143* If `ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use `--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
144* Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
145* Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
146* When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
147
148For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
149* `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
150* `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
151* `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
152
153
154# INSTALLATION
155
156You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
157
158### Using the release binary
159
160You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
161
162<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
163[![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
164[![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
165[![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
166[![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
167[![ALl versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
168<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
169
170Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the [source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
171
172<!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
173In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
174
175```
176sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
177sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178```
179
180```
181sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
182sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183```
184
185```
186sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
187sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188```
189
190
191### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
192
193You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
194```
195python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
196```
197
198You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
199```
200python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
201```
202
203If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
204```
205python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.zip
206```
207
208Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
209
210<!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
211### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
212
213macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
214
215```
216brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
217```
218
219## UPDATE
220You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
221
222If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
223
224If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
225
226<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
227## RELEASE FILES
228
229#### Recommended
230
231File|Description
232:---|:---
233[yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **UNIX-like systems**)
234[yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
235
236#### Alternatives
237
238File|Description
239:---|:---
240[yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable
241[yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (32-bit) binary
242[yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
243[yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
244[yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
245
246#### Misc
247
248File|Description
249:---|:---
250[yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
251[SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
252[SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
253<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
254
255## DEPENDENCIES
256Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
257
258<!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
259<!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
260On windows, [Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing `MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
261-->
262
263While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
264
265* [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
266* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
267* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
268* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
269* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
270* [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
271* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli) or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
272* [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
273* [**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)
274* [**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)
275* [**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)
276* Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
277
278To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
279
280The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
281
282**Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
283
284
285## COMPILE
286
287**For Windows**:
288To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). 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.
289
290 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
291 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
292 py pyinst.py
293
294Note 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
295
296**For Unix**:
297You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
298Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
299
300**Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
301
302You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
303
304# USAGE AND OPTIONS
305
306<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
307 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
308
309`Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
310<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
311
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313## General Options:
314 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
315 --version Print program version and exit
316 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
317 sure that you have sufficient permissions
318 (run with sudo if needed)
319 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
320 The download will be considered successful
321 even if the postprocessing fails
322 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
323 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
324 a playlist (default)
325 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
326 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
327 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
328 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
329 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
330 extractors and exit
331 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
332 extractor
333 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
334 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
335 from google videos for the search term
336 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
337 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
338 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
339 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
340 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
341 this is not possible instead of searching
342 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
343 except those given by --config-locations.
344 For backward compatibility, if this option
345 is found inside the system configuration
346 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
347 (Alias: --no-config)
348 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
349 (default). When given inside a
350 configuration file, ignore all previous
351 --config-locations defined in the current
352 file
353 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
354 either the path to the config or its
355 containing directory. Can be used multiple
356 times and inside other configuration files
357 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
358 only list them
359 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
360 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
361 Currently only supported for YouTube
362 (Experimental)
363 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
364 (default)
365 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
366 available. Pass the minimum number of
367 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
368 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
369 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate).
