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(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/releases/latest)
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(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/blob/master/LICENSE)
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6 youtube-dlc - download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
8 This is a fork of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) which is inturn a fork of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
10 * [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DLC](#changes)
11 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
14 * [YOUTUBE-DLC](#youtube-dlc)
15 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
17 * [Network Options](#network-options)
18 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
19 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
20 * [Download Options](#download-options)
21 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
22 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
23 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
24 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
25 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
26 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
27 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
28 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
29 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
30 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
31 * [SponSkrub Options (SponsorBlock)](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock)
32 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
33 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
34 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
35 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
36 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
37 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
38 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
39 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
40 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
41 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
42 * [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection-
1)
47 See
[commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/commits) for more details
50 * **Format Sort:** Added
`--format-sort` (
`-S`),
`--format-sort-force` (
`--S-force`) - See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for details
51 * **Format Selection:** See [Format Selection](#format-selection) for details
52 * New format selectors:
`best*`,
`worst*`,
`bestvideo*`,
`bestaudio*`,
`worstvideo*`,
`worstaudio*`
53 * Changed video format sorting to show video only files and video+audio files together.
54 * Added
`--video-multistreams`,
`--no-video-multistreams`,
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--no-audio-multistreams`
55 * Added
`b`,
`w`,
`v`,
`a` as alias for
`best`,
`worst`,
`video` and
`audio` respectively
56 * **Shortcut Options:** Added
`--write-link`,
`--write-url-link`,
`--write-webloc-link`,
`--write-desktop-link` by @h-h-h-h - See [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options) for details
57 * **Sponskrub integration:** Added
`--sponskrub`,
`--sponskrub-cut`,
`--sponskrub-force`,
`--sponskrub-location`,
`--sponskrub-args` - See [SponSkrub Options](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock) for details
58 * Added
`--force-download-archive` (
`--force-write-archive`) by by h-h-h-h
59 * Added
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--list-formats-old`
60 * **Negative Options:** Makes it possible to negate boolean options by adding a
`no-` to the switch
61 * Added
`--no-ignore-dynamic-mpd`,
`--no-allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest`,
`--no-download`,
`--no-download-archive`,
`--resize-buffer`,
`--part`,
`--mtime`,
`--no-keep-fragments`,
`--no-cookies`,
`--no-write-annotations`,
`--no-write-info-json`,
`--no-write-description`,
`--no-write-thumbnail`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--post-overwrites`,
`--no-keep-video`,
`--no-embed-subs`,
`--no-embed-thumbnail`,
`--no-add-metadata`,
`--no-include-ads`,
`--no-write-sub`,
`--no-write-auto-sub`,
`--no-playlist-reverse`,
`--no-restrict-filenames`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--no-format-sort-force`,
`--flat-videos`,
`--no-list-formats-as-table`,
`--no-sponskrub`,
`--no-sponskrub-cut`,
`--no-sponskrub-force`
62 * Renamed:
`--write-subs`,
`--no-write-subs`,
`--no-write-auto-subs`,
`--write-auto-subs`. Note that these can still be used without the ending "s"
63 * Relaxed validation for format filters so that any arbitrary field can be used
64 * Fix for embedding thumbnail in mp3 by @pauldubois98
65 * Make Twitch Video ID output from Playlist and VOD extractor same. This is only a temporary fix
66 * **Merge youtube-dl:** Upto
[2020.01.03](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/8e953dcbb10a1a42f4e12e4e132657cb0100a1f8) - See
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc#280](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/pull/280) for details
67 * Cleaned up the fork for public use
70 * **Changed defaults:**
72 * Disabled
`--video-multistreams` and
`--audio-multistreams`
73 * Changed default format selection to
`bv*+ba/b` when
`--audio-multistreams` is disabled
74 * Changed default format sort order to
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`
75 * Changed
`webm` to be more preferable than
`flv` in format sorting
76 * Changed default output template to
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`
77 * Enabled
`--list-formats-as-table`
80 * Removed priority of
`av01` codec in
`-S` since most devices don't support it yet
81 * Added
`duration_string` to be used in
`--output`
82 * Created First Release
85 * [Akamai] fix by @nixxo
86 * [Tiktok] fix extractor by @GreyAlien502
87 * [vlive] add support for playlists by @kyuyeunk
88 * [youtube_live_chat] make sure playerOffsetMs is positive by @siikamiika
89 * Ignore extra data streams in ffmpeg by @jbruchon
90 * Allow passing different arguments to different postprocessors using
`--postprocessor-args`
91 * Deprecated
`--sponskrub-args`. The same can now be done using
`--postprocessor-args "sponskrub:<args>"`
96 To use the latest version, simply download and run the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/releases/latest).
97 Currently, there is no support for any package managers.
99 If you want to install the current master branch
101 python -m pip install git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc
104 **DO NOT UPDATE using
`-U` !** instead download binaries again
109 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
111 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
112 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
114 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
115 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
117 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
118 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
121 You will need the required build tools
122 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
123 Then simply type this
129 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.6,
2.7, or
3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
131 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
135 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
136 <!-- Autogenerated -->
139 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
140 --version Print program version and exit
141 -U, --update [BROKEN] Update this program to latest
142 version. Make sure that you have sufficient
143 permissions (run with sudo if needed)
144 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
145 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
146 (default) (Same as --no-abort-on-error)
147 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
148 error occurs (Same as --no-ignore-errors)
149 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
150 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
151 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
153 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
155 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
156 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
157 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
158 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
159 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
160 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
161 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
162 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
163 this is not possible instead of searching.
164 --ignore-config, --no-config Do not read configuration files. When given
165 in the global configuration file
166 /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
167 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
168 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
170 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
171 the path to the config or its containing
173 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
175 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
176 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
177 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
178 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
179 --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
182 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
183 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
185 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
186 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
187 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
188 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
189 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
190 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
193 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
194 some geo-restricted sites. The default
195 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
196 option is not present) is used for the
198 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
199 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
200 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
201 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
202 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
203 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
205 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
206 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
210 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
211 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
212 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
213 indices of the videos in the playlist
214 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
215 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
216 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
217 specify range: "--playlist-items
218 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
219 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13.
220 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
222 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
224 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
225 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
226 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
227 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
229 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
230 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
231 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
232 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
233 this date. The date formats accepted is the
235 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
236 this date. The date formats accepted is the
238 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
240 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
242 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
243 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of
244 available keys) to match if the key is
245 present, !key to check if the key is not
246 present, key > NUMBER (like "comment_count
247 > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
248 compare against a number, key = 'LITERAL'
249 (like "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works
250 with !=) to match against a string literal
251 and & to require multiple matches. Values
252 which are not known are excluded unless you
253 put a question mark (?) after the operator.
254 For example, to only match videos that have
255 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
256 less than
50 times (or the dislike
257 functionality is not available at the given
258 service), but who also have a description,
259 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
260 dislike_count <?
50 & description" .
261 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
262 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
263 to a video and a playlist.
264 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
265 a video and a playlist.
266 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
268 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
269 archive file. Record the IDs of all
270 downloaded videos in it.
271 --break-on-existing Stop the download process after attempting
272 to download a file that's in the archive.
273 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
274 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
276 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
279 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
281 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
283 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
284 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
286 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
287 hlsnative and ISM (default)
288 (Same as --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
289 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
290 (Same as --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
291 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
292 downloading is finished
293 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
294 downloading is finished (default)
295 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
297 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
298 from an initial value of --buffer-size
300 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
301 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
302 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
303 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
304 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
306 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
307 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
309 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
310 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
312 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
314 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
316 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
317 allowing to play the video while
318 downloading (some players may not be able
320 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
322 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
323 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
326 ## Filesystem Options:
327 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
328 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
329 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
330 comments and ignored.
331 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the "OUTPUT
332 TEMPLATE" for details
333 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
335 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
336 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
338 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
340 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
341 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
342 --no-continue Restart download of partially downloaded
344 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
345 into output file (default)
346 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
348 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
349 file modification time (default)
350 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
351 the file modification time
352 --write-description Write video description to a .description
354 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
355 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
356 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
357 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
358 .annotations.xml file
359 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
360 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
361 (created with the "--write-info-json"
363 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
365 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
366 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
367 can store some downloaded information
368 permanently. By default
369 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
370 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
371 YouTube player files (for videos with
372 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
374 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
375 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
376 --trim-file-name LENGTH Limit the filename length (extension
380 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
381 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
383 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
384 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
387 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
388 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending on
389 the current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop).
390 The URL may be cached by the OS.
391 --write-url-link Write a Windows .url internet shortcut file.
