4 A command-line program to download videos from YouTube and many other [video platforms](supportedsites.md)
6 <!-- GHA doesn't have for-the-badge style
7 [![CI Status](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/workflows/Core%20Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
9 [![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Release&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
10 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
11 [![Doc Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/yt-dlp/badge/?version=latest&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
12 [![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&label=discord&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
13 [![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14 [![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?style=for-the-badge)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
15 [![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/total?style=for-the-badge&color=blue)]
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
16 [![PyPi Downloads](https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/yt-dlp?label=PyPi&style=for-the-badge)]
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
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 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
23 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
24 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
26 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
28 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
29 * [General Options](#general-options)
30 * [Network Options](#network-options)
31 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
32 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
33 * [Download Options](#download-options)
34 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
35 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
36 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
37 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
38 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
39 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
40 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
41 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
42 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
43 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
44 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
45 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
46 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
47 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
48 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
49 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
50 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
51 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
52 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
53 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
54 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
55 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
56 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
58 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
64 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
66 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
68 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using
`-S`. This allows for much easier format selection that what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
70 * **Merged with youtube-dl
[commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06
.06) You get all the latest features and patches of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
72 * **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 improvements are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
74 * **Youtube improvements**:
75 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) supports downloading multiple pages of content
76 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
77 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
78 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
79 * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
80 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded
82 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
84 * **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
86 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
88 * **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive
90 * **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon
92 * **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
94 * **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`)
96 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
98 * **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`
100 * **Other new options**:
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
102 * **Improvements**: Multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
104 * **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
106 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
109 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
112 **PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
114 If you are coming from
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare
[options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
116 ### Differences in default behavior
118 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
120 * The options
`--id`,
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
121 * `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
122 * 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`
123 * 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
124 * 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 prefered. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
125 * 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
126 * `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
127 * 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
128 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-infojson`. Use
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
129 * `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
130 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
131 * 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
132 * 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
133 * 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. 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
134 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
135 * 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
136 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
138 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
139 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
140 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
141 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
145 yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
147 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
148 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
149 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp):
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
150 * Use pip+git:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
151 * Install master branch:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
153 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
155 UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
158 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
159 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
163 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
164 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
168 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
169 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
173 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
174 If you are using
`pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
177 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
179 <!-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 -->
180 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.
182 While all the other dependancies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
183 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
184 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options). Licenced under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
185 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
186 * [**pycryptodome**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting various data. Licenced under
[BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
187 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
188 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
189 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
190 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
191 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
192 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
194 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
196 Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodome and websockets included.
201 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodome, websockets)
203 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome websockets
205 Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run
`py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
207 You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
209 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
211 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
214 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`nosetests`
215 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
217 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
221 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
223 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
224 <!-- Auto generated -->
227 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
228 --version Print program version and exit
229 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
230 sure that you have sufficient permissions
231 (run with sudo if needed)
232 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
233 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
234 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
235 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
236 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
237 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
238 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
239 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
241 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
243 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
244 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
245 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
246 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
247 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
248 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
249 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
250 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
251 this is not possible instead of searching
252 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
253 except the one provided by --config-location.
254 When given inside a configuration
255 file, no further configuration files are
256 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
257 compatibility) if this option is found
258 inside the system configuration file, the
259 user configuration is not loaded
260 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
261 either the path to the config or its
263 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
265 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
266 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
267 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
268 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
269 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
270 with youtube-dl and youtube-dlc
271 configurations by reverting some of the
272 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
273 default behavior" for details
276 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
277 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
279 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
280 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
281 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
282 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
283 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
284 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
287 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
288 some geo-restricted sites. The default
289 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
290 option is not present) is used for the
292 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
293 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
294 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
295 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
296 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
297 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
299 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
300 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
304 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
305 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
306 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
307 indices of the videos in the playlist
308 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
309 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
310 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
311 specify range: "--playlist-items
312 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
313 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
314 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
316 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
318 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
319 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
320 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
321 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
323 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
324 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
325 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
326 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
327 this date. The date formats accepted is the
329 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
330 this date. The date formats accepted is the
332 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
334 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
336 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
337 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
338 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
339 to check if the key is not present,
340 key>NUMBER (like "view_count >
12", also
341 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
342 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
343 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
344 !=) to match against a string literal and &
345 to require multiple matches. Values which
346 are not known are excluded unless you put a
347 question mark (?) after the operator. For
348 example, to only match videos that have
349 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
350 less than
50 times (or the dislike
351 functionality is not available at the given
352 service), but who also have a description,
353 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
354 dislike_count <?
