3 [](#readme)
5 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
6 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
7 [](LICENSE)
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators)
9 [](supportedsites.md)
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
11 []
(https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
12 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
15 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
19 yt-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
21 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
22 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
23 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
27 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
28 * [General Options](#general-options)
29 * [Network Options](#network-options)
30 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
31 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
32 * [Download Options](#download-options)
33 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
34 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
35 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
36 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
37 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
38 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
39 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
40 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
41 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
42 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
43 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
44 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
45 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
46 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
47 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
48 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
49 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
51 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
52 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
53 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
54 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
55 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
57 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
63 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
65 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
67 * **[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))
69 * **Merged with youtube-dl
[commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06
.06) You get all the latest features and patches of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
71 * **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.
73 * **Youtube improvements**:
74 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
75 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
76 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
77 * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
78 * Partial workaround for throttling issue
79 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
80 * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
81 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded (
[except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
83 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
85 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
87 * **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
89 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
91 * **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ, BannedVideo, bilibili categories, Epicon, filmmodu, GabTV, HungamaAlbum, ManotoTV, Niconico search, Patreon User, peloton, ProjectVeritas, radiko, StarTV, tiktok user, Tokentube, voicy, TV2HuSeries
93 * **Fixed/improved extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll playlist, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds, SAML Verizon login, Hungama, afreecatv, aljazeera, ATV, bitchute, camtube, CDA, eroprofile, facebook, HearThisAtIE, iwara, kakao, Motherless, Nova, peertube, pornhub, reddit, tiktok, TV2, TV2Hu, tv5mondeplus, VH1, Viafree, XHamster
95 * **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
97 * **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`)
99 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
101 * **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`
103 * **Other new options**:
`--print`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
105 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
107 * **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
109 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
112 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
115 **PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
117 If you are coming from
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare
[options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
119 ### Differences in default behavior
121 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
123 * The options
`--id`,
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
124 * `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
125 * 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`
126 * 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
127 * The default format selector is
`bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be prefered. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
128 * 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
129 * `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
130 * 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
131 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-infojson`. Use
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
132 * `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
133 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
134 * 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
135 * 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
136 * Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to
`/video`. Append a
`/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent
`UU` playlist instead. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
137 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
138 * 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
139 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
140 * 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
141 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the seperate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this.
143 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
144 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
145 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
146 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
150 yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
152 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
153 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
154 * With Homebrew,
`brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
155 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp):
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
156 * Use pip+git:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
157 * Install master branch:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
159 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
161 UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
164 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
165 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
169 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
170 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
174 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
175 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178 macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew (formerly known as Linuxbrew for Linux users) can also install it by:
181 brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
185 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
186 If you are using
`pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
187 If you have installed using Homebrew, run
`brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
190 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
192 <!-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 -->
193 On 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.
195 While all the other dependancies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
196 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
197 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
198 * [**pycryptodome**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting various data. Licenced under
[BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
199 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
200 * [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licenced under
[MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
201 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
202 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
203 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
204 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
205 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated**
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licenced under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
206 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
208 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
210 Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodome and websockets included.
215 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodome, websockets)
217 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome websockets
219 Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run
`py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
221 You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
223 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
225 Note 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
228 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
229 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
231 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
235 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
237 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
238 <!-- Auto generated -->
241 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
242 --version Print program version and exit
243 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
244 sure that you have sufficient permissions
245 (run with sudo if needed)
246 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
247 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
248 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
249 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
250 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
251 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
252 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
253 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
255 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
257 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
258 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
259 from google videos for the search term
260 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
261 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
262 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
263 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
264 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
265 this is not possible instead of searching
266 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
267 except the one provided by --config-location.
268 When given inside a configuration
269 file, no further configuration files are
270 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
271 compatibility) if this option is found
272 inside the system configuration file, the
273 user configuration is not loaded
274 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
275 either the path to the config or its
277 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
279 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
280 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
281 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
282 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
283 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
284 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
285 configurations by reverting some of the
286 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
287 default behavior" for details
290 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
291 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
293 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
294 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
295 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
296 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
297 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
298 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
301 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
302 some geo-restricted sites. The default
303 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
304 option is not present) is used for the
306 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
307 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
308 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
309 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
310 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
311 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
313 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
314 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
318 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
319 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
320 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
321 indices of the videos in the playlist
322 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
323 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
324 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
325 specify range: "--playlist-items
326 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
327 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
328 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
329 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
330 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
331 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
333 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
334 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
335 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
336 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
337 this date. The date formats accepted is the
339 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
340 this date. The date formats accepted is the
342 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
343 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
344 number or a string using the operators
345 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
346 also simply specify a field to match if the
347 field is present and "!field" to check if
348 the field is not present. In addition,
349 Python style regular expression matching
350 can be done using "~=", and multiple
351 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "
\"
352 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
353 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?
