3 [![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/pukkandan/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Release)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
4 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg)](LICENSE)
5 [![CI Status](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/workflows/Core%20Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/actions)
6 [![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=discord&logo=discord)]
(https://discord.gg/S75JaBna)
8 [![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/pukkandan/yt-dlp?label=commits)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/commits)
9 [![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/pukkandan/yt-dlp/master)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/commits)
10 [![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/pukkandan/yt-dlp/total)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
11 [![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi)]
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
13 A command-line program to download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
15 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)
17 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
18 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
21 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
23 * [Network Options](#network-options)
24 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
25 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
26 * [Download Options](#download-options)
27 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
28 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
29 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
30 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
31 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
32 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
33 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
34 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
35 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
36 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
37 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
38 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
39 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
40 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
41 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
42 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
43 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
44 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
45 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
46 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
47 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
53 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
55 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
57 * **[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 that what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
59 * **Merged with youtube-dl v2021.02
.10**: 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)
61 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--get-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/pukkandan/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
63 * **Youtube improvements**:
64 * All Youtube Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) works correctly and supports downloading multiple pages of content
65 * Youtube search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs works correctly
66 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
68 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use aria2c as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats. No more slow ffmpeg/native downloads
70 * **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius
72 * **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, tiktok, akamai, ina, rumble
74 * **Plugin support**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
76 * **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. See [`--paths`](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/#:~:text=-P,%20--paths%20TYPE:PATH) for details
78 <!-- Relative link doesn't work for "#:~:text=" -->
80 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
82 * **Other new options**:
`--parse-metadata`,
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
84 * **Improvements**: Multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--external-downloader-args`, Date/time formatting in
`-o`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
86 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`youtube-dlc -U`
89 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
92 **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
94 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](docs/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.
99 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
100 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
101 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp):
`python -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
102 * Use pip+git:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp.git@release`
103 * Install master branch:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp`
106 Starting from version
`2021.02.09`, you can use
`youtube-dlc -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
107 If you are using
`pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
112 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen and pycryptodome)
114 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome
116 Once you have all the necessary dependancies 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. It is strongly reccomended to use python3 although python2.6+ is supported.
118 You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
120 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
123 You will need the required build tools
124 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
125 Then simply type this
129 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
132 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from youtube.com many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md). 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.
134 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
138 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
139 <!-- Autogenerated -->
142 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
143 --version Print program version and exit
144 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
145 sure that you have sufficient permissions
146 (run with sudo if needed)
147 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
148 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
149 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
150 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
151 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
152 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
153 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
154 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
156 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
158 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
159 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
160 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
161 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
162 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
163 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
164 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
165 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
166 this is not possible instead of searching
167 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
168 except the one provided by --config-location.
169 When given inside a configuration
170 file, no further configuration files are
171 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
172 compatibility) if this option is found
173 inside the system configuration file, the
174 user configuration is not loaded
175 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
176 either the path to the config or its
178 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
180 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
181 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
182 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
183 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
184 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
187 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
188 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
190 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
191 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
192 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
193 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
194 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
195 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
198 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
199 some geo-restricted sites. The default
200 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
201 option is not present) is used for the
203 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
204 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
205 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
206 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
207 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
208 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
210 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
211 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
215 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
216 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
217 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
218 indices of the videos in the playlist
219 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
220 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
221 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
222 specify range: "--playlist-items
223 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
224 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
225 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
227 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
229 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
230 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
231 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
232 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
234 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
235 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
236 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
237 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
238 this date. The date formats accepted is the
240 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
241 this date. The date formats accepted is the
243 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
245 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
247 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
248 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
249 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
250 to check if the key is not present,
251 key>NUMBER (like "comment_count >
12", also
252 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
253 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
254 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
255 !=) to match against a string literal and &
256 to require multiple matches. Values which
257 are not known are excluded unless you put a
258 question mark (?) after the operator. For
259 example, to only match videos that have
260 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
261 less than
50 times (or the dislike
262 functionality is not available at the given
263 service), but who also have a description,
264 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
265 dislike_count <?
50 & description"
266 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
267 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
268 to a video and a playlist
269 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
270 a video and a playlist
271 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
273 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
274 archive file. Record the IDs of all
275 downloaded videos in it
276 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
277 a file that is in the archive
278 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
279 a file that has been filtered out
280 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
281 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
283 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
286 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
288 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
290 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
291 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
293 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
294 hlsnative and ISM (default)
295 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
296 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
297 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
298 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
299 downloading is finished
300 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
301 downloading is finished (default)
302 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
304 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
305 from an initial value of --buffer-size
307 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
308 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
309 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
310 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
311 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
313 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
314 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
316 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
317 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
319 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
321 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
323 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
324 allowing to play the video while
325 downloading (some players may not be able
327 --external-downloader NAME Use the specified external downloader.
328 Currently supports aria2c, avconv, axel,
329 curl, ffmpeg, httpie, wget
330 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
331 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
332 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
333 can use this option multiple times
334 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
336 ## Filesystem Options:
337 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
338 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
339 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
341 -P, --paths TYPE:PATH The paths where the files should be
342 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
343 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
344 same types as --output are supported.
