1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#release-files "Release")
7 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 []
(https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [](LICENSE "License")
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
49 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
51 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
54 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
58 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
60 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
62 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
64 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
65 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
69 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
74 * Based on **youtube-dl
2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** (
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc
2020.11.11-
3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
76 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
78 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using
`-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
80 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--write-comments`,
`BiliBiliSearch`,
`BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
82 * **Youtube improvements**:
83 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`,
`:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
84 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
87 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded (
[except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
91 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (experimental)
92 * Support for downloading stories (
`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
94 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
96 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using
`--download-sections`
98 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
100 * **Multi-threaded fragment downloads**: Download multiple fragments of m3u8/mpd videos in parallel. Use
`--concurrent-fragments` (
`-N`) option to set the number of threads used
102 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
104 * **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
106 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
108 * **Subtitle extraction from manifests**: Subtitles can be extracted from streaming media manifests. See
[commit/be6202f](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commit/be6202f12b97858b9d716e608394b51065d0419f) for details
110 * **Multiple paths and output templates**: You can give different [output templates](#output-template) and download paths for different types of files. You can also set a temporary path where intermediary files are downloaded to using
`--paths` (
`-P`)
112 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
114 * **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
116 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as
`--alias`,
`--print`,
`--concat-playlist`,
`--wait-for-video`,
`--retry-sleep`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
118 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--format`/
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple
`--config-locations`,
`--exec` at different stages, etc
120 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
122 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
124 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
126 ### Differences in default behavior
128 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
130 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
131 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
132 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
133 * The default [output template](#output-template) is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`. There is no real reason for this change. This was changed before yt-dlp was ever made public and now there are no plans to change it back to
`%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`. Instead, you may use
`--compat-options filename`
134 * The default [format sorting](#sorting-formats) is different from youtube-dl and prefers higher resolution and better codecs rather than higher bitrates. You can use the
`--format-sort` option to change this to any order you prefer, or use
`--compat-options format-sort` to use youtube-dl's sorting order
135 * The default format selector is
`bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
136 * Unlike youtube-dlc, yt-dlp does not allow merging multiple audio/video streams into one file by default (since this conflicts with the use of
`-f bv*+ba`). If needed, this feature must be enabled using
`--audio-multistreams` and
`--video-multistreams`. You can also use
`--compat-options multistreams` to enable both
137 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
138 * When writing metadata files such as thumbnails, description or infojson, the same information (if available) is also written for playlists. Use
`--no-write-playlist-metafiles` or
`--compat-options no-playlist-metafiles` to not write these files
139 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-info-json`. Use
`--no-embed-info-json` or
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
140 * Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using
`--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably,
`comment` field contains the
`webpage_url` and
`synopsis` contains the
`description`. You can [use
`--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use
`--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
141 * `playlist_index` behaves differently when used with options like
`--playlist-reverse` and
`--playlist-items`. See
[#302](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/302) for details. You can use
`--compat-options playlist-index` if you want to keep the earlier behavior
142 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
143 * All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use
`--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
144 * Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use
`--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use
`--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
145 * Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to
`/video`. Append a
`/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent
`UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
146 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
147 * If
`ffmpeg` is used as the downloader, the downloading and merging of formats happen in a single step when possible. Use
`--compat-options no-direct-merge` to revert this
148 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
149 * Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use
`--no-clean-infojson` or
`--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
150 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
151 * `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use only system certificates, use
`--compat-options no-certifi`
152 * youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use
`--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
154 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
156 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
157 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
158 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
163 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
165 ### Using the release binary
167 You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
169 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
170 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
171 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
172 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
173 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
174 [](#release-files)
175 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
176 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
178 Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the
[source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
180 <!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
181 In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
184 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
185 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
189 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
190 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
194 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
195 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
199 ### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
201 You can install the
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
203 python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
206 You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
208 python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
211 If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
213 python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
216 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
218 <!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
219 ### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
221 macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
224 brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
228 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
230 If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
232 If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run
`brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
234 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
241 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
242 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
243 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (
10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
249 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (
32-bit) binary
250 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with
`py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain
`pycryptodomex`/
`certifi`, needs VC++
14
251 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
252 [yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (
10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
258 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
259 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
260 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
261 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
264 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
266 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
267 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
268 On windows,
[Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)](https://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165255E7-1014-4D0A-B094-B6A430A6BFFC/vcredist_x86.exe) is also necessary to run yt-dlp. You probably already have this, but if the executable throws an error due to missing
`MSVCR100.dll` you need to install it manually.