370 Currently only supported for YouTube
371 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
372 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
373 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
374 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
375 configurations by reverting some of the
376 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
377 default behavior" for details
378
379## Network Options:
380 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
381 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
382 scheme. For example
383 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
384 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
385 connection
386 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
387 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
388 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
389 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
390
391## Geo-restriction:
392 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
393 some geo-restricted sites. The default
394 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
395 option is not present) is used for the
396 actual downloading
397 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
398 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
399 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
400 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
401 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
402 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
403 country code
404 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
405 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
406 notation
407
408## Video Selection:
409 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
410 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
411 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
412 indices of the videos in the playlist
413 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
414 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
415 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
416 specify range: "--playlist-items
417 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
418 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
419 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
420 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
421 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
422 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
423 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
424 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
425 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
426 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
427 this date. The date formats accepted is the
428 same as --date
429 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
430 this date. The date formats accepted is the
431 same as --date
432 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
433 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
434 number or a string using the operators
435 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
436 also simply specify a field to match if the
437 field is present and "!field" to check if
438 the field is not present. In addition,
439 Python style regular expression matching
440 can be done using "~=", and multiple
441 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "\"
442 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
443 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?100
444 & description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
445 matches only videos that are not live, has
446 a like count more than 100 (or the like
447 field is not available), and also has a
448 description that contains the phrase "cats
449 & dogs" (ignoring case)
450 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
451 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
452 to a video and a playlist
453 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
454 a video and a playlist
455 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
456 age
457 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
458 archive file. Record the IDs of all
459 downloaded videos in it
460 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
461 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
462 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
463 a file that is in the archive
464 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
465 a file that has been filtered out
466 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
467 reject act only on the current input URL
468 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
469 terminates the entire download queue
470 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
471 of the playlist is skipped
472
473## Download Options:
474 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
475 video that should be downloaded
476 concurrently (default is 1)
477 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
478 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
479 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
480 below which throttling is assumed and the
481 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
482 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
483 "infinite"
484 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
485 error (default is 10), or "infinite"
486 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
487 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
488 ISM)
489 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
490 hlsnative and ISM (default)
491 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
492 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
493 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
494 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
495 downloading is finished
496 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
497 downloading is finished (default)
498 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
499 (default is 1024)
500 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
501 from an initial value of --buffer-size
502 (default)
503 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
504 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
505 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
506 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
507 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
508 (experimental)
509 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
510 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
511 (default)
512 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
513 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
514 expected file size
515 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
516 allowing some players to play the video
517 while downloading, and reducing the chance
518 of file corruption if download is
519 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
520 live streams
521 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
522 videos. This is default when not
523 downloading live streams
524 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
525 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
526 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
527 use it for. Currently supports native,
528 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
529 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
530 this option multiple times to set different
531 downloaders for different protocols. For
532 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
533 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
534 http/ftp downloads, and the native
535 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
536 --external-downloader)
537 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
538 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
539 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
540 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
541 different positions using the same syntax
542 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
543 option multiple times to give different
544 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
545 --external-downloader-args)
546
547## Filesystem Options:
548 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
549 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
550 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
551 comments and ignored
552 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
553 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
554 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
555 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
556 same TYPES as --output are supported.
557 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
558 (default) and "temp" paths. All
559 intermediary files are first downloaded to
560 the temp path and then the final files are
561 moved over to the home path after download
562 is finished. This option is ignored if
563 --output is an absolute path
564 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
565 TEMPLATE" for details
566 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
567 fields in output filename template
568 (default: "NA")
569 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
570 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
571 filenames
572 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
573 filenames (default)
574 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
575 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
576 using Windows (default)
577 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
578 extension) to the specified number of
579 characters
580 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
581 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
582 This option includes --no-continue
583 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
584 related files (default)
585 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
586 (default)
587 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
588 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
589 restart download of the entire file
590 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
591 into output file (default)
592 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
593 into output file
594 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
595 file modification time (default)
596 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
597 the file modification time
598 --write-description Write video description to a .description
599 file
600 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
601 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
602 (this may contain personal information)
603 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
604 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
605 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
606 --write-description etc. (default)
607 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
608 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
609 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
610 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
611 could still contain some personal
612 information (default)
613 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
614 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
615 infojson. The comments are fetched even
616 without this option if the extraction is
617 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
618 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
619 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
620 --no-get-comments)
621 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
622 (created with the "--write-info-json"
623 option)
624 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
625 from and dump cookie jar in
