1 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc.svg?branch=master)]
(https://travis-ci.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
2 [![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/youtube-dlc.svg)]
(https://pypi.org/project/youtube-dlc)
4 [![Gitter chat](https://img.shields.io/gitter/room/youtube-dlc/community)]
(https://gitter.im/youtube-dlc)
5 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Unlicense-blue.svg)]
(https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/blob/master/LICENSE)
7 youtube-dlc - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms.
9 youtube-dlc is a fork of youtube-dl with the intention of getting features tested by the community merged in the tool faster, since youtube-dl's development seems to be slowing down.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20201014194602/https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/26462)
11 - [INSTALLATION](#installation)
13 - [DESCRIPTION](#description)
15 - [Network Options:](#network-options)
16 - [Geo Restriction:](#geo-restriction)
17 - [Video Selection:](#video-selection)
18 - [Download Options:](#download-options)
19 - [Filesystem Options:](#filesystem-options)
20 - [Thumbnail images:](#thumbnail-images)
21 - [Verbosity / Simulation Options:](#verbosity--simulation-options)
22 - [Workarounds:](#workarounds)
23 - [Video Format Options:](#video-format-options)
24 - [Subtitle Options:](#subtitle-options)
25 - [Authentication Options:](#authentication-options)
26 - [Adobe Pass Options:](#adobe-pass-options)
27 - [Post-processing Options:](#post-processing-options)
28 - [Extractor Options:](#extractor-options)
29 - [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
30 - [Authentication with
`.netrc` file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
31 - [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
32 - [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
33 - [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
34 - [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
35 - [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
36 - [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
37 - [Default Format Selection](#default-format-selection)
38 - [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
39 - [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection-
1)
42 [How to update](#update)
45 Preferred way using pip:
46 You may want to use
`python3` instead of
`python`
48 python -m pip install --upgrade youtube-dlc
50 If you want to install the current master branch
52 python -m pip install git+https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc
54 **UNIX** (Linux, macOS, etc.)
57 sudo wget https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
58 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
62 sudo curl -L https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
63 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dlc
66 **Windows** users can download
[youtube-dlc.exe](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/releases/latest/download/youtube-dlc.exe) (**do not** put in
`C:\Windows\System32`!).
69 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
71 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
72 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
74 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
75 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
77 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
78 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
81 You will need the required build tools
82 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
89 **DO NOT UPDATE using
`-U` !** instead download binaries again or when installed with pip use a described above when installing.
90 I will add some memorable short links to the binaries so you can download them easier.
93 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.6,
2.7, or
3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
95 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
98 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
99 --version Print program version and exit
100 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
101 sure that you have sufficient permissions
102 (run with sudo if needed)
103 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
104 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
105 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
106 playlist or the command line) if an error
108 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
109 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
110 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
112 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
114 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
115 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
116 from google videos for youtube-dlc "large
117 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
118 youtube-dlc guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
119 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
120 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
121 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
122 this is not possible instead of searching.
123 --ignore-config Do not read configuration files. When given
124 in the global configuration file
125 /etc/youtube-dlc.conf: Do not read the user
126 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
127 dlc/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-
128 dlc/config.txt on Windows)
129 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
130 the path to the config or its containing
132 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
134 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
135 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (YouTube only)
136 --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
139 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
140 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
142 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
143 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
144 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
145 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
146 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
147 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
150 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
151 some geo-restricted sites. The default
152 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
153 option is not present) is used for the
155 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
156 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
157 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
158 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
159 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
160 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
162 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
163 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
167 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
168 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
169 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
170 indices of the videos in the playlist
171 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
172 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
173 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
174 specify range: "--playlist-items
175 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
176 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13.
177 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
179 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
181 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
182 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
183 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
184 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
186 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date
187 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
188 this date (i.e. inclusive)
189 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
190 this date (i.e. inclusive)
191 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
193 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
195 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
196 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of
197 available keys) to match if the key is
198 present, !key to check if the key is not
199 present, key > NUMBER (like "comment_count
200 > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
201 compare against a number, key = 'LITERAL'
202 (like "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works
203 with !=) to match against a string literal
204 and & to require multiple matches. Values
205 which are not known are excluded unless you
206 put a question mark (?) after the operator.
207 For example, to only match videos that have
208 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
209 less than
50 times (or the dislike
210 functionality is not available at the given
211 service), but who also have a description,
212 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
213 dislike_count <?
50 & description" .
214 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
215 to a video and a playlist.
216 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
217 a video and a playlist.
218 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
220 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
221 archive file. Record the IDs of all
222 downloaded videos in it.