271 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
273 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
274 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
275 * [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-
128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under
[BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
276 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
277 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
278 * [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or
[**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) -
[Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>
[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
279 * [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under
[MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
280 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr),
[**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or
[**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata on Linux. Licensed under
[MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt),
[LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and
[GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
281 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
282 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
283 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
284 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
285 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated**
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
286 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
288 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
290 The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
292 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
293 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide
[custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at
[yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See
[the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
299 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using
`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run
`pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
301 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
302 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
305 Note that pyinstaller
[does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
308 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
309 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
311 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
313 You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
317 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
318 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
320 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
321 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
323 <!-- Auto generated -->
325 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
326 --version Print program version and exit
327 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
328 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
329 The download will be considered successful
330 even if the postprocessing fails
331 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
332 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
334 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
335 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
336 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
337 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
338 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
340 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
342 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. Eg:
343 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
344 google videos for the search term "python".
345 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
346 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
347 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
348 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
349 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
350 possible instead of searching
351 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
352 except those given by --config-locations.
353 For backward compatibility, if this option
354 is found inside the system configuration
355 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
357 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
358 (default). When given inside a configuration
359 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
360 defined in the current file
361 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
362 either the path to the config or its
363 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
364 used multiple times and inside other
366 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
368 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
369 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
370 Currently only supported for YouTube
372 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
374 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
375 available. Pass the minimum number of
376 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
377 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
378 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
379 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
380 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
381 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
382 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
383 configurations by reverting some of the
384 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
385 default behavior" for details
386 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
387 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
388 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
389 according to the Python string formatting
390 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
391 "-S=aext:{
0},abr -x --audio-format {
0}"
392 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
393 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
394 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
395 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
396 output. Alias options can trigger more
397 aliases; so be carefull to avoid defining
398 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
399 alias may be triggered a maximum of
100
400 times. This option can be used multiple
404 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
405 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme.
406 Eg: socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass
407 in an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
409 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
410 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
411 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
412 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
415 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
416 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
417 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
418 is not present) is used for the actual
420 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
421 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
422 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
423 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
424 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
425 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
427 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
428 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
432 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
433 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
434 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
435 indices of the videos in the playlist
436 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
437 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
438 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
439 specify range: "--playlist-items
440 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos at
441 index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
442 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
444 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
446 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
447 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
448 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
449 Eg: --date today-
2weeks
450 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
453 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
454 this date. The date formats accepted is the
456 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
457 field can be compared with a number or a
458 string using the operators defined in
459 "Filtering formats". You can also simply
460 specify a field to match if the field is
461 present, use "!field" to check if the field
462 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
463 conditions. Use a "
\" to escape "&" or
464 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
465 the filter matches if atleast one of the
466 conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
467 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
468 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'" matches
469 only videos that are not live OR those that
470 have a like count more than
100 (or the like
471 field is not available) and also has a
472 description that contains the phrase "cats &
473 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
474 interactively ask whether to download each
476 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
477 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
478 to a video and a playlist
479 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
480 a video and a playlist
481 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
483 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
484 archive file. Record the IDs of all
485 downloaded videos in it
486 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
487 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
488 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
489 a file that is in the archive
490 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
491 a file that has been filtered out
492 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
493 and --max-downloads act only on the current
495 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
496 terminates the entire download queue
497 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
498 the playlist is skipped
501 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
502 video that should be downloaded concurrently
504 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
506 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
507 below which throttling is assumed and the
508 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
509 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
511 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
512 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
513 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
514 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
515 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR An expression for the time to sleep between
516 retries in seconds (optionally) prefixed by
517 the type of retry (file_access, fragment,
518 http (default)) to apply the sleep to. EXPR
519 can be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=
1]]
520 or exp=START[:END[:BASE=
2]]. This option can
521 be used multiple times to set the sleep for
522 the different retry types. Eg: --retry-sleep
523 linear=
1::
2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=
1:
20
524 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
525 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
526 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
527 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
528 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
529 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
530 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
531 downloading is finished
532 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
533 downloading is finished (default)
534 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
536 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
537 from an initial value of --buffer-size
539 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
540 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
541 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
542 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
543 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
545 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
546 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
548 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
549 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
551 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
552 allowing some players to play the video
553 while downloading, and reducing the chance
554 of file corruption if download is
555 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
557 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
558 videos. This is default when not downloading
560 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
561 the given regular expression. Time ranges
562 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
563 of chapters to download the specified range.