626 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
627 (default)
628 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
629 The name of the browser and (optionally)
630 the name/path of the profile to load
631 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
632 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
633 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
634 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
635 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
636 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
637 can be (optionally) specified after the
638 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
639 supported keyrings are: basictext,
640 gnomekeyring, kwallet
641 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
642 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
643 can store some downloaded information (such
644 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
645 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
646 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
647 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
648 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
649
650## Thumbnail Options:
651 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
652 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
653 (default)
654 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
655 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
656 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
657
658## Internet Shortcut Options:
659 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
660 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
661 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
662 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
663 OS caches the URL based on the file path
664 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
665 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
666
667## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
668 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
669 --verbose, print the log to stderr
670 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
671 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
672 anything to disk
673 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
674 options are used
675 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
676 extracting metadata even if the videos are
677 not actually available for download
678 (experimental)
679 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
680 formats are found (default)
681 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
682 related files (Alias: --no-download)
683 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
684 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
685 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
686 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
687 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
688 Implies --quiet and --simulate (unless
689 --no-simulate is used). This option can be
690 used multiple times
691 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
692 Append given template to the file. The
693 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
694 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
695 as the output template. This option can be
696 used multiple times
697 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
698 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
699 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
700 description of available keys
701 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
702 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
703 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
704 a playlist, the whole playlist information
705 is dumped in a single line
706 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
707 written as far as no errors occur, even if
708 -s or another simulation option is used
709 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
710 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
711 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
712 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
713 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
714 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
715 Template for progress outputs, optionally
716 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
717 "download-title:" (the console title),
718 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
719 The video's fields are accessible under the
720 "info" key and the progress attributes are
721 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
722 --console-title --progress-template
723 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
724 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
725 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
726 to debug problems (very verbose)
727 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
728 files in the current directory to debug
729 problems
730 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
731
732## Workarounds:
733 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
734 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
735 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
736 renegotiation
737 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
738 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
739 information about the video (Currently
740 supported only for YouTube)
741 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
742 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
743 option multiple times
744 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
745 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
746 or fribidi executable in PATH
747 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
748 during data extraction
749 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
750 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
751 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
752 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
753 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
754 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
755 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
756 subtitle download
757
758## Video Format Options:
759 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
760 for more details
761 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
762 "Sorting Formats" for more details
763 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
764 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
765 Formats" for more details
766 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
767 specified sort order (default), see
768 "Sorting Formats" for more details
769 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
770 into a single file
771 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
772 each output file (default)
773 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
774 into a single file
775 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
776 each output file (default)
777 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
778 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
779 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
780 containers irrespective of quality
781 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
782 containers (default)
783 --check-formats Check that the selected formats are
784 actually downloadable
785 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
786 actually downloadable
787 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
788 downloadable
789 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
790 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
791 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
792 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
793 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
794 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
795
796## Subtitle Options:
797 --write-subs Write subtitle file
798 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
799 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
800 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
801 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
802 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
803 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
804 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
805 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
806 preference, for example: "srt" or
807 "ass/srt/best"
808 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
809 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
810 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
811 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
812 from the requested languages. (Eg:
813 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
814 for a list of available language tags
815
816## Authentication Options:
817 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
818 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
819 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
820 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
821 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
822 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
823 either the path or its containing
824 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
825 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
826 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
827 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
828 a list of available MSOs
829 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
830 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
831 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
832 interactively
833 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
834 operators
835
836## Post-Processing Options:
837 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
838 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
839 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
840 to when -x is used. Currently supported
841 formats are: best (default) or one of
842 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav|alac
843 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
844 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
845 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
846 (default 5)
847 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
848 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
849 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
850 target container does not support the
851 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
852 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
853 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
854 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
855 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
856 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
857 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
858 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
859 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
860 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
861 to give the argument to the specified
862 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
863 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
864 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
865 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
866 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
867 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
868 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
869 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
870 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
871 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
872 specified executable only when being used
873 by the specified postprocessor.