50 & description"
355 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
356 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
357 to a video and a playlist
358 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
359 a video and a playlist
360 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
362 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
363 archive file. Record the IDs of all
364 downloaded videos in it
365 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
366 a file that is in the archive
367 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
368 a file that has been filtered out
369 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
370 of the playlist is skipped
371 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
374 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
375 video that should be download concurrently
377 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
379 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
380 below which throttling is assumed and the
381 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
382 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
384 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
385 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
387 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
388 hlsnative and ISM (default)
389 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
390 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
391 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
392 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
393 downloading is finished
394 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
395 downloading is finished (default)
396 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
398 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
399 from an initial value of --buffer-size
401 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
402 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
403 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
404 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
405 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
407 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
408 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
410 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
411 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
413 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
414 allowing some players to play the video
415 while downloading, and reducing the chance
416 of file corruption if download is
417 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
419 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
420 videos. This is default when not
421 downloading live streams
422 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
423 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
424 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
425 use it for. Currently supports native,
426 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
427 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
428 this option multiple times to set different
429 downloaders for different protocols. For
430 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
431 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
432 http/ftp downloads, and the native
433 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
434 (Alias: --external-downloader)
435 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
436 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
437 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
438 can use this option multiple times to give
439 different arguments to different downloaders
440 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
442 ## Filesystem Options:
443 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
444 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
445 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
447 -P, --paths TYPES:PATH The paths where the files should be
448 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
449 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
450 same types as --output are supported.
451 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
452 and "temp" paths. All intermediary files
453 are first downloaded to the temp path and
454 then the final files are moved over to the
455 home path after download is finished. This
456 option is ignored if --output is an
458 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
459 TEMPLATE" for details
460 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
461 fields in output filename template
463 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
464 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
466 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
468 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
469 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
470 using windows (default)
471 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
472 extension) to the specified number of
474 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
475 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
476 This option includes --no-continue
477 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
478 related files (default)
479 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
481 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
482 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
483 restart download of the entire file
484 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
485 into output file (default)
486 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
488 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
489 file modification time (default)
490 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
491 the file modification time
492 --write-description Write video description to a .description
494 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
495 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
496 (this may contain personal information)
497 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
498 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
499 .annotations.xml file
500 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
501 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
502 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
503 --write-description etc. (default)
504 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
505 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
506 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
507 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
508 could still contain some personal
509 information (default)
510 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
511 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
512 infojson. The comments are fetched even
513 without this option if the extraction is
514 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
515 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
516 extraction is known to be quick
517 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
518 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
519 (created with the "--write-info-json"
521 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
523 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
524 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
525 can store some downloaded information (such
526 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
527 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
529 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
530 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
532 ## Thumbnail Options:
533 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
534 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
536 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
537 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
540 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
541 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
542 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
543 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
544 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
545 OS caches the URL based on the file path
546 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
547 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
549 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
550 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
551 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
552 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
554 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
555 for extracting metadata even if the video
556 is not actually available for download
558 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
559 formats are found (default)
560 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
561 related files (Alias: --no-download)
562 -O, --print TEMPLATE Simulate, quiet but print the given fields.
563 Either a field name or similar formatting
564 as the output template can be used
565 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
566 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
568 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
569 for each command-line argument. If the URL
570 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
571 playlist information in a single line
572 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
573 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
574 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
575 written as far as no errors occur, even if
576 -s or another simulation option is used
577 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
578 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
579 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
580 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
581 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
582 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
583 to debug problems (very verbose)
584 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
585 files in the current directory to debug
587 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
590 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
591 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
592 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
593 information about the video (Currently
594 supported only for YouTube)
595 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
596 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
597 access is restricted to one domain
598 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
599 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
600 option multiple times
601 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
602 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
603 or fribidi executable in PATH
604 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
605 during data extraction
606 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
607 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
608 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
609 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
610 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
611 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
612 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
615 ## Video Format Options:
616 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
618 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
619 "Sorting Formats" for more details
620 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
621 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
622 Formats" for more details
623 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
624 specified sort order (default), see
625 "Sorting Formats" for more details
626 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
628 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
629 each output file (default)
630 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
632 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
633 each output file (default)
634 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
635 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
636 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
637 containers irrespective of quality
638 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
640 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
641 actually downloadable (Experimental)
642 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
644 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
645 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
646 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
647 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
648 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
649 downloaded. All video post-processing will
651 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
652 listed or downloaded (default)
655 --write-subs Write subtitle file
656 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
657 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
658 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
659 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
660 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
661 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
662 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
663 preference, for example: "srt" or
665 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
666 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
667 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
668 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
669 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
670 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
671 list of available language tags
673 ## Authentication Options:
674 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
675 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
676 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
677 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
678 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
679 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
680 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
681 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
682 a list of available MSOs
683 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
684 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
685 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
687 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
690 ## Post-Processing Options:
691 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
692 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
693 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
694 to when -x is used. Currently supported
695 formats are: best (default) or one of
696 aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
697 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
698 value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for
699 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
701 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
702 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
703 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
704 target container does not support the
705 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
706 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
707 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
708 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
709 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
710 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
711 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
712 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
713 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
714 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
715 to give the argument to the specified
716 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
717 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
718 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
719 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
720 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
721 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
722 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
723 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
724 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
725 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
726 arguments to the specified executable only
727 when being used by the specified
728 postprocessor. Additionally, for
729 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
730 to the prefix optionally followed by a
731 number to pass the argument before the
732 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
733 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
734 this option multiple times to give
735 different arguments to different
736 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
737 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
738 after post-processing
739 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
740 post-processing (default)
741 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
742 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
743 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
745 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
746 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
747 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
748 --embed-metadata Embed metadata including chapter markers
749 (if supported by the format) to the video
750 file (Alias: --add-metadata)
751 --no-embed-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
752 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
753 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
754 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
756 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
757 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
758 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
759 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
760 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
761 default; fix file if we can, warn
762 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
764 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
765 path to the binary or its containing
767 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
768 downloading and post-processing. Similar
769 syntax to the output template can be used
770 to pass any field as arguments to the
771 command. An additional field "filepath"
772 that contains the final path of the
773 downloaded file is also available. If no
774 fields are passed, "%(filepath)s" is
775 appended to the end of the command
776 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
777 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
778 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
779 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
780 (currently supported: jpg|png)
781 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
782 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
783 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
784 to set the output filename for the split
785 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
786 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
789 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
790 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
791 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
792 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
794 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
795 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
796 binary exists (Youtube only)
797 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
798 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
800 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
802 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
804 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
805 video was already downloaded (default)
806 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
807 the path to the binary or its containing
810 ## Extractor Options:
811 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
812 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
813 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
814 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
815 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
816 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
817 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
818 discontinuities such as ad breaks
819 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
820 formats at discontinuities such as ad
822 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
823 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
824 use this option multiple times to give
825 different arguments to different extractors
829 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
831 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
832 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.
833 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
834 1. **User Configuration**:
835 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
836 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
837 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
838 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
840 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
842 Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
843 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
845 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:
847 # Lines starting with # are comments
849 # Always extract audio
852 # Do not copy the mtime
856 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
858 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
859 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
862 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`.
864 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 user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
866 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
868 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 your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
871 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
873 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
875 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
879 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
880 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
882 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
884 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
886 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
891 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.
893 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
895 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).
897 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/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.
899 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
900 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)`,
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`. Note that the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
901 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`
902 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`
903 1. **Default**: A default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` seperator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
905 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
907 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
910 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`,
`infojson`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`. 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.
912 The available fields are:
914 - `id` (string): Video identifier
915 - `title` (string): Video title
916 - `url` (string): Video URL
917 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
918 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
919 - `description` (string): The description of the video
920 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
921 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
922 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
923 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
924 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
925 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
926 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
927 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
928 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
929 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
930 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
931 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
932 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
933 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
934 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
935 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
936 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
937 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
938 - `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)
939 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
940 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
941 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
942 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
943 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
944 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
945 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
946 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
947 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
948 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
949 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
950 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
951 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
952 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
953 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
954 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
955 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
956 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
957 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
958 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
959 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
960 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
961 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
962 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
963 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
964 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
965 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
966 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
967 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
968 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
969 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
970 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
971 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
972 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
973 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
974 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
976 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
978 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
979 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
980 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
982 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
984 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
985 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
986 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
987 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
988 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
989 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
990 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
992 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
994 - `track` (string): Title of the track
995 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
996 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
997 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
998 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
999 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1000 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1001 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1002 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1003 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1005 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1007 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1008 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1009 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1010 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1012 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1014 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1015 - `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
1017 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with
`--output-na-placeholder` (
`NA` by default).
1019 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.
1021 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`.
1023 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.
1025 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1027 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1029 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:
1031 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1033 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"`.
1035 #### Output template examples
1037 Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
1040 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1041 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
1043 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1044 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
1046 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1047 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1049 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1050 $ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1052 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1053 $ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1055 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1056 $ 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/
1058 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1059 $ 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
1061 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1062 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1067 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1068 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`.
1070 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.
1072 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1074 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.
1076 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.