564 Eg: --download-sections "*
10:
15-
15:
00"
565 --download-sections "intro". Needs ffmpeg.
566 This option can be used multiple times to
567 download multiple sections
568 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
569 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
570 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
571 use it for. Currently supports native,
572 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
573 wget. You can use this option multiple times
574 to set different downloaders for different
575 protocols. For example, --downloader aria2c
576 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
577 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
578 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
579 (Alias: --external-downloader)
580 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
581 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
582 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
583 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
584 positions using the same syntax as
585 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
586 option multiple times to give different
587 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
588 --external-downloader-args)
590 ## Filesystem Options:
591 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
592 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
593 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
595 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
596 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
597 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
598 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
599 TYPES as --output are supported.
600 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
601 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
602 files are first downloaded to the temp path
603 and then the final files are moved over to
604 the home path after download is finished.
605 This option is ignored if --output is an
607 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
608 TEMPLATE" for details
609 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
610 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
611 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
612 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
613 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
615 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
616 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
617 using Windows (default)
618 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
619 extension) to the specified number of
621 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
622 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
623 option includes --no-continue
624 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
625 related files (default)
626 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
628 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
629 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
630 restart download of the entire file
631 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
632 into output file (default)
633 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
635 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
636 modification time (default)
637 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
638 the file modification time
639 --write-description Write video description to a .description
641 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
642 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
643 (this may contain personal information)
644 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
645 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
646 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
647 --write-description etc. (default)
648 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
649 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
650 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
651 from the infojson. Note that it could still
652 contain some personal information (default)
653 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
654 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
655 infojson. The comments are fetched even
656 without this option if the extraction is
657 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
658 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
659 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
661 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
662 (created with the "--write-info-json"
664 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
665 and dump cookie jar in
666 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
668 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
669 The name of the browser and (optionally) the
670 name/path of the profile to load cookies
671 from, separated by a ":". Currently
672 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
673 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
674 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
675 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
676 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux can
677 be (optionally) specified after the browser
678 name separated by a "+". Currently supported
679 keyrings are: basictext, gnomekeyring,
681 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
682 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
683 can store some downloaded information (such
684 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
685 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
687 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
688 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
690 ## Thumbnail Options:
691 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
692 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
694 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
695 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
696 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
698 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
699 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
700 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
701 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
702 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
703 OS caches the URL based on the file path
704 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
705 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
707 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
708 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
709 print the log to stderr
710 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
711 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
713 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
715 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
716 extracting metadata even if the videos are
717 not actually available for download
719 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
720 formats are found (default)
721 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
722 related files (Alias: --no-download)
723 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
724 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
725 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
726 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
727 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
728 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
729 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
730 used. This option can be used multiple times
731 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
732 Append given template to the file. The
733 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
734 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
735 output template. This option can be used
737 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
738 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
739 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
740 description of available keys
741 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
742 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
743 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
744 a playlist, the whole playlist information
745 is dumped in a single line
746 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
747 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
748 another simulation option is used (Alias:
749 --force-download-archive)
750 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
751 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
752 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
753 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
754 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
755 Template for progress outputs, optionally
756 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
757 "download-title:" (the console title),
758 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
759 The video's fields are accessible under the
760 "info" key and the progress attributes are
761 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
762 --console-title --progress-template
763 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
764 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
765 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
766 to debug problems (very verbose)
767 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
768 in the current directory to debug problems
769 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
772 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
773 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
774 that do not support RFC
5746 secure
776 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
777 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
778 information about the video (Currently
779 supported only for YouTube)
780 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
781 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
782 option multiple times
783 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
784 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
785 or fribidi executable in PATH
786 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
787 during data extraction
788 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
789 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
790 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
791 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
792 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
793 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
794 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
797 ## Video Format Options:
798 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
800 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
801 "Sorting Formats" for more details
802 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
803 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
804 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
805 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
806 specified sort order (default)
807 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
809 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
810 output file (default)
811 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
813 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
814 output file (default)
815 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
816 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
817 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
818 irrespective of quality
819 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
821 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
822 those that are actually downloadable
823 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
824 actually downloadable
825 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
827 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
828 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
829 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
830 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
831 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
832 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
835 --write-subs Write subtitle file
836 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
837 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
838 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
839 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
840 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
841 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
842 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
843 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
844 Eg: "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
845 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
846 be regex) or "all" separated by commas. (Eg:
847 --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix the
848 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
849 the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-langs
850 all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a list
851 of available language tags
853 ## Authentication Options:
854 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
855 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
856 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
857 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
858 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
859 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
860 either the path or its containing directory.