345 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
346 and "temp" paths. All intermediary files
347 are first downloaded to the temp path and
348 then the final files are moved over to the
349 home path after download is finished. This
350 option is ignored if --output is an
352 -o, --output [TYPE:]TEMPLATE Output filename template, see "OUTPUT
353 TEMPLATE" for details
354 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
355 fields in output filename template
357 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
359 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
360 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
362 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
364 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
365 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
366 using windows (default)
367 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
368 extension) to the specified number of
370 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
371 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
372 This option includes --no-continue
373 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
374 related files (default)
375 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
377 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
378 fragments. If the file is unfragmented,
379 restart download of the entire file
380 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
381 into output file (default)
382 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
384 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
385 file modification time (default)
386 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
387 the file modification time
388 --write-description Write video description to a .description
390 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
391 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
392 (this may contain personal information)
393 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
394 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
395 .annotations.xml file
396 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
397 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
398 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
399 --write-description etc. (default)
400 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
401 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
402 --get-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
404 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
405 (created with the "--write-info-json"
407 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
409 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
410 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
411 can store some downloaded information
412 permanently. By default
413 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
414 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
415 YouTube player files (for videos with
416 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
418 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
419 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
422 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
423 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
425 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
426 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
429 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
430 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
431 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
432 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
433 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
434 OS caches the URL based on the file path
435 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
436 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
438 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
439 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
440 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
441 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
443 --skip-download Do not download the video
444 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
445 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
446 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
447 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
448 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
449 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
450 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
451 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
452 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
453 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
455 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
456 for each command-line argument. If the URL
457 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
458 playlist information in a single line
459 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
460 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
461 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
462 written as far as no errors occur,even if
463 -s or another simulation switch is used
464 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
465 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
466 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
467 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
468 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
469 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
470 to debug problems (very verbose)
471 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
472 files in the current directory to debug
474 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
477 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
478 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
479 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
480 information about the video. (Currently
481 supported only for YouTube)
482 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
483 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
484 access is restricted to one domain
485 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
486 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
487 option multiple times
488 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
489 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
490 or fribidi executable in PATH
491 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
492 download when used alone or a lower bound
493 of a range for randomized sleep before each
494 download (minimum possible number of
495 seconds to sleep) when used along with
497 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
498 before each download (maximum possible
499 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
500 used along with --min-sleep-interval
501 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
503 ## Video Format Options:
504 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
506 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
507 "Sorting Formats" for more details
508 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
509 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
510 Formats" for more details
511 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
512 specified sort order (default), see
513 "Sorting Formats" for more details
514 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
516 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
517 each output file (default)
518 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
520 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
521 each output file (default)
522 --all-formats Download all available video formats
523 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats over non-free
524 formats of same quality
525 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
527 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in tabular form
529 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
530 (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
531 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
532 data on YouTube videos (default)
533 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
534 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
535 related data on YouTube videos
536 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
537 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
538 on YouTube videos (default)
539 (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
540 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
541 related data on YouTube videos
542 (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
543 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
544 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
545 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
546 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
547 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
548 downloaded. All video postprocessing will
550 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
551 listed or downloaded (default)
554 --write-subs Write subtitle file
555 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
556 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
558 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
559 subtitle file (default)
560 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
562 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
563 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
564 preference, for example: "srt" or
566 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
567 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
568 subs for available language tags
570 ## Authentication Options:
571 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
572 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
573 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively
574 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
575 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
576 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
578 ## Adobe Pass Options:
579 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
580 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
581 a list of available MSOs
582 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
583 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
584 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
585 will ask interactively
586 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
589 ## Post-Processing Options:
590 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
591 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
592 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
593 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
594 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
596 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
597 value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for
598 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
600 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
601 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
602 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
603 target container does not support the
604 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
605 can specify multiple rules; eg.
606 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
607 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
608 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
609 re-encoding is necessary. The supported
610 formats are the same as --remux-video
611 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
612 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
613 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
614 to give the argument to the specified
615 postprocessor/executable. Supported
616 postprocessors are: SponSkrub,
617 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
618 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
619 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
620 SubtitlesConvertor and EmbedThumbnail. The
621 supported executables are: SponSkrub,
622 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and AtomicParsley. You can
623 use this option multiple times to give
624 different arguments to different
625 postprocessors. You can also specify
626 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
627 specified executable only when being used
628 by the specified postprocessor. You can use
629 this option multiple times (Alias: --ppa)
630 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
631 after post-processing
632 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
633 post-processing (default)
634 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
635 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
636 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
638 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
639 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
640 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
641 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
642 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
643 --parse-metadata FIELD:FORMAT Parse additional metadata like title/artist
644 from other fields. Give field name to
645 extract data from, and format of the field
646 seperated by a ":". Either regular
647 expression with named capture groups or a
648 similar syntax to the output template can
649 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
650 any existing values and can be use in
651 output templateThis option can be used
652 multiple times. Example: --parse-metadata
653 "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
654 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
655 (regex): --parse-metadata
656 "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+?)"