223 --break-on-existing Stop the download process after attempting
224 to download a file that's in the archive.
225 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
229 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
231 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
233 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
234 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
236 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments (DASH, hlsnative
238 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading when some fragment is not
240 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
241 downloading is finished; fragments are
243 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
245 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer
246 size. By default, the buffer size is
247 automatically resized from an initial value
249 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
250 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
251 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
252 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
254 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
255 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
256 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
258 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
260 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
262 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
263 allowing to play the video while
264 downloading (some players may not be able
266 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
268 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
269 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
272 ## Filesystem Options:
273 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
274 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
275 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
276 comments and ignored.
277 --id Use only video ID in file name
278 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the "OUTPUT
279 TEMPLATE" for all the info
280 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
282 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
283 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
285 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
286 -c, --continue Force resume of partially downloaded files.
287 By default, youtube-dlc will resume
288 downloads if possible.
289 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded files
290 (restart from beginning)
291 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
293 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
294 the file modification time
295 --write-description Write video description to a .description
297 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
298 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
299 .annotations.xml file
300 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
301 (created with the "--write-info-json"
303 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
305 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-
306 dlc can store some downloaded information
307 permanently. By default
308 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dlc or
309 ~/.cache/youtube-dlc . At the moment, only
310 YouTube player files (for videos with
311 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
313 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
314 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
315 --trim-file-name Limit the filename length (extension
319 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
320 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
321 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
324 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
325 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending on
326 the current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop).
327 The URL may be cached by the OS.
328 --write-url-link Write a Windows internet shortcut file (.url).
329 Note that the OS caches the URL based on the file path.
330 --write-webloc-link Write a macOS internet shortcut file (.webloc)
331 --write-desktop-link Write a Linux internet shortcut file (.desktop)
333 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
334 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
335 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
336 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
338 --skip-download Do not download the video
339 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
340 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
341 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
342 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
343 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
344 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
345 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
346 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
347 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
348 See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description
350 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
351 for each command-line argument. If the URL
352 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
353 playlist information in a single line.
354 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
355 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
356 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
357 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
358 another simulation switch is used.
359 (Same as --force-download-archive)
360 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
361 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
362 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
363 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
364 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
365 to debug problems (very verbose)
366 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
367 files in the current directory to debug
369 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
370 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dlc server for
372 --no-call-home Do NOT contact the youtube-dlc server for
376 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
377 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
378 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
379 information about the video. (Currently
380 supported only for YouTube)
381 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
382 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
383 access is restricted to one domain
384 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
385 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
386 option multiple times
387 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
388 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
389 or fribidi executable in PATH
390 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
391 download when used alone or a lower bound
392 of a range for randomized sleep before each
393 download (minimum possible number of
394 seconds to sleep) when used along with
395 --max-sleep-interval.
396 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
397 before each download (maximum possible
398 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
399 used along with --min-sleep-interval.
400 --sleep-subtitles Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well.
403 ## Video Format Options:
404 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
406 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
407 "Sorting Formats" for more details
408 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
409 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
410 Formats" for more details
411 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
412 specified sort order, see "Sorting Formats"
413 for more details (default)
414 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged into a single file (default)
415 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each output file
416 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged into a single file (default)
417 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each output file
418 --all-formats Download all available video formats
419 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
421 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
423 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
424 related data on YouTube videos
425 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
426 related data on YouTube videos
427 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
428 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
429 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
430 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
433 --write-sub Write subtitle file
434 --write-auto-sub Write automatically generated subtitle file
436 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
438 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
439 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
440 preference, for example: "srt" or
442 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
443 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
444 subs for available language tags
446 ## Authentication Options:
447 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
448 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
449 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively.
450 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
451 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
452 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, smotri, youku)
454 ## Adobe Pass Options:
455 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
456 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
457 a list of available MSOs
458 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
459 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
460 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
461 will ask interactively.
462 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
465 ## Post-processing Options:
466 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
467 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
469 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
470 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
471 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
473 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
474 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
475 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
477 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video to another container format
478 if necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv,
479 target container format must support video
480 / audio encoding, remuxing may fail)
481 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if
482 necessary (currently supported:
483 mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
484 --postprocessor-args ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessor
485 -k, --keep-video Keep the video file on disk after the post-
486 processing; the video is erased by default
487 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files; the
488 post-processed files are overwritten by
490 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
492 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
493 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
494 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
495 artist from the video title. The format
496 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
497 expression with named capture groups may
498 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
499 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
500 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
501 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
502 (regex): --metadata-from-title
503 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
504 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
505 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
506 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
507 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
508 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
509 default; fix file if we can, warn
511 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
513 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
514 postprocessors (default)
515 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
516 either the path to the binary or its
517 containing directory.
518 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
519 downloading and post-processing, similar to
520 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
521 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
522 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
523 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
525 ## Extractor Options:
526 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
530 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and macOS, the system wide configuration file is located at
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf` and the user wide configuration file at
`~/.config/youtube-dlc/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are
`%APPDATA%\youtube-dlc\config.txt` or
`C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dlc.conf`. Note that by default configuration file may not exist so you may need to create it yourself.
532 For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dlc will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`Movies` directory in your home directory:
534 # Lines starting with # are comments
536 # Always extract audio
539 # Do not copy the mtime
543 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
545 # Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
546 -o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
549 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`.
551 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
553 You can also use
`--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
555 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
557 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with
`--username` and
`--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every youtube-dlc execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a
[`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per extractor basis. For that you will need to create a
`.netrc` file in your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
560 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
562 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
564 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
568 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
569 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
571 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
573 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
575 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
580 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
582 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
584 The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dlc -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting). For example,
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations. Allowed names along with sequence type are:
586 - `id` (string): Video identifier
587 - `title` (string): Video title
588 - `url` (string): Video URL
589 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
590 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
591 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
592 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
593 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
594 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
595 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
596 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
597 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
598 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
599 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
600 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
601 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
602 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
603 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
604 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
605 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
606 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
607 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
608 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
609 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
610 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
611 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
612 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
613 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
614 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
615 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
616 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
617 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
618 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
619 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
620 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
621 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
622 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
623 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
624 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
625 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
626 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
627 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
628 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
629 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
630 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
631 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
632 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
633 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
634 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
635 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
636 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
637 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
638 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
639 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
641 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
643 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
644 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
645 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
647 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
649 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
650 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
651 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
652 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
653 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
654 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
655 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
657 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
659 - `track` (string): Title of the track
660 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
661 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
662 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
663 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
664 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
665 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
666 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
667 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
668 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
670 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with
`NA`.
672 For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`youtube-dlc test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a
`youtube-dlc test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
674 For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
676 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.
678 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
680 The current default template is
`%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
682 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:
684 #### Output template and Windows batch files
686 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"`.
688 #### Output template examples
690 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
693 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
694 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
696 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
697 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
699 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
700 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
702 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
703 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
705 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
706 $ youtube-dlc -u user -p password -o '~/MyVideos/%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
708 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
709 $ youtube-dlc -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
711 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
712 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
717 By default youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality, i.e. if you want the best quality you **don't need** to pass any special options, youtube-dlc will guess it for you by **default**.
719 But sometimes you may want to download in a different format, for example when you are on a slow or intermittent connection. The key mechanism for achieving this is so-called *format selection* based on which you can explicitly specify desired format, select formats based on some criterion or criteria, setup precedence and much more.
721 The general syntax for format selection is
`--format FORMAT` or shorter
`-f FORMAT` where
`FORMAT` is a *selector expression*, i.e. an expression that describes format or formats you would like to download.
723 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
725 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.
727 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.
729 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
731 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
732 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
734 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
735 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
737 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
738 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
740 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
741 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
743 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
744 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
746 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
747 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
749 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use
`-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended to never actually use
`worst` and related options. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
751 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.
753 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`.
755 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using
`-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg or avconv installed), for example
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv. If
`--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if
`--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` will download and merge all
3 given formats. The resulting file will have
2 video streams and
2 audio streams. But
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio`.
`best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (
`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important.
`-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while
`-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore
`best` and download only
`bestaudio`.
759 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
761 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
763 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
764 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
765 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
766 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
767 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
768 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
769 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
772 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
774 - `ext`: File extension
775 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
776 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
777 - `container`: Name of the container format
778 - `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`)
779 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
781 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
783 Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the video hoster. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
785 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.