862 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
863 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
864 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
865 a list of available MSOs
866 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
867 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
868 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
870 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
871 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
872 format. May include the private key
873 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
874 Path to private key file for client
876 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
877 Password for client certificate private key,
878 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
879 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
881 ## Post-Processing Options:
882 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
883 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
884 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
885 used. (currently supported: best (default),
886 mp3, aac, m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac,
887 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
888 similar syntax as --remux-video
889 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
890 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
891 between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for VBR or a
892 specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
893 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
894 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
895 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, mp3, aac,
896 m4a, opus, vorbis, flac, alac, wav). If
897 target container does not support the
898 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
899 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
900 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
901 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
902 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
903 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
904 are the same as --remux-video
905 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
906 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
907 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
908 to give the argument to the specified
909 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
910 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
911 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
912 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
913 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
914 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
915 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
916 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
917 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
918 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
919 specified executable only when being used by
920 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
921 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
922 appended to the prefix optionally followed
923 by a number to pass the argument before the
924 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
925 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
926 this option multiple times to give different
927 arguments to different postprocessors.
929 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
930 after post-processing
931 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
932 post-processing (default)
933 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
934 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
935 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
937 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
938 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
939 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
940 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
941 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
942 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
943 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
944 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
945 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
946 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
947 (Alias: --add-chapters)
948 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
950 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
952 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
954 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
955 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
957 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
958 Replace text in a metadata field using the
959 given regex. This option can be used
961 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
962 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
963 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
964 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
965 (default; only when the videos form a single
966 show). All the video files must have same
967 codecs and number of streams to be
968 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
969 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
970 the output filename for the concatenated
971 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
972 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
973 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
974 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
975 default; fix file if we can, warn
976 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
978 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
979 path to the binary or its containing
981 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
982 when to execute it (after_move if
983 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
984 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
985 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
986 output template can be used to pass any
987 field as arguments to the command. After
988 download, an additional field "filepath"
989 that contains the final path of the
990 downloaded file is also available, and if no
991 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
992 to the end of the command. This option can
993 be used multiple times
994 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
995 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
996 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
997 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
998 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
999 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1000 can specify multiple rules using similar
1001 syntax as --remux-video
1002 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1003 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1004 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1005 the output filename for the split files. See
1006 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1007 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
1009 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1010 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1011 same as --download-sections. This option can
1012 be used multiple times
1013 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1015 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1016 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1017 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1018 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1020 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1021 when cutting/splitting (default)
1022 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1023 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1024 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1025 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1026 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1027 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1028 The "when" argument determines when the
1029 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1030 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1031 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1032 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1033 "post_process" (after each video download;
1034 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1035 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1036 (after downloading and processing all
1037 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1038 of playlist). This option can be used
1039 multiple times to add different
1042 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1043 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1044 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1045 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1047 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1048 for, separated by commas. Available
1049 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1050 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1051 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1052 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1053 with a "-" to exclude it. See [
1] for
1054 description of the categories. Eg:
1055 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1056 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1057 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1058 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1059 category is present in both mark and remove,
1060 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1061 available categories are the same as for
1062 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1063 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1065 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1066 An output template for the title of the
1067 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1068 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1069 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1070 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1071 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1072 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1073 --sponsorblock-remove
1074 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1075 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1077 ## Extractor Options:
1078 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1079 (default is
3), or "infinite"
1080 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1081 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1082 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1083 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1084 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1085 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1086 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1087 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1089 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1090 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1091 use this option multiple times to give
1092 arguments for different extractors
1096 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1098 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
1099 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
1100 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
1101 1. **User Configuration**:
1102 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1103 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1104 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1105 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1107 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1109 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined. On windows,
`%APPDATA%` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and
`~` points to
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`), or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1111 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1113 For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1115 # Lines starting with # are comments
1117 # Always extract audio
1120 # Do not copy the mtime
1124 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1126 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1127 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1130 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`.