100
354 & description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'"
355 matches only videos that are not live, has
356 a like count more than
100 (or the like
357 field is not available), and also has a
358 description that contains the phrase "cats
359 & dogs" (ignoring case)
360 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
361 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
362 to a video and a playlist
363 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
364 a video and a playlist
365 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
367 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
368 archive file. Record the IDs of all
369 downloaded videos in it
370 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
371 a file that is in the archive
372 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
373 a file that has been filtered out
374 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
375 of the playlist is skipped
376 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
379 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
380 video that should be download concurrently
382 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
384 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
385 below which throttling is assumed and the
386 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
387 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
389 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
390 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
392 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
393 hlsnative and ISM (default)
394 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
395 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
396 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
397 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
398 downloading is finished
399 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
400 downloading is finished (default)
401 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
403 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
404 from an initial value of --buffer-size
406 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
407 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
408 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
409 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
410 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
412 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
413 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
415 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
416 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
418 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
419 allowing some players to play the video
420 while downloading, and reducing the chance
421 of file corruption if download is
422 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
424 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
425 videos. This is default when not
426 downloading live streams
427 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
428 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
429 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
430 use it for. Currently supports native,
431 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
432 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
433 this option multiple times to set different
434 downloaders for different protocols. For
435 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
436 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
437 http/ftp downloads, and the native
438 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
439 (Alias: --external-downloader)
440 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
441 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
442 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
443 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
444 different positions using the same syntax
445 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
446 option multiple times to give different
447 arguments to different downloaders
448 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
450 ## Filesystem Options:
451 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
452 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
453 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
455 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
456 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
457 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
458 same types as --output are supported.
459 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
460 (default) and "temp" paths. All
461 intermediary files are first downloaded to
462 the temp path and then the final files are
463 moved over to the home path after download
464 is finished. This option is ignored if
465 --output is an absolute path
466 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
467 TEMPLATE" for details
468 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
469 fields in output filename template
471 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
472 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
474 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
476 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
477 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
478 using windows (default)
479 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
480 extension) to the specified number of
482 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
483 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
484 This option includes --no-continue
485 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
486 related files (default)
487 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
489 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
490 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
491 restart download of the entire file
492 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
493 into output file (default)
494 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
496 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
497 file modification time (default)
498 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
499 the file modification time
500 --write-description Write video description to a .description
502 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
503 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
504 (this may contain personal information)
505 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
506 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
507 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
508 --write-description etc. (default)
509 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
510 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
511 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
512 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
513 could still contain some personal
514 information (default)
515 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
516 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
517 infojson. The comments are fetched even
518 without this option if the extraction is
519 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
520 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
521 extraction is known to be quick
522 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
523 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
524 (created with the "--write-info-json"
526 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
528 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
530 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
531 Load cookies from a user profile of the
532 given web browser. Currently supported
533 browsers are: brave|chrome|chromium|edge|fi
534 refox|opera|safari|vivaldi. You can specify
535 the user profile name or directory using
536 "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
537 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
538 given, the most recently accessed one is
540 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
541 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
542 can store some downloaded information (such
543 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
544 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
546 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
547 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
549 ## Thumbnail Options:
550 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
551 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
553 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
554 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
555 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
557 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
558 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
559 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
560 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
561 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
562 OS caches the URL based on the file path
563 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
564 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
566 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
567 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
568 --verbose, print the log to stderr
569 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
570 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
572 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
574 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
575 for extracting metadata even if the videos
576 are not actually available for download
578 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
579 formats are found (default)
580 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
581 related files (Alias: --no-download)
582 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
583 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
584 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
585 the output template can be used
586 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
587 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
588 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
589 description of available keys
590 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
591 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
592 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
593 a playlist, the whole playlist information
594 is dumped in a single line
595 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
596 written as far as no errors occur, even if
597 -s or another simulation option is used
598 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
599 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
600 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
601 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
602 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
603 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
604 to debug problems (very verbose)
605 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
606 files in the current directory to debug
608 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
611 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
612 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
613 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
614 information about the video (Currently
615 supported only for YouTube)
616 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
617 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
618 access is restricted to one domain
619 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
620 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
621 option multiple times
622 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
623 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
624 or fribidi executable in PATH
625 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
626 during data extraction
627 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
628 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