657 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
658 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
659 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
660 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
661 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
662 default; fix file if we can, warn
664 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
665 path to the binary or its containing
667 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
668 downloading and post-processing, similar to
669 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
670 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
671 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
672 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
674 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
675 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) is a utility to
676 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
677 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
679 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
680 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
681 binary exists (Youtube only)
682 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
683 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
685 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
687 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
689 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
690 video was already downloaded (default)
691 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
692 the path to the binary or its containing
695 ## Extractor Options:
696 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
697 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
698 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
699 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
703 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
705 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
706 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` or
`youtube-dlc.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/youtube_dlc/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
707 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` or
`youtube-dlc.conf` in the home path given by
`-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
708 1. **User Configuration**:
709 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
710 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
711 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
712 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
714 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
716 If none of these files are found, the search is performed again by replacing
`yt-dlp` with
`youtube-dlc`. Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
717 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf` or
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf`
719 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
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
721 # Lines starting with # are comments
723 # Always extract audio
726 # Do not copy the mtime
730 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
732 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
733 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
736 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`.
738 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular youtube-dlc 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.
740 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
742 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:
745 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
747 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
749 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
753 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
754 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
756 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
758 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
760 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
765 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.
767 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
769 The basic usage of
`-o` 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. Date/time fields can also be formatted according to
[strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it inside the parantheses seperated from the field name using a
`>`. For example,
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`.
771 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files seperately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template seperated by a colon ":". The different filetypes supported are
`subtitle|thumbnail|description|annotation|infojson|pl_description|pl_infojson`. 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.
773 The available fields are:
775 - `id` (string): Video identifier
776 - `title` (string): Video title
777 - `url` (string): Video URL
778 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
779 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
780 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
781 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
782 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
783 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
784 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
785 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
786 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
787 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
788 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
789 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
790 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
791 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
792 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
793 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
794 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
795 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
796 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
797 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
798 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
799 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
800 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
801 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
802 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
803 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
804 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
805 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
806 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
807 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
808 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
809 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
810 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
811 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
812 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
813 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
814 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
815 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
816 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
817 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
818 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
819 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
820 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
821 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
822 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
823 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
824 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
825 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
826 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
827 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
828 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
829 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
831 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
833 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
834 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
835 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
837 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
839 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
840 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
841 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
842 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
843 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
844 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
845 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
847 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
849 - `track` (string): Title of the track
850 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
851 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
852 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
853 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
854 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
855 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
856 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
857 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
858 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
860 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).
862 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.
864 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`.
866 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.
868 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
870 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
872 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:
874 #### Output template and Windows batch files
876 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"`.
878 #### Output template examples
880 Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
883 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
884 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
886 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
887 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
889 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
890 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
892 # Download YouTube playlist videos in seperate directories according to their uploaded year
893 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
895 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
896 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
898 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
899 $ youtube-dlc -u user -p password -P '~/MyVideos' -o '%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
901 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
902 $ youtube-dlc -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
904 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
905 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
910 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
911 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 youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
913 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.
915 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
917 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.
919 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.
921 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
923 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
924 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
925 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
926 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
927 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
928 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
929 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
930 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
931 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
932 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
933 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
934 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
936 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.
938 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.
940 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`.
942 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. 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`.
946 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
948 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
950 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
951 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
952 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
953 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
954 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
955 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
956 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
959 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
961 - `ext`: File extension
962 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
963 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
964 - `container`: Name of the container format
965 - `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`)
966 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
967 - `language`: Language code
969 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
971 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.
973 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.
975 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]'`.
979 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:
981 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
982 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
983 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
984 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
985 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
986 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
987 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
988 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9.2` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
989 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
990 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
991 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
992 - `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`.
993 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
994 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
995 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
996 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
997 - `height`: Height of video
998 - `width`: Width of video
999 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1000 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1001 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1002 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1003 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1004 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
1005 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1007 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` >
`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.
1009 The fields
`hasvid`,
`ie_pref`,
`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:vp9,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1011 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`.
1013 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1015 ## Format Selection examples
1017 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1020 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1021 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1022 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
1024 # Download best format that contains video,
1025 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1026 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
1031 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1032 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1033 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1034 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1038 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1039 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but better result
1041 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1042 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
1044 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1045 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
1047 # Download the smallest video available
1048 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+br'
1052 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1053 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1055 # Download the best video with the best extension
1056 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1057 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
1061 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1062 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1063 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1065 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1066 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1067 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
1069 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1070 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1071 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1072 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1073 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
1077 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1078 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1079 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1081 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1082 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1083 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1085 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1086 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1090 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1091 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1092 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1094 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1095 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1096 $ youtube-dlc -S 'proto'
1100 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1101 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1103 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1104 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1105 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1107 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1108 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1109 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1113 # More complex examples
1115 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1116 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1117 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1119 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1120 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1121 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1122 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1126 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1127 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1128 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1129 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1134 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.
1136 **Note**:
`<root-dir>` is the directory of the binary (
`<root-dir>/youtube-dlc`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (
`<root dir>/youtube_dlc/__main__.py`)
1139 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)