1132 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If
`--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
1134 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1136 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with
`--username` and
`--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a
[`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a
`.netrc` file in
`--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
1139 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1141 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1143 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1147 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1148 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1150 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1152 The default location of the .netrc file is
`$HOME` (
`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`) or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1156 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.
1158 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1159 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1160 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1162 The simplest usage of
`-o` is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`yt-dlp -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"` (hard-coding file extension like this is _not_ recommended and could break some post-processing).
1164 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example,
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1166 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1168 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a
`.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using
`:`. Eg:
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`,
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`.
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
1170 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. Eg:
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1172 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to
[strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a
`>`. Eg:
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`,
`%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`,
`%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1174 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. Eg:
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1176 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a
`&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1178 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` separator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1180 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`B`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q`,
`D`,
`S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag
`#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag
`#` for
`\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag
`#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg:
10M) (flag
`#` to use
1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag
`#` for restricted), respectively
1182 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type
`U` can be used for NFC
[unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (
`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag
`+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg:
`%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1184 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1186 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1189 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon
`:`. The different file types supported are
`subtitle`,
`thumbnail`,
`description`,
`annotation` (deprecated),
`infojson`,
`link`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`,
`pl_video`. For example,
`-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg:
`--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1191 The available fields are:
1193 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1194 - `title` (string): Video title
1195 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1196 - `url` (string): Video URL
1197 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1198 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1199 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1200 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1201 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1202 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1203 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1204 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1205 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1206 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1207 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1208 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1209 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1210 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1211 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1212 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1213 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1214 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1215 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1216 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1217 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1218 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1219 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1220 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1221 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1222 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video (For some extractors, comments are only downloaded at the end, and so this field cannot be used)
1223 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1224 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
1225 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1226 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1227 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1228 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1229 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1230 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1231 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1232 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
1233 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1234 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1235 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1236 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1237 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1238 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1239 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1240 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1241 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1242 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1243 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
1244 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1245 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1246 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1247 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1248 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1249 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1250 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1251 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1252 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1253 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1254 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1255 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1256 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1257 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1258 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1259 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1260 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1261 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1262 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1263 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1264 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1265 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1266 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1268 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1270 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1271 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1272 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1274 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1276 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1277 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1278 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1279 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1280 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1281 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1282 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1284 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1286 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1287 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1288 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1289 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1290 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1291 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1292 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1293 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1294 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1295 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1297 Available only when using
`--download-sections` and for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1299 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1300 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1301 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1302 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1304 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1306 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1307 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use
`--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
1308 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1309 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1310 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1311 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1314 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1316 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1317 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1318 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1319 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1320 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1321 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1323 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`yt-dlp test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a
`yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1325 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).
1327 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1329 For numeric sequences you can use
[numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1331 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.
1333 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1335 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1337 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.
1339 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1340 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1342 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"`.
1343 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1345 #### Output template examples
1348 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1349 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1351 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1352 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1354 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1355 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1357 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1358 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1360 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1361 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1363 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1364 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1366 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1367 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1369 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1370 $ yt-dlp -u user -p password -P "~/MyVideos" -o "%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial"
1372 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1373 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" "https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617"
1375 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1376 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1377 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1379 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1380 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1382 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1383 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1388 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1389 This is generally equivalent to using
`-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (
`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg is unavailable, or if you use yt-dlp to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
1391 **Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to
`-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the
`-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1393 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.
1395 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1396 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1397 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1399 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.
1401 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.
1403 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1405 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1407 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1408 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1409 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1410 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1411 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1412 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1413 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1414 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
1415 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1416 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1417 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1418 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1419 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1420 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1422 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo
`. It is however recommended not to use `worst
` and related options. When your format selector is `worst
`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size
` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps
` instead of `-f worst
`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1424 You can select the n'th best format of a type by using `best<type>.<n>
`. For example, `best
.2` will select the 2nd best combined format. Similarly, `bv*
.3` will select the 3rd best format that contains a video stream.