392 (The OS caches the URL based on the file path)
393 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut file
394 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut file
396 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
397 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
398 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
399 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
401 --skip-download Do not download the video
402 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
403 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
404 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
405 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
406 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
407 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
408 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
409 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
410 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
411 See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description
413 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
414 for each command-line argument. If the URL
415 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
416 playlist information in a single line.
417 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
418 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
419 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
420 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
421 another simulation switch is used.
422 (Same as --force-download-archive)
423 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
424 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
425 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
426 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
427 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
428 to debug problems (very verbose)
429 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
430 files in the current directory to debug
432 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
433 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dlc server for debugging
434 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
438 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
439 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
440 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
441 information about the video. (Currently
442 supported only for YouTube)
443 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
444 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
445 access is restricted to one domain
446 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
447 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
448 option multiple times
449 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
450 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
451 or fribidi executable in PATH
452 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
453 download when used alone or a lower bound
454 of a range for randomized sleep before each
455 download (minimum possible number of
456 seconds to sleep) when used along with
457 --max-sleep-interval.
458 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
459 before each download (maximum possible
460 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
461 used along with --min-sleep-interval.
462 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
464 ## Video Format Options:
465 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
467 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
468 "Sorting Formats" for more details
469 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
470 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
471 Formats" for more details
472 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
473 specified sort order (default), see
474 "Sorting Formats" for more details
475 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
477 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
478 each output file (default)
479 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
481 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
482 each output file (default)
483 --all-formats Download all available video formats
484 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
486 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
488 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in a more tabular
490 (Same as --no-list-formats-as-table)
491 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
492 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related data
493 on YouTube videos (default)
494 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
495 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
496 related data on YouTube videos
497 (Same as --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
498 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
499 on YouTube videos (default)
500 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
501 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
502 related data on YouTube videos
503 (Same as --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
504 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
505 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
506 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
507 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
510 --write-subs Write subtitle file
511 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
512 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
514 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
515 subtitle file (default)
516 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
518 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
519 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
520 preference, for example: "srt" or
522 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
523 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
524 subs for available language tags
526 ## Authentication Options:
527 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
528 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
529 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively.
530 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
531 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
532 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
534 ## Adobe Pass Options:
535 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
536 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
537 a list of available MSOs
538 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
539 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
540 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
541 will ask interactively.
542 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
545 ## Post-Processing Options:
546 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
547 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
549 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
550 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
551 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
553 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
554 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
555 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
557 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
558 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv).
559 If target container does not support the
560 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail
561 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
562 re-encoding is necessary (currently
563 supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
564 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
565 Specify the postprocessor name and the
566 arguments separated by a colon ':' to give
567 the argument to only the specified
568 postprocessor. Supported names are
569 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
570 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
571 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
572 SubtitlesConvertor, SponSkrub and Default.
573 You can use this option multiple times to
574 give different arguments to different
576 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
577 after post-processing
578 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
579 post-processing (default)
580 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
581 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
582 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
584 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
585 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
586 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
587 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
588 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
589 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
590 artist from the video title. The format
591 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
592 expression with named capture groups may
593 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
594 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
595 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
596 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
597 (regex): --metadata-from-title
598 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
599 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
600 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
601 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
602 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
603 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
604 default; fix file if we can, warn
606 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
607 postprocessors (Same as --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
608 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
609 postprocessors (default)
610 (Same as --no-prefer-avconv)
611 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
612 either the path to the binary or its
613 containing directory.
614 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
615 downloading and post-processing, similar to
616 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
617 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
618 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
619 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
621 ## [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) Options ([SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app)):
622 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections
623 with the data available in SponsorBlock
624 API. This is enabled by default if the
625 sponskrub binary exists (Youtube only)
626 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
627 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
629 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
631 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
633 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
634 video was already downloaded (default)
635 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
636 the path to the binary or its containing
638 --sponskrub-args None Give these arguments to sponskrub
640 ## Extractor Options:
641 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
642 (Same as --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
643 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
644 (Same as --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
648 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and macOS, the system wide configuration file is located at
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf` and the user wide configuration file at
`~/.config/youtube-dlc/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are
`%APPDATA%\youtube-dlc\config.txt` or
`C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dlc.conf`. Note that by default configuration file may not exist so you may need to create it yourself.
650 For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dlc will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`Movies` directory in your home directory:
652 # Lines starting with # are comments
654 # Always extract audio
657 # Do not copy the mtime
661 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
663 # Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
664 -o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
667 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`.
669 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
671 You can also use
`--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
673 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
675 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 youtube-dlc 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 your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
678 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
680 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
682 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
686 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
687 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
689 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
691 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
693 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
698 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
700 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
702 The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dlc -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"`. However, it may 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. Allowed names along with sequence type are:
704 - `id` (string): Video identifier
705 - `title` (string): Video title
706 - `url` (string): Video URL
707 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
708 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
709 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
710 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
711 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
712 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
713 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
714 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
715 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
716 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
717 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
718 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
719 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
720 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
721 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
722 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
723 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
724 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
725 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
726 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
727 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
728 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
729 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
730 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
731 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
732 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
733 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
734 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
735 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
736 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
737 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
738 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
739 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
740 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
741 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
742 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
743 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
744 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
745 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
746 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
747 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
748 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
749 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
750 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
751 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
752 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
753 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
754 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
755 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
756 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
757 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
758 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
760 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
762 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
763 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
764 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
766 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
768 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
769 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
770 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
771 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
772 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
773 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
774 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
776 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
778 - `track` (string): Title of the track
779 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
780 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
781 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
782 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
783 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
784 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
785 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
786 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
787 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
789 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
`NA`.
791 For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`youtube-dlc test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a
`youtube-dlc test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
793 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`.
795 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.
797 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
799 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
801 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:
803 #### Output template and Windows batch files
805 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"`.
807 #### Output template examples
809 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
812 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
813 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
815 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
816 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
818 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
819 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
821 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
822 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
824 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
825 $ youtube-dlc -u user -p password -o '~/MyVideos/%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
827 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
828 $ youtube-dlc -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
830 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
831 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
836 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
837 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 and avconv are unavailable, or if you use youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
839 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.
841 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
843 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.
845 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.
847 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
849 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
850 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
851 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
852 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
853 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
854 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
855 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
856 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
857 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
858 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
859 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
860 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
862 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use
`-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended to never actually 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.
864 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.
866 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`.
868 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using
`-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg or avconv installed), for example
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv. If
`--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if
`--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` 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`.
872 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
874 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
876 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
877 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
878 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
879 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
880 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
881 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
882 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
885 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
887 - `ext`: File extension
888 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
889 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
890 - `container`: Name of the container format
891 - `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`)
892 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
893 - `language`: Language code
895 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
897 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 video hoster. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
899 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.
901 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]'`.
905 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...`. The available fields are:
907 - `video`,
`has_video`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
908 - `audio`,
`has_audio`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
909 - `extractor`,
`preference`,
`extractor_preference`: The format preference as given by the extractor
910 - `lang`,
`language_preference`: Language preference as given by the extractor
911 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
912 - `source`,
`source_preference`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
913 - `proto`,
`protocol`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
914 - `vcodec`,
`video_codec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
915 - `acodec`,
`audio_codec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
916 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
917 - `vext`,
`video_ext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
918 - `aext`,
`audio_ext`: 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`.
919 - `ext`,
`extension`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
920 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
921 - `filesize_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
922 - `size`,
`filesize_estimate`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
923 - `height`: Height of video
924 - `width`: Width of video
925 - `res`,
`dimension`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
926 - `fps`,
`framerate`: Framerate of video
927 - `tbr`,
`total_bitrate`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
928 - `vbr`,
`video_bitrate`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
929 - `abr`,
`audio_bitrate`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
930 - `br`,
`bitrate`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
931 - `samplerate`,
`asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
933 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a
`+`. Eg:
`+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, seperated 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 prefered 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` >
`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.
935 The fields
`has_video`,
`extractor`,
`lang`,
`quality` 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:
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
937 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 repects. 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`.
939 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
941 ## Format Selection examples
943 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
946 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
947 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
948 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
950 # Download best format that contains video,
951 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
952 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
959 # Download the worst video available
960 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
962 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
963 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
965 # Download the smallest video available
966 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+bitrate'
970 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
971 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
973 # Download the best video with the best extension
974 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
975 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
979 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
980 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
981 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
983 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
984 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
985 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
987 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
988 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
989 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
990 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
991 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
995 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
996 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
997 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
999 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1000 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1001 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1003 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1004 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1008 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1009 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1010 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1012 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1013 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1014 $ youtube-dlc -S 'protocol'
1018 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1019 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1020 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1021 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1025 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1026 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1028 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1029 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1030 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1032 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1033 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1034 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1038 # More complex examples
1040 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1041 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1042 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1044 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1045 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1046 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1047 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1051 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1052 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1053 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1054 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1062 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)