787 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than
480 you can use
`-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
791 You can change the criteria for being considered the
`best` by using
`-S` (
`--format-sort`). The general format for this is
`--format-sort field1,field2...`. The available fields are:
793 - `video`,
`has_video`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
794 - `audio`,
`has_audio`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
795 - `extractor`,
`preference`,
`extractor_preference`: The format preference as given by the extractor
796 - `lang`,
`language_preference`: Language preference as given by the extractor
797 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
798 - `source`,
`source_preference`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
799 - `proto`,
`protocol`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
800 - `vcodec`,
`video_codec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
801 - `acodec`,
`audio_codec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
802 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
803 - `vext`,
`video_ext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`flv` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
804 - `aext`,
`audio_ext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
805 - `ext`,
`extension`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
806 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
807 - `filesize_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated the manifests
808 - `size`,
`filesize_estimate`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
809 - `height`: Height of video
810 - `width`: Width of video
811 - `res`,
`dimension`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
812 - `fps`,
`framerate`: Framerate of video
813 - `tbr`,
`total_bitrate`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
814 - `vbr`,
`video_bitrate`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
815 - `abr`,
`audio_bitrate`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
816 - `br`,
`bitrate`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
817 - `samplerate`,
`asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
819 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a
`+`. Eg:
`+res` prefers the smallest resolution format. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, seperated by a
`:`. Eg:
`res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than
720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than
720p. For
`codec` and
`ext`, you can provide two prefered values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg:
`+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to
`+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to
`h264` >
`h265` >
`vp9` >
`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.
821 The fields
`has_video`,
`extractor_preference`,
`language_preference`,
`quality` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used by youtube-dlc is:
`tbr,filesize,vbr,height,width,protocol,vext,abr,aext,fps,filesize_approx,source_preference,format_id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order (currently no extractor does this), but not the user-provided order.
823 If your format selector is
`worst`, the last item is selected after sorting. This means it will select the format that is worst in all repects. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps`.
825 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
827 ## Default Format Selection
829 Since the end of April
2015 and version
2015.04.26, youtube-dlc uses
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best` as the default format selection (see
[#5447](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/5447),
[#5456](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/5456)). If ffmpeg or avconv are installed this results in downloading
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio` separately and muxing them together into a single file giving the best overall quality available. Otherwise it falls back to
`best` and results in downloading the best available quality served as a single file.
`best` is also needed for videos that don't come from YouTube because they don't provide the audio and video in two different files. Note that if you use youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (and most likely to pipe it to your media player then), i.e. you explicitly specify output template as
`-o -`, youtube-dlc still uses
`-f best` format selection in order to start content delivery immediately to your player and not to wait until
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio` are downloaded and muxed.
831 If you want to preserve the old format selection behavior (prior to youtube-dlc
2015.04.26), i.e. you want to download the best available quality media served as a single file, you should explicitly specify your choice with
`-f best`. You may want to add it to the [configuration file](#configuration) in order not to type it every time you run youtube-dlc.
833 ## Format Selection examples
835 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
838 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
839 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
843 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bestvideo+bestaudio/best'
845 # Download best format that contains video,
846 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
847 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bestvideo*+bestaudio/best' --no-audio-multistreams
851 # Download the worst video available
852 $ youtube-dlc -f 'worstvideo+worstaudio/worst'
854 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
855 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
857 # Download the smallest video available
858 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+bitrate'
862 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
863 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/bestvideo+bestaudio / best'
865 # Download the best video with the best extension
866 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
867 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
871 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
872 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
873 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bestvideo[height<=480]+bestaudio/best[height<=480] / worstvideo+bestaudio/worst'
875 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
876 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
877 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
879 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
880 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
881 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
882 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
883 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
887 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
888 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
889 $ youtube-dlc -f 'best[filesize<50M] / worst'
891 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
892 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
893 $ youtube-dlc -f 'best' -S 'filesize:50M'
895 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
896 $ youtube-dlc -f 'best' -S 'filesize~50M'
900 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
901 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
902 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bestvideo+bestaudio/best)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / bestvideo+bestaudio/best'
904 # Download best video available via the best protocol
905 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
906 $ youtube-dlc -S 'protocol'
910 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
911 # For this case, an output template should be used since
912 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
913 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bestvideo,bestaudio' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
917 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
918 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bestvideo+bestaudio/best)[vcodec^=avc1] / bestvideo+bestaudio/best'
920 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
921 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
922 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
924 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
925 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
926 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
930 # More complex examples
932 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
933 # or the worst video (prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
934 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bestvideo[fps>30]/bestvideo)[height<=720]/(worstvideo[fps>30]/worstvideo)) + bestaudio / (best[fps>30]/best)[height<=720]/(worst[fps>30]/worst)'
936 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
937 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
938 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
939 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
943 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
944 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
945 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
946 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
953 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options
`--date`,
`--datebefore` or
`--dateafter`. They accept dates in two formats:
955 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format
`YYYYMMDD`.
956 - Relative dates: Dates in the format
`(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
961 # Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
962 $ youtube-dlc --dateafter now-6months
964 # Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
965 $ youtube-dlc --date 19700101
967 $ # Download only the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
968 $ youtube-dlc --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231