1078 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1080 - `all`: Select all formats
1081 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1082 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1083 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1084 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1085 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1086 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1087 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
1088 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1089 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1090 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1091 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
1092 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
1093 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
1095 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
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of
`-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1097 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.
1099 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.
1101 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`.
1103 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using
`-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg. If
`--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if
`--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` will download and merge all
3 given formats. The resulting file will have
2 video streams and
2 audio streams. But
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio`.
`best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (
`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important.
`-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while
`-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore
`best` and download only
`bestaudio`.
1105 ## Filtering Formats
1107 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1109 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
1111 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1112 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1113 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1114 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1115 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1116 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1117 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1120 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1122 - `ext`: File extension
1123 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1124 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1125 - `container`: Name of the container format
1126 - `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`)
1127 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1128 - `language`: Language code
1130 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
1132 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.
1134 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.
1136 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]'`.
1140 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:
1142 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1143 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1144 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1145 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
1146 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
1147 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
1148 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8_native`/
`m3u8` >
`http_dash_segments`>
`websocket_frag` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
1149 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9.2` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
1150 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
1151 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
1152 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
1153 - `aext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
1154 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
1155 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
1156 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1157 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1158 - `height`: Height of video
1159 - `width`: Width of video
1160 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1161 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1162 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1163 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1164 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1165 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
1166 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1168 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. 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.
1170 The fields
`hasvid`,
`ie_pref`,
`lang` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`quality,res,fps,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1172 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`.
1174 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1176 ## Format Selection examples
1178 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1181 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1182 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1183 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
1185 # Download best format that contains video,
1186 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1187 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
1192 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1193 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1194 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1195 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1197 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1198 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1199 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1201 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1202 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1203 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
1206 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1207 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1209 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1210 $ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
1212 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1215 # Download the smallest video available
1216 $ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
1220 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1221 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1223 # Download the best video with the best extension
1224 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1229 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1230 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1231 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1233 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1234 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1235 $ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
1237 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1238 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1239 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1240 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1241 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
1245 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1246 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1247 $ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1249 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1250 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1251 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1253 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1254 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1258 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1259 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1260 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1262 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1263 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1268 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1269 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1271 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1272 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1273 $ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
1275 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1276 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1277 $ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
1281 # More complex examples
1283 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1284 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1285 $ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1287 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1288 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1289 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1290 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
1294 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1295 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1296 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1297 $ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1300 # MODIFYING METADATA
1302 The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using
`--parse-metadata FROM:TO`. The general syntax is to give the name of a field or a template (with similar syntax to
[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.
1304 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`.
1306 This option also has a few special uses:
1307 * 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. You can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis", for example
1308 * 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
1310 ## Modifying metadata examples
1312 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1315 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1316 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
1319 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
1321 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1322 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
1324 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
1325 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
1329 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1331 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using
`--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`.
`ARGS` is a
`;` (semicolon) seperated string of
`ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg:
`--extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash,hls;player_client=android" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1333 The following extractors use this feature:
1335 * `skip`:
`hls` or
`dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1336 * `player_client`:
`web` (default) or
`android` (force use the android client fallbacks for video extraction)
1337 * `player_skip`:
`configs` - skip requests if applicable for client configs and use defaults
1340 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg:
`funimation:language=english,japanese`
1341 * `version`: The video version to extract -
`uncut` or
`simulcast`
1343 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1348 Plugins are loaded from
`<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only
`extractor` plugins are supported. Support for
`downloader` and
`postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
1350 **Note**:
`<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`)
1352 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1354 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1356 #### Not recommended
1357 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1359 --get-description --print description
1360 --get-duration --print duration_string
1361 --get-filename --print filename
1362 --get-format --print format
1364 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1365 -e, --get-title --print title
1366 -g, --get-url --print urls
1367 --all-formats -f all
1368 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1369 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)
03d
1370 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1371 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1372 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1373 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1374 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1375 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1376 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1377 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1378 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1379 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1380 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1381 --test Used by developers for testing extractors. Not intended for the end user
1382 --youtube-print-sig-code Used for testing youtube signatures
1386 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1388 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1389 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1390 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1391 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1392 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1393 --load-info --load-info-json
1394 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1395 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1396 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1397 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1398 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1399 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1400 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1401 --write-srt --write-subs
1402 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1404 #### No longer supported
1405 These options may no longer work as intended
1407 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1408 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1409 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1410 --no-call-home Default
1411 --include-ads No longer supported
1412 --no-include-ads Default
1415 These options were deprecated since
2014 and have now been entirely removed
1417 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1418 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1419 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1420 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1424 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)