874 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
875 can be appended to the prefix optionally
876 followed by a number to pass the argument
877 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
878 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
879 use this option multiple times to give
880 different arguments to different
881 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
882 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
883 after post-processing
884 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
885 post-processing (default)
886 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
887 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
888 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
889 webm and mkv videos)
890 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
891 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
892 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
893 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
894 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
895 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
896 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
897 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
898 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
899 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
900 (Alias: --add-chapters)
901 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
902 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
903 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
904 mkv/mka video files
905 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
906 to the video file
907 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
908 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
909 for details
910 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
911 Replace text in a metadata field using the
912 given regex. This option can be used
913 multiple times
914 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
915 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
916 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
917 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
918 (default; only when the videos form a
919 single show). All the video files must have
920 same codecs and number of streams to be
921 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
922 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
923 the output filename for the split files.
924 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
925 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
926 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
927 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
928 default; fix file if we can, warn
929 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
930 already exists)
931 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
932 path to the binary or its containing
933 directory
934 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
935 when to execute it (after_move if
936 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
937 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
938 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
939 output template can be used to pass any
940 field as arguments to the command. After
941 download, an additional field "filepath"
942 that contains the final path of the
943 downloaded file is also available, and if
944 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
945 appended to the end of the command. This
946 option can be used multiple times
947 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
948 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
949 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
950 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
951 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
952 (currently supported: jpg|png|webp)
953 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
954 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
955 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
956 to set the output filename for the split
957 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
958 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
959 (default)
960 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
961 given regular expression. Time ranges
962 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
963 of chapters to remove the specified range.
964 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
965 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
966 be used multiple times
967 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
968 (default)
969 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
970 removing/splitting them. Requires a
971 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
972 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
973 around the cuts
974 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
975 when cutting/splitting (default)
976 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
977 postprocessors to be enabled, and
978 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
979 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
980 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
981 The "when" argument determines when the
982 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
983 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
984 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
985 "before_dl" (before each video download),
986 "post_process" (after each video download;
987 default), "after_move" (after moving video
988 file to it's final locations),
989 "after_video" (after downloading and
990 processing all formats of a video), or
991 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
992 option can be used multiple times to add
993 different postprocessors
994
995## SponsorBlock Options:
996Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
997 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
998 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
999
1000 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1001 for, separated by commas. Available
1002 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1003 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1004 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1005 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1006 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1007 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1008 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1009 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1010 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1011 category is present in both mark and
1012 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1013 and available categories are the same as
1014 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1015 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1016 poi_highlight is not available
1017 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1018 The title template for SponsorBlock
1019 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1020 The same syntax as the output template is
1021 used, but the only available fields are
1022 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1023 name, category_names. Defaults to
1024 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1025 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1026 --sponsorblock-remove
1027 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1028 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1029
1030## Extractor Options:
1031 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
1032 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
1033 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1034 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1035 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1036 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1037 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1038 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1039 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1040 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1041 breaks (default)
1042 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1043 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1044 use this option multiple times to give
1045 arguments for different extractors
1046
1047# CONFIGURATION
1048
1049You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1050
10511. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
10521. **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.
10531. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
10541. **User Configuration**:
1055 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1056 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1057 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1058 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1059 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1060 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1061
1062 `%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%`
10631. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1064
1065For 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:
1066```
1067# Lines starting with # are comments
1068
1069# Always extract audio
1070-x
1071
1072# Do not copy the mtime
1073--no-mtime
1074
1075# Use this proxy
1076--proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1077
1078# Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1079-o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1080```
1081
1082Note 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`.
1083
1084You 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.
1085
1086### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1087
1088You 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:
1089```
1090touch $HOME/.netrc
1091chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1092```
1093After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1094```
1095machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1096```
1097For example:
1098```
1099machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1100machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1101```
1102To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1103
1104The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1105
1106# OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1107
1108The `-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.
1109
1110<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1111**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1112<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1113
1114The 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).
1115
1116It 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.
1117
1118The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
11191. **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
1120
11211. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1122
11231. **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`
1124
11251. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1126
11271. **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.
1128
11291. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1130
11311. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
1132
11331. **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
1134
1135To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1136```
1137%(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1138```
1139
1140Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1141
1142The available fields are:
1143
1144 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1145 - `title` (string): Video title
1146 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1147 - `url` (string): Video URL
1148 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1149 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1150 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1151 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1152 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1153 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1154 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1155 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1156 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
1157 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1158 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
1159 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1160 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified
1161 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1162 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1163 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1164 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1165 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1166 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1167 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1168 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1169 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1170 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1171 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1172 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1173 - `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)
1174 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1175 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
1176 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1177 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1178 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1179 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1180 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1181 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1182 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1183 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1184 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1185 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1186 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1187 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1188 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1189 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1190 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1191 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1192 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1193 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1194 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
1195 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1196 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1197 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1198 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1199 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1200 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1201 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1202 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1203 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
1204 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1205 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1206 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1207 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1208 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
1209 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1210 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1211 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1212 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1213 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1214 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1215 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1216 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1217 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1218
1219Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1220
1221 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1222 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1223 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1224
1225Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1226
1227 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1228 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1229 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1230 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1231 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1232 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1233 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1234
1235Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1236
1237 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1238 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1239 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1240 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1241 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1242 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1243 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1244 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1245 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1246 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1247
1248Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1249
1250 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1251 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1252 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1253 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1254
1255Available only when used in `--print`:
1256
1257 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1258 - `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
1259 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1260 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1261 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1262 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1263
1264
1265Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1266
1267 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1268 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1269 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1270 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1271 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1272 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1273
1274Each 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.
1275
1276Note 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).
1277
1278**Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1279
1280For 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`.
1281
1282Output 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.
1283
1284To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1285
1286The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1287
1288In 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.
1289
1290<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1291#### Output template and Windows batch files
1292
1293If 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"`.
1294<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1295
1296#### Output template examples
1297
1298```bash
1299$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1300test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1301
1302$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1303youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1304
1305$ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1306youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1307
1308# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1309$ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1310
1311# Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1312$ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1313
1314# Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1315$ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1316
1317# Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1318$ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1319
1320# Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1321$ 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"
1322
1323# Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1324$ 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"
1325
1326# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1327# and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1328$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1329
1330# Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1331$ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1332
1333# Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1334$ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1335```
1336
1337# FORMAT SELECTION
1338
1339By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1340This 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`.
1341
1342**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.
1343
1344The 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.
1345
1346<!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1347**tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1348<!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1349
1350The 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.
1351
1352You 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.
1353
1354You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1355
1356You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1357
1358 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1359 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1360 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1361 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1362 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1363 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1364 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1365 - `ba*`, `bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `best*[acodec!=none]`
1366 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1367 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1368 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
1369 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1370 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
1371 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
1372
1373For 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.
1374
1375You 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.
1376
1377If 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.
1378
1379If 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`.
1380
1381You 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.
1382
1383**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
1384
1385Unless `--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`.
1386
1387## Filtering Formats
1388
1389You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1390
1391The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1392
1393 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1394 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1395 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1396 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1397 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1398 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1399 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1400 - `fps`: Frame rate
1401
1402Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1403
1404 - `ext`: File extension
1405 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1406 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1407 - `container`: Name of the container format
1408 - `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`)
1409 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1410 - `language`: Language code
1411
1412Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-`.
1413
1414Note 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.
1415
1416Formats 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.
1417
1418Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
1419
1420## Sorting Formats
1421
1422You can change the criteria for being considered the `best` by using `-S` (`--format-sort`). The general format for this is `--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1423
1424The available fields are:
1425
1426 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1427 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1428 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1429 - `lang`: The language preference
1430 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1431 - `source`: The preference of the source
1432 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1433 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1434 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
1435 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
1436 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1437 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1438 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
1439 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1440 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1441 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1442 - `height`: Height of video
1443 - `width`: Width of video
1444 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1445 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1446 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
1447 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1448 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1449 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1450 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1451 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1452
1453**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.
1454
1455All 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.
1456
1457The 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.
1458
1459Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1460
1461If 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`.
1462
1463**Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1464
1465## Format Selection examples
1466
1467```bash
1468# Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1469# or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1470$ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1471
1472# Download best format that contains video,
1473# and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1474$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1475
1476# Same as above
1477$ yt-dlp
1478
1479# Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1480# For this case, an output template should be used since
1481# by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1482$ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1483
1484# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1485# and all audio-only formats into one file
1486$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1487
1488# Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1489# and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1490$ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1491
1492
1493# The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1494# and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1495
1496# Download the worst video available (old method)
1497$ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1498
1499# Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1500$ yt-dlp -S "+res"
1501
1502# Download the smallest video available
1503$ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1504
1505
1506
1507# Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1508$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1509
1510# Download the best video with the best extension
1511# (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1512$ yt-dlp -S "ext"
1513
1514
1515
1516# Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1517# or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1518$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1519
1520# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1521# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1522$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1523
1524# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1525# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1526# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1527# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1528$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1529
1530
1531
1532# Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1533# or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1534$ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1535
1536# Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1537# or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1538$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1539
1540# Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1541$ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1542
1543
1544
1545# Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1546# or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1547$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1548
1549# Download best video available via the best protocol
1550# (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1551$ yt-dlp -S "proto"
1552
1553
1554
1555# Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1556# or the best video if there is no such video
1557$ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1558
1559# Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1560# or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1561$ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1562
1563# Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1564# or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1565$ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1566
1567
1568
1569# More complex examples
1570
1571# Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1572# or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1573$ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1574
1575# Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1576# or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1577# preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1578$ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1579
1580
1581
1582# Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1583# or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1584# preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1585$ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1586```
1587
1588# MODIFYING METADATA
1589
1590The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1591
1592`--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.
1593
1594The 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.
1595
1596Note 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`.
1597
1598This option also has a few special uses:
1599* 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
1600* You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
1601
1602For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1603
1604Metadata fields|From
1605:---|:---
1606`title`|`track` or `title`
1607`date`|`upload_date`
1608`description`, `synopsis`|`description`
1609`purl`, `comment`|`webpage_url`
1610`track`|`track_number`
1611`artist`|`artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1612`genre`|`genre`
1613`album`|`album`
1614`album_artist`|`album_artist`
1615`disc`|`disc_number`
1616`show`|`series`
1617`season_number`|`season_number`
1618`episode_id`|`episode` or `episode_id`
1619`episode_sort`|`episode_number`
1620`language` of each stream|From the format's `language`
1621**Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1622
1623
1624## Modifying metadata examples
1625
1626```bash
1627# Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1628$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1629
1630# Regex example
1631$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1632
1633# Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1634$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1635
1636# Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
1637$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
1638
1639# Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1640$ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1641
1642# Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1643$ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1644
1645```
1646
1647# EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1648
1649Some 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"`
1650
1651The following extractors use this feature:
1652
1653#### youtube
1654* `skip`: `hls` or `dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1655* `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.
1656* `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
1657* `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
1658* `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1659* `max_comments`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread`. Default is `all,all,all,all`.
1660 * 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.
1661* `max_comment_depth` Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths 1 or 2 (default)
1662 * **Deprecated**: Set `max-replies` to `0` or `all` in `max_comments` instead (e.g. `max_comments=all,all,0` to get no replies)
1663
1664#### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1665* `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)
1666* `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1667
1668#### funimation
1669* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1670* `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1671
1672#### crunchyroll
1673* `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1674* `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1675
1676#### crunchyroll:beta
1677* `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1678 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1679* `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1680
1681#### vikichannel
1682* `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1683
1684#### youtubewebarchive
1685* `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1686
1687#### gamejolt
1688* `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1689
1690#### hotstar
1691* `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1692* `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1693* `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1694
1695#### tiktok
1696* `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1697* `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1698
1699#### rokfinchannel
1700* `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1701
1702
1703NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1704
1705<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1706
1707
1708# PLUGINS
1709
1710Plugins 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
1711
1712Plugins 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`.
1713
1714See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1715
1716Note 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
1717
1718If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1719
1720
1721
1722# EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1723
1724yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1725
1726Your 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.
1727
1728From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1729
1730```python
1731from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1732
1733ydl_opts = {'format': 'bestaudio'}
1734with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1735 ydl.download(['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'])
1736```
1737
1738Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L191).
1739
1740Here's a more complete example demonstrating various functionality:
1741
1742```python
1743import json
1744import yt_dlp
1745
1746
1747class MyLogger:
1748 def debug(self, msg):
1749 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1750 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1751 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1752 pass
1753 else:
1754 self.info(msg)
1755
1756 def info(self, msg):
1757 pass
1758
1759 def warning(self, msg):
1760 pass
1761
1762 def error(self, msg):
1763 print(msg)
1764
1765
1766# ℹ️ See the docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor
1767class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1768 # ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.postprocessor.common.PostProcessor.run
1769 def run(self, info):
1770 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1771 return [], info
1772
1773
1774# ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in the docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL
1775def my_hook(d):
1776 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1777 print('Done downloading, now converting ...')
1778
1779
1780def format_selector(ctx):
1781 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1782 This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1783
1784 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1785 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1786
1787 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1788 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1789 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1790
1791 # find compatible audio extension
1792 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1793 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1794 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1795 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1796
1797 yield {
1798 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1799 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1800 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1801 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1802 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1803 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1804 }
1805
1806
1807# ℹ️ See docstring of yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for a description of the options
1808ydl_opts = {
1809 'format': format_selector,
1810 'postprocessors': [{
1811 # Embed metadata in video using ffmpeg.
1812 # ℹ️ See yt_dlp.postprocessor.FFmpegMetadataPP for the arguments it accepts
1813 'key': 'FFmpegMetadata',
1814 'add_chapters': True,
1815 'add_metadata': True,
1816 }],
1817 'logger': MyLogger(),
1818 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1819}
1820
1821
1822# Add custom headers
1823yt_dlp.utils.std_headers.update({'Referer': 'https://www.google.com'})
1824
1825# ℹ️ See the public functions in yt_dlp.YoutubeDL for for other available functions.
1826# Eg: "ydl.download", "ydl.download_with_info_file"
1827with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1828 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1829 info = ydl.extract_info('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc')
1830
1831 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1832 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1833```
1834
1835**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
1836
1837
1838<!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1839
1840# DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1841
1842These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1843
1844#### Almost redundant options
1845While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1846
1847 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1848 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1849 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1850 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1851
1852#### Redundant options
1853While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1854
1855 --get-description --print description
1856 --get-duration --print duration_string
1857 --get-filename --print filename
1858 --get-format --print format
1859 --get-id --print id
1860 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1861 -e, --get-title --print title
1862 -g, --get-url --print urls
1863 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1864 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1865 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1866 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1867 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1868 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
1869
1870
1871#### Not recommended
1872While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1873
1874 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1875 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
1876 --all-formats -f all
1877 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1878 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1879 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
1880 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1881 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1882 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1883 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1884 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1885 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1886 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1887 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1888 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1889 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1890 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1891
1892
1893#### Developer options
1894These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1895
1896 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
1897 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
1898 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1899 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
1900
1901
1902#### Old aliases
1903These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1904
1905 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1906 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
1907 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1908 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1909 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1910 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1911 --load-info --load-info-json
1912 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
1913 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1914 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1915 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1916 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1917 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1918 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1919 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1920 --write-srt --write-subs
1921 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1922
1923#### Sponskrub Options
1924Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
1925
1926 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1927 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1928 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1929 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1930 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1931 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1932 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1933 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1934
1935#### No longer supported
1936These options may no longer work as intended
1937
1938 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1939 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1940 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1941 --no-call-home Default
1942 --include-ads No longer supported
1943 --no-include-ads Default
1944 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1945 --no-write-annotations Default
1946
1947#### Removed
1948These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
1949
1950 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1951 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1952 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1953
1954# CONTRIBUTING
1955See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
1956
1957# MORE
1958For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)