1426 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.
1428 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
`.
1430 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.
1432 **Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1434 Unless `--video-multistreams
` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams
` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams
` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams
` will download and merge only `bestvideo
` and `bestaudio
`. `best
` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo
`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams
` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1436 ## Filtering Formats
1438 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1440 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1442 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1443 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1444 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1445 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1446 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1447 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1448 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1451 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1453 - `ext
`: File extension
1454 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1455 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1456 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1457 - `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
`)
1458 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1459 - `language
`: Language code
1461 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!
` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=
` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-
`.
1463 Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
1465 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?
`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?
720][tbr>
500]"
` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all
` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"
` selects all audio-only formats.
1467 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<
480]"
`.
1471 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...
`.
1473 The available fields are:
1475 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1476 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1477 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1478 - `lang
`: The language preference
1479 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1480 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1481 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1482 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1483 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1484 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1485 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1486 - `aext
`: Audio Extension (`m4a
` > `aac
` > `mp3
` > `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, the order changes to `opus
` > `ogg
` > `webm
` > `m4a
` > `mp3
` > `aac
`.
1487 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1488 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1489 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1490 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1491 - `height
`: Height of video
1492 - `width
`: Width of video
1493 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1494 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1495 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1496 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1497 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1498 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1499 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1500 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1502 **Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
1504 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+
`. Eg: `+res
` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:
`. Eg: `res:
720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec
` and `ext
`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a
` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a
`) sets the video codec preference to `h264
` > `h265
` > `vp9
` > `vp9.2
` > `av01
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` and audio codec preference to `mp4a
` > `aac
` > `vorbis
` > `opus
` > `mp3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~
` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~
1G
` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1506 The fields `hasvid
` and `ie_pref
` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force
`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:
12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id
`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1508 Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2
`; i.e. `av1
` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:
12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1510 If your format selector is `worst
`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all respects. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps
`.
1512 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1514 ## Format Selection examples
1517 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1518 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1519 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1521 # Download best format that contains video,
1522 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1523 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1528 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1529 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1530 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1531 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1533 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1534 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1535 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1537 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1538 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1539 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1542 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1543 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1545 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1546 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1548 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1551 # Download the smallest video available
1552 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1556 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1557 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1559 # Download the best video with the best extension
1560 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1565 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1566 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1567 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1569 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1570 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1571 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1573 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1574 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1575 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1576 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1577 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1581 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1582 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1583 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1585 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1586 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1587 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1589 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1590 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1594 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1595 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1596 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1598 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1599 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1604 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1605 # or the best video if there is no such video
1606 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1608 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1609 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1610 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1612 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1613 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1614 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1618 # More complex examples
1620 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1621 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1622 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1624 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1625 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1626 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1627 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1631 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1632 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1633 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1634 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1637 # MODIFYING METADATA
1639 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1641 `--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
` is used to replace text in any metadata field using [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax). [Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
1643 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO
` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s
` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO
`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
1645 Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata
`.
1647 This option also has a few special uses:
1649 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls
` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)
` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1651 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_
` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description
` field will be added to the `description
` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_
` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language
`). Any value set to the `meta_
` field will overwrite all default values.
1653 **Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1655 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1657 Metadata fields | From
1658 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1659 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1660 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1661 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1662 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1663 `track
` | `track_number
`
1664 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1667 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1668 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1670 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1671 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1672 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1673 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1675 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1678 ## Modifying metadata examples
1681 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1682 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1685 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1687 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1688 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1690 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1691 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1693 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1694 # handling multiple lines correctly
1695 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
1697 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1698 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1700 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1701 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1705 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1707 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS
`. `ARGS
` is a `;
` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2
`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"
`
1709 The following extractors use this feature:
1712 * `skip
`: One or more of `hls
`, `dash
` or `translated_subs
` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
1713 * `player_client
`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web
`, `android
` and `ios
` with variants `_music
`, `_embedded
`, `_embedscreen
`, `_creator
` (Eg: `web_embedded
`); and `mweb
` and `tv_embedded
` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web
` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com
` urls. You can use `all
` to use all the clients, and `default
` for the default clients.