629 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
630 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
631 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
632 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
633 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
636 ## Video Format Options:
637 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
639 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
640 "Sorting Formats" for more details
641 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
642 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
643 Formats" for more details
644 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
645 specified sort order (default), see
646 "Sorting Formats" for more details
647 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
649 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
650 each output file (default)
651 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
653 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
654 each output file (default)
655 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
656 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
657 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
658 containers irrespective of quality
659 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
661 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
662 actually downloadable
663 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats selected are
664 actually downloadable
665 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
666 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
667 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
668 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
669 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
670 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
673 --write-subs Write subtitle file
674 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
675 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
676 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
677 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
678 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
679 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
680 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
681 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
682 preference, for example: "srt" or
684 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
685 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
686 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
687 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
688 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
689 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
690 list of available language tags
692 ## Authentication Options:
693 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
694 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
695 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
696 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
697 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
698 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
699 either the path or its containing
700 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
701 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
702 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
703 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
704 a list of available MSOs
705 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
706 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
707 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
709 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
712 ## Post-Processing Options:
713 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
714 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
715 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
716 to when -x is used. Currently supported
717 formats are: best (default) or one of
718 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
719 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
720 value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for
721 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
723 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
724 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
725 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
726 target container does not support the
727 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
728 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
729 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
730 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
731 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
732 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
733 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
734 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
735 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
736 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
737 to give the argument to the specified
738 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
739 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
740 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
741 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
742 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
743 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
744 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
745 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
746 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
747 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
748 specified executable only when being used
749 by the specified postprocessor.
750 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
751 can be appended to the prefix optionally
752 followed by a number to pass the argument
753 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
754 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
755 use this option multiple times to give
756 different arguments to different
757 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
758 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
759 after post-processing
760 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
761 post-processing (default)
762 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
763 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
764 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
766 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
767 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
768 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
769 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also adds
770 chapters to file unless --no-add-chapters
771 is used (Alias: --add-metadata)
772 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
773 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
774 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
775 (Alias: --add-chapters)
776 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
777 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
778 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
779 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
781 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
782 Replace text in a metadata field using the
783 given regex. This option can be used
785 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
786 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
787 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
788 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
789 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
790 default; fix file if we can, warn
791 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
793 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
794 path to the binary or its containing
796 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
797 downloading and post-processing. Same
798 syntax as the output template can be used
799 to pass any field as arguments to the
800 command. An additional field "filepath"
801 that contains the final path of the
802 downloaded file is also available. If no
803 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
804 to the end of the command. This option can
805 be used multiple times
806 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
807 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
808 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
809 but "filepath" is not available. This
810 option can be used multiple times
811 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
812 --exec-before-download
813 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
814 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
815 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
816 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
817 (currently supported: jpg|png)
818 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
819 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
820 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
821 to set the output filename for the split
822 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
823 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
825 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
826 given regular expression. This option can
827 be used multiple times
828 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
830 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
831 removing/splitting them. Requires a
832 reencode and thus is very slow, but the
833 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
835 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
836 when cutting/splitting (default)
838 ## SponsorBlock Options:
839 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
840 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
841 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
843 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
844 for, separated by commas. Available
845 categories are all, sponsor, intro, outro,
846 selfpromo, interaction, preview,
847 music_offtopic. You can prefix the category
848 with a "-" to exempt it. See
849 https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/index.php/Segment_Categories
850 for description of the categories. Eg:
851 --sponsorblock-query all,-preview
852 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
853 the video file, separated by commas. If a
854 category is present in both mark and
855 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
856 and available categories are the same as
857 for --sponsorblock-mark
858 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
859 The title template for SponsorBlock
860 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
861 The same syntax as the output template is
862 used, but the only available fields are
863 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
864 name, category_names. Defaults to
865 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
866 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
867 --sponsorblock-remove
868 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
869 https://sponsor.ajay.app
871 ## Extractor Options:
872 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
873 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
874 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
875 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
876 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
877 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
878 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
879 discontinuities such as ad breaks
880 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
881 formats at discontinuities such as ad
883 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
884 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
885 use this option multiple times to give
886 arguments for different extractors
890 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
892 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
893 1. **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.
894 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
895 1. **User Configuration**:
896 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
897 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
898 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
899 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
901 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
903 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined. On windows,
`~` points to %HOME% if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`) or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`.
904 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
906 For 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:
908 # Lines starting with # are comments
910 # Always extract audio
913 # Do not copy the mtime
917 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
919 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
920 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
923 Note 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`.
925 You 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 user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
927 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
929 You 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:
932 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
934 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
936 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
940 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
941 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
943 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
945 The default location of the .netrc file is
`$HOME` (
`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`) or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
949 The
`-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.
951 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
953 The 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).
955 It 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/2/library/stdtypes.html#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.
957 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
958 1. **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
959 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. Eg:
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
960 1. **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`
961 1. **Default**: A default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` seperator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
962 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q` can be used for converting to **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist and a string **q**uoted for the terminal respectively
964 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
966 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
969 Additionally, 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`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`. For example,
`-o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' -o 'thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s'` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video.
971 The available fields are:
973 - `id` (string): Video identifier
974 - `title` (string): Video title
975 - `url` (string): Video URL
976 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
977 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
978 - `description` (string): The description of the video
979 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
980 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
981 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
982 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
983 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
984 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
985 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
986 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
987 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
988 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
989 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
990 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
991 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
992 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
993 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
994 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
995 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
996 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
997 - `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)
998 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
999 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
1000 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1001 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1002 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1003 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
1004 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1005 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1006 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1007 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
1008 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1009 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1010 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1011 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1012 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1013 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1014 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1015 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1016 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1017 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1018 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1019 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1020 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1021 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1022 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1023 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1024 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1025 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1026 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1027 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
1028 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1029 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1030 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1031 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1032 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1033 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1034 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1036 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1038 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1039 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1040 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1042 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1044 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1045 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1046 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1047 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1048 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1049 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1050 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1052 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1054 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1055 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1056 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1057 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1058 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1059 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1060 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1061 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1062 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1063 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1065 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1067 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1068 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1069 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1070 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1072 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1074 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1075 - `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
1077 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1079 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1080 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1081 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1082 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1083 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1084 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1086 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note 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).
1088 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.
1090 For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1092 Output 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.
1094 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1096 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1098 In 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:
1100 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1102 If 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"`.
1104 #### Output template examples
1106 Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
1109 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1110 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
1112 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1113 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
1115 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1116 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1118 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1119 $ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1121 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1122 $ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1124 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1125 $ 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/
1127 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1128 $ 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
1130 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1131 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1136 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1137 This 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`.
1139 The 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.
1141 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1143 The 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.
1145 You 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.
1147 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1149 - `all`: Select all formats
1150 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1151 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1152 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1153 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1154 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1155 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1156 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
1157 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1158 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1159 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1160 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
1161 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
1162 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
1164 For 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.
1166 You 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.
1168 If 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.
1170 If 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`.
1172 You 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. Unless
`--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`.
1174 ## Filtering Formats
1176 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1178 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
1180 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1181 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1182 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1183 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1184 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1185 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1186 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1189 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1191 - `ext`: File extension
1192 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1193 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1194 - `container`: Name of the container format
1195 - `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`)
1196 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1197 - `language`: Language code
1199 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
1201 Note 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.
1203 Formats 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.
1205 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than
480 you can use
`-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
1209 You can change the criteria for being considered the
`best` by using
`-S` (
`--format-sort`). The general format for this is
`--format-sort field1,field2...`.
1211 The available fields are:
1213 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1214 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1215 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1216 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
1217 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
1218 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
1219 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8_native`/
`m3u8` >
`http_dash_segments`>
`websocket_frag` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
1220 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9.2` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
1221 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
1222 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
1223 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
1224 - `aext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
1225 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
1226 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
1227 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1228 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1229 - `height`: Height of video
1230 - `width`: Width of video
1231 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1232 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1233 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1234 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1235 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1236 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
1237 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1239 All 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.
1241 The 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
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`lang,quality,res,fps,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.
1243 Note that the default has
`codec:vp9.2`; i.e.
`av1` is not prefered
1245 If 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`.
1247 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1249 ## Format Selection examples
1251 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1254 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1255 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1256 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
1258 # Download best format that contains video,
1259 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1260 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
1265 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1266 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1267 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1268 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1270 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1271 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1272 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1274 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1275 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1276 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
1279 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1280 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1282 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1283 $ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
1285 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1288 # Download the smallest video available
1289 $ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
1293 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1294 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1296 # Download the best video with the best extension
1297 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1302 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1303 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1304 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1306 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1307 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1308 $ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
1310 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1311 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1312 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1313 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1314 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
1318 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1319 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1320 $ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1322 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1323 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1324 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1326 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1327 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1331 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1332 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1333 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1335 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1336 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1341 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1342 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1344 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1345 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1346 $ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
1348 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1349 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1350 $ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
1354 # More complex examples
1356 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1357 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1358 $ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1360 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1361 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1362 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1363 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
1367 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1368 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1369 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1370 $ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1373 # MODIFYING METADATA
1375 The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
1377 `--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.
1379 The 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.
1381 Note 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`.
1383 This option also has a few special uses:
1384 * 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
1385 * 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"
1387 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1389 Metadata fields|From
1391 `title`|
`track` or
`title`
1392 `date`|
`upload_date`
1393 `description`,
`synopsis`|
`description`
1394 `purl`,
`comment`|
`webpage_url`
1395 `track`|
`track_number`
1396 `artist`|
`artist`,
`creator`,
`uploader` or
`uploader_id`
1399 `album_artist`|
`album_artist`
1400 `disc`|
`disc_number`
1402 `season_number`|
`season_number`
1403 `episode_id`|
`episode` or
`episode_id`
1404 `episode_sort`|
`episode_number`
1405 `language` of each stream|From the format's
`language`
1406 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1409 ## Modifying metadata examples
1411 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1414 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1415 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
1418 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
1420 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1421 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
1423 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
1424 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
1426 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1427 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1431 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1433 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using
`--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`.
`ARGS` is a
`;` (semicolon) seperated string of
`ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg:
`--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1435 The following extractors use this feature:
1437 * `skip`:
`hls` or
`dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1438 * `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
1439 * `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
1440 * `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
1441 * `comment_sort`:
`top` or
`new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side).
1442 * `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all).
1443 * `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths
1 or
2 (default).
1446 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg:
`funimation:language=english,japanese`
1447 * `version`: The video version to extract -
`uncut` or
`simulcast`
1450 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of
`episodes`,
`movies`,
`clips`,
`trailers`
1452 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1457 Plugins are loaded from
`<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only
`extractor` plugins are supported. Support for
`downloader` and
`postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
1459 **Note**:
`<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`)
1461 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1463 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1465 #### Redundant options
1466 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1468 --get-description --print description
1469 --get-duration --print duration_string
1470 --get-filename --print filename
1471 --get-format --print format
1473 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1474 -e, --get-title --print title
1475 -g, --get-url --print urls
1476 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1477 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1478 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1479 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1480 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1483 #### Not recommended
1484 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1486 --all-formats -f all
1487 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1488 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1489 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)
03d
1490 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1491 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1492 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1493 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1494 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1495 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1496 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1497 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1498 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1499 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1502 #### Developer options
1503 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1505 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
1506 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
1507 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1508 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
1512 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1514 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1515 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1516 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1517 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1518 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1519 --load-info --load-info-json
1520 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1521 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1522 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1523 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1524 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1525 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1526 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1527 --write-srt --write-subs
1528 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1530 #### Sponskrub Options
1531 Support for
[SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of
`--sponsorblock`
1533 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
1534 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
1535 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
1536 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
1537 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
1538 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
1539 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
1540 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
1542 #### No longer supported
1543 These options may no longer work as intended
1545 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1546 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1547 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1548 --no-call-home Default
1549 --include-ads No longer supported
1550 --no-include-ads Default
1551 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1552 --no-write-annotations Default
1555 These options were deprecated since
2014 and have now been entirely removed
1557 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1558 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1559 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1560 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1564 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob