README.md

   1 # youtube-dl
   2
   3 ## USAGE
   4 youtube-dl [options] url [url...]
   5
   6 ## DESCRIPTION
   7 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
   8 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
   9 2.x (x being at least 5), and it is not platform specific. It should work in
  10 your Unix box, in Windows or in Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
  11 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
  12
  13 ## OPTIONS
  14     -h, --help               print this help text and exit
  15     -v, --version            print program version and exit
  16     -U, --update             update this program to latest version
  17     -i, --ignore-errors      continue on download errors
  18     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT   download rate limit (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
  19     -R, --retries RETRIES    number of retries (default is 10)
  20     --dump-user-agent        display the current browser identification
  21
  22 ### Video Selection:
  23     --playlist-start NUMBER  playlist video to start at (default is 1)
  24     --playlist-end NUMBER    playlist video to end at (default is last)
  25     --match-title REGEX      download only matching titles (regex or caseless
  26                              sub-string)
  27     --reject-title REGEX     skip download for matching titles (regex or
  28                              caseless sub-string)
  29
  30 ### Filesystem Options:
  31     -t, --title              use title in file name
  32     -l, --literal            use literal title in file name
  33     -A, --auto-number        number downloaded files starting from 00000
  34     -o, --output TEMPLATE    output filename template
  35     -a, --batch-file FILE    file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
  36     -w, --no-overwrites      do not overwrite files
  37     -c, --continue           resume partially downloaded files
  38     --cookies FILE           file to dump cookie jar to
  39     --no-part                do not use .part files
  40     --no-mtime               do not use the Last-modified header to set the file
  41                              modification time
  42     --write-description      write video description to a .description file
  43     --write-info-json        write video metadata to a .info.json file
  44
  45 ### Verbosity / Simulation Options:
  46     -q, --quiet              activates quiet mode
  47     -s, --simulate           do not download video
  48     -g, --get-url            simulate, quiet but print URL
  49     -e, --get-title          simulate, quiet but print title
  50     --get-thumbnail          simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
  51     --get-description        simulate, quiet but print video description
  52     --get-filename           simulate, quiet but print output filename
  53     --no-progress            do not print progress bar
  54     --console-title          display progress in console titlebar
  55
  56 ### Video Format Options:
  57     -f, --format FORMAT      video format code
  58     --all-formats            download all available video formats
  59     --max-quality FORMAT     highest quality format to download
  60
  61 ### Authentication Options:
  62     -u, --username USERNAME  account username
  63     -p, --password PASSWORD  account password
  64     -n, --netrc              use .netrc authentication data
  65
  66 ### Post-processing Options:
  67     --extract-audio          convert video files to audio-only files (requires
  68                              ffmpeg and ffprobe)
  69     --audio-format FORMAT    "best", "aac" or "mp3"; best by default
  70
  71 ## FAQ
  72
  73 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
  74
  75 Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the -b option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you''re interested in. In that case, simply request it with the -f option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
  76
  77 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
  78
  79 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We''re [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
  80
  81 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
  82
  83 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
  84
  85 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
  86
  87 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file.
  88
  89 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
  90
  91 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
  92
  93 ## COPYRIGHT
  94
  95 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
  96
  97 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
  98
  99 ## BUGS
 100
 101 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
 102
 103 Please include:
 104
 105 * Your exact command line, like `youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the `&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
 106 * The output of `youtube-dl --version`
 107 * The output of `python --version`
 108 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu 11.04 x64" or "Windows 7 x64" is usually enough).