1714 * `player_skip
`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs
` (skip client configs), `webpage
` (skip initial webpage), `js
` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
1715 * `include_live_dash
`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start
` (These formats don't download properly)
1716 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1717 * `max_comments
`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread
`. Default is `all,all,all,all
`
1718 * E.g. `all,all,
1000,
10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,
100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
1719 * `innertube_host
`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests
1720 * e.g. `studio.youtube.com
`, `youtubei.googleapis.com
`
1721 * Note: Cookies exported from `www.youtube.com
` will not work with hosts other than `*.youtube.com
`
1722 * `innertube_key
`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1724 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1725 * `skip
`: One or more of `webpage
` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck
` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
1726 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1729 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1730 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1733 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp
`
1734 * `hardsub
`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS
`
1736 #### crunchyrollbeta
1737 * `format
`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls
` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls
`
1738 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls
`, `adaptive_dash
`, `vo_adaptive_hls
`, `vo_adaptive_dash
`, `download_hls
`, `trailer_hls
`, `trailer_dash
`
1739 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None
` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1742 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1745 * `segment_duration
`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1747 #### youtubewebarchive
1748 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1751 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1754 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1755 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1756 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1759 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1760 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1763 * `tab
`: Which tab to download. One of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams
`)
1766 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1768 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1773 Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py
`; where `<root-dir>
` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp
`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py
`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip
` version
1775 Plugins can be of `<type>
`s `extractor
` or `postprocessor
`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME
`.
1777 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1779 Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
1781 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1787 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1789 Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J
`, `--print
`, `--progress-template
`, `--exec
` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1791 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1794 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1796 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1797 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1801 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
1803 **Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info
` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info
` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
1805 ## Embedding examples
1807 #### Extracting information
1813 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1815 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1817 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1818 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1820 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1821 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1823 #### Download using an info-json
1828 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1830 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1831 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1833 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1834 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1842 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1845 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1846 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1847 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1848 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1849 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1853 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1854 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1862 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1864 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1865 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1866 duration = info.get('duration')
1867 if duration and duration < 60:
1868 return 'The video is too short'
1871 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1874 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1875 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1878 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1883 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1886 def debug(self, msg):
1887 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1888 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1889 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1894 def info(self, msg):
1897 def warning(self, msg):
1900 def error(self, msg):
1904 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1906 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1907 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1911 'logger': MyLogger(),
1912 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1915 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1919 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1924 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1926 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1927 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1928 def run(self, info):
1929 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1933 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1934 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1939 #### Use a custom format selector
1944 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1946 def format_selector(ctx):
1947 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1948 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1950 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1951 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1953 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1954 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1955 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1957 # find compatible audio extension
1958 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1959 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1960 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1961 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1963 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1965 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1966 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1967 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1968 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1969 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1974 'format': format_selector,
1977 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1981 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1983 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1985 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1987 #### Almost redundant options
1988 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1990 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1991 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1992 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1993 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1995 #### Redundant options
1996 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1998 --get-description --print description
1999 --get-duration --print duration_string
2000 --get-filename --print filename
2001 --get-format --print format
2003 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2004 -e, --get-title --print title
2005 -g, --get-url --print urls
2006 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2007 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2008 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2009 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2010 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2011 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2014 #### Not recommended
2015 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2017 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2018 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2019 --all-formats -f all
2020 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2021 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2022 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
2023 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2024 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2025 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2026 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2027 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2028 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2029 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2030 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2031 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2032 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2033 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2036 #### Developer options
2037 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2039 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2040 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2041 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2042 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2043 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2047 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2049 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2050 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2051 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2052 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2053 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2054 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2055 --load-info --load-info-json
2056 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2057 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2058 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2059 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2060 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2061 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2062 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2063 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2064 --write-srt --write-subs
2065 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2067 #### Sponskrub Options
2068 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2070 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2071 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2072 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2073 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2074 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2075 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2076 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2077 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2079 #### No longer supported
2080 These options may no longer work as intended
2082 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2083 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2084 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2085 --no-call-home Default
2086 --include-ads No longer supported
2087 --no-include-ads Default
2088 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2089 --no-write-annotations Default
2092 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2094 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2095 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2098 See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
2101 For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob