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(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/blob/master/LICENSE)
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8 A command-line program to download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
10 This is a fork of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) which is inturn a fork of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
12 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
13 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
16 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
18 * [Network Options](#network-options)
19 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
20 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
21 * [Download Options](#download-options)
22 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
23 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
24 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
25 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
26 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
27 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
28 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
29 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
30 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
31 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
32 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
33 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
34 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
35 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
36 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
37 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
38 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
39 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
40 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
41 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
42 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
47 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
49 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
51 * **[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))
53 * **Merged with youtube-dl v2021.01
.16**: 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)
55 * **Youtube improvements**:
56 * All Youtube Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) works correctly and support downloading multiple pages of content
57 * Youtube search works correctly (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`) along with Search URLs
58 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
60 * **New extractors**: Trovo.live, AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv
62 * **Fixed extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, tiktok, akamai, ina
64 * **New options**:
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
66 * **Improvements**: Multiple
`--postprocessor-args`,
`%(duration_string)s` in
`-o`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
68 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
71 **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
73 If you are coming from
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare
[options](#options) and [supported sites](docs/supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
78 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
79 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp/):
`python -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
80 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
81 * Use pip+git:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp.git@release`
82 * Install master branch:
`python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlp`
85 `-U` does not work. Simply repeat the install process to update.
90 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
92 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
93 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
95 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
96 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
98 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
99 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
102 You will need the required build tools
103 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
104 Then simply type this
110 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from youtube.com many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md). It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.6,
2.7, or
3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
112 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
116 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
117 <!-- Autogenerated -->
120 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
121 --version Print program version and exit
122 -U, --update [BROKEN] Update this program to latest
123 version. Make sure that you have sufficient
124 permissions (run with sudo if needed)
125 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
126 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
127 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
128 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
129 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
130 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
131 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
132 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
134 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
136 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
137 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
138 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
139 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
140 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
141 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
142 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
143 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
144 this is not possible instead of searching
145 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
146 except the one provided by --config-location.
147 When given inside a configuration
148 file, no further configuration files are
149 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
150 compatibility) if this option is found
151 inside the system configuration file, the
152 user configuration is not loaded
153 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
154 the path to the config or its containing
156 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
158 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
159 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
160 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
161 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
162 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
165 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
166 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
168 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
169 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
170 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
171 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
172 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
173 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
176 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
177 some geo-restricted sites. The default
178 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
179 option is not present) is used for the
181 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
182 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
183 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
184 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
185 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
186 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
188 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
189 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
193 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
194 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
195 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
196 indices of the videos in the playlist
197 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
198 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
199 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
200 specify range: "--playlist-items
201 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
202 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
203 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
205 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
207 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
208 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
209 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
210 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
212 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
213 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
214 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
215 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
216 this date. The date formats accepted is the
218 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
219 this date. The date formats accepted is the
221 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
223 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
225 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
226 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of available
227 keys) to match if the key is present, !key
228 to check if the key is not present,
229 key>NUMBER (like "comment_count >
12", also
230 works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to compare
231 against a number, key = 'LITERAL' (like
232 "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works with
233 !=) to match against a string literal and &
234 to require multiple matches. Values which
235 are not known are excluded unless you put a
236 question mark (?) after the operator. For
237 example, to only match videos that have
238 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
239 less than
50 times (or the dislike
240 functionality is not available at the given
241 service), but who also have a description,
242 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
243 dislike_count <?
50 & description"
244 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
245 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
246 to a video and a playlist
247 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
248 a video and a playlist
249 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
251 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
252 archive file. Record the IDs of all
253 downloaded videos in it
254 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
255 a file that is in the archive
256 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
257 a file that has been filtered out
258 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
259 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
261 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
264 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
266 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
268 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
269 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
271 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
272 hlsnative and ISM (default)
273 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
274 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
275 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
276 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
277 downloading is finished
278 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
279 downloading is finished (default)
280 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
282 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
283 from an initial value of --buffer-size
285 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
286 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
287 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
288 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
289 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
291 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
292 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
294 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
295 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
297 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
299 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
301 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
302 allowing to play the video while
303 downloading (some players may not be able
305 --external-downloader NAME Use the specified external downloader.
306 Currently supports aria2c, avconv, axel,
307 curl, ffmpeg, httpie, wget
308 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
309 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
310 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
311 can use this option multiple times (Alias:
312 --external-downloader-args)
314 ## Filesystem Options:
315 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
316 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
317 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
319 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see "OUTPUT
320 TEMPLATE" for details
321 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
323 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
324 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
326 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
328 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
329 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
330 This option includes --no-continue
331 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
332 related files (default)
333 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
334 --no-continue Restart download of partially downloaded
336 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
337 into output file (default)
338 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
340 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
341 file modification time (default)
342 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
343 the file modification time
344 --write-description Write video description to a .description
346 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
347 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
348 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
349 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
350 .annotations.xml file
351 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
352 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
353 (created with the "--write-info-json"
355 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
357 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
358 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
359 can store some downloaded information
360 permanently. By default
361 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
362 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
363 YouTube player files (for videos with
364 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
366 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
367 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
368 --trim-file-name LENGTH Limit the filename length (extension
372 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
373 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
375 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
376 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
379 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
380 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
381 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
382 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
383 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
384 OS caches the URL based on the file path
385 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
386 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
388 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
389 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
390 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
391 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
393 --skip-download Do not download the video
394 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
395 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
396 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
397 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
398 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
399 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
400 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
401 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
402 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
403 See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description of
405 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
406 for each command-line argument. If the URL
407 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
408 playlist information in a single line
409 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
410 JSON (video is still being downloaded)
411 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
412 written as far as no errors occur,even if
413 -s or another simulation switch is used
414 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
415 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
416 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
417 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
418 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
419 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
420 to debug problems (very verbose)
421 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
422 files in the current directory to debug
424 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
425 -C, --call-home [Broken] Contact the youtube-dlc server for
427 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
431 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
432 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
433 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
434 information about the video. (Currently
435 supported only for YouTube)
436 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
437 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
438 access is restricted to one domain
439 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
440 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
441 option multiple times
442 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
443 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
444 or fribidi executable in PATH
445 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
446 download when used alone or a lower bound
447 of a range for randomized sleep before each
448 download (minimum possible number of
449 seconds to sleep) when used along with
451 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
452 before each download (maximum possible
453 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
454 used along with --min-sleep-interval
455 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
457 ## Video Format Options:
458 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
460 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
461 "Sorting Formats" for more details
462 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
463 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
464 Formats" for more details
465 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
466 specified sort order (default), see
467 "Sorting Formats" for more details
468 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
470 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
471 each output file (default)
472 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
474 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
475 each output file (default)
476 --all-formats Download all available video formats
477 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats over non-free
478 formats of same quality
479 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
481 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in tabular form
483 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
484 (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
485 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related
486 data on YouTube videos (default) (Alias:
487 --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
488 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
489 related data on YouTube videos (Alias:
490 --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
491 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
492 on YouTube videos (default) (Alias:
493 --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
494 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
495 related data on YouTube videos (Alias:
496 --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
497 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
498 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
499 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
500 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
503 --write-subs Write subtitle file
504 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
505 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
507 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
508 subtitle file (default)
509 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
511 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
512 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
513 preference, for example: "srt" or
515 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
516 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
517 subs for available language tags
519 ## Authentication Options:
520 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
521 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
522 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively
523 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
524 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
525 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
527 ## Adobe Pass Options:
528 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
529 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
530 a list of available MSOs
531 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
532 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
533 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
534 will ask interactively
535 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
538 ## Post-Processing Options:
539 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
540 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
542 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
543 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
544 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
546 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
547 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
548 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
550 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
551 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv).
552 If target container does not support the
553 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail
554 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
555 re-encoding is necessary (currently
556 supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
557 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
558 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
559 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
560 to give the argument to the specified
561 postprocessor/executable. Supported
562 postprocessors are: SponSkrub,
563 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
564 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
565 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
566 SubtitlesConvertor and EmbedThumbnail. The
567 supported executables are: SponSkrub,
568 FFmpeg, FFprobe, avconf, avprobe and
569 AtomicParsley. You can use this option
570 multiple times to give different arguments
571 to different postprocessors. You can also
572 specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments
573 to the specified executable only when being
574 used by the specified postprocessor. You
575 can use this option multiple times (Alias:
577 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
578 after post-processing
579 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
580 post-processing (default)
581 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
582 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
583 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
585 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
586 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
587 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
588 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
589 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
590 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
591 artist from the video title. The format
592 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
593 expression with named capture groups may
594 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
595 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
596 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
597 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
598 (regex): --metadata-from-title
599 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
600 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
601 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
602 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
603 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
604 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
605 default; fix file if we can, warn
607 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
608 postprocessors (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
609 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
610 postprocessors (default)
611 (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
612 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
613 either the path to the binary or its
615 (Alias: --avconv-location)
616 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
617 downloading and post-processing, similar to
618 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
619 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
620 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
621 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
623 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
624 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/pukkandan/SponSkrub) is a utility to
625 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
626 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
628 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
629 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
630 binary exists (Youtube only)
631 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
632 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
634 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
636 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
638 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
639 video was already downloaded (default)
640 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
641 the path to the binary or its containing
644 ## Extractor Options:
645 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
646 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
647 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
648 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
652 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
654 1. The file given by
`--config-location`
655 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` or
`youtube-dlc.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/youtube_dlc/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
656 1. **User Configuration**:
657 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
658 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
659 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
660 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
662 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
664 If none of these files are found, the search is performed again by replacing
`yt-dlp` with
`youtube-dlc`. Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
665 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf` or
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf`
667 For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dlc will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
669 # Lines starting with # are comments
671 # Always extract audio
674 # Do not copy the mtime
678 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
680 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
681 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
684 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`.
686 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular youtube-dlc run. If
`--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
688 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
690 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:
693 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
695 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
697 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
701 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
702 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
704 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
706 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
708 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
713 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
715 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
717 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:
719 - `id` (string): Video identifier
720 - `title` (string): Video title
721 - `url` (string): Video URL
722 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
723 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
724 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
725 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
726 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
727 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
728 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
729 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
730 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
731 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
732 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
733 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
734 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
735 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
736 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
737 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
738 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
739 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
740 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
741 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
742 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
743 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
744 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
745 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
746 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
747 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
748 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
749 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
750 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
751 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
752 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
753 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
754 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
755 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
756 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
757 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
758 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
759 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
760 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
761 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
762 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
763 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
764 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
765 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
766 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
767 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
768 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
769 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
770 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
771 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
772 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
773 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
775 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
777 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
778 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
779 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
781 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
783 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
784 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
785 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
786 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
787 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
788 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
789 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
791 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
793 - `track` (string): Title of the track
794 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
795 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
796 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
797 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
798 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
799 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
800 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
801 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
802 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
804 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`.
806 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.
808 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`.
810 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.
812 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
814 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
816 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:
818 #### Output template and Windows batch files
820 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"`.
822 #### Output template examples
824 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
827 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
828 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
830 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
831 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
833 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
834 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
836 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
837 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
839 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
840 $ 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/
842 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
843 $ 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
845 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
846 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
851 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
852 This is generally equivalent to using
`-f bestvideo*+bestaudio/best`. However, if multiple audiostreams is enabled (
`--audio-multistreams`), the default format changes to
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio/best`. Similarly, if ffmpeg and avconv are unavailable, or if you use youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
854 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.
856 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
858 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.
860 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.
862 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
864 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
865 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
866 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
867 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
868 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
869 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
870 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
871 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
872 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
873 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
874 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
875 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
877 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use
`-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended to never actually use
`worst` and related options. When your format selector is
`worst`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of
`-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
879 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.
881 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`.
883 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`.
887 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
889 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
891 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
892 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
893 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
894 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
895 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
896 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
897 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
900 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
902 - `ext`: File extension
903 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
904 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
905 - `container`: Name of the container format
906 - `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`)
907 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
908 - `language`: Language code
910 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
912 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.
914 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.
916 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]'`.
920 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:
922 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
923 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
924 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
925 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
926 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
927 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
928 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
929 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
930 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
931 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
932 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
933 - `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`.
934 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
935 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
936 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
937 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
938 - `height`: Height of video
939 - `width`: Width of video
940 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
941 - `fps`: Framerate of video
942 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
943 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
944 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
945 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
946 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
948 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a
`+`. Eg:
`+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, seperated by a
`:`. Eg:
`res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than
720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than
720p. For
`codec` and
`ext`, you can provide two prefered values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg:
`+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to
`+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to
`h264` >
`h265` >
`vp9` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` and audio codec preference to
`mp4a` >
`aac` >
`vorbis` >
`opus` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using
`~` as the delimiter. Eg:
`filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to
1 GiB.
950 The fields
`hasvid`,
`ie_pref`,
`lang`,
`quality` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`res,fps,codec,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.
952 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`.
954 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
956 ## Format Selection examples
958 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
961 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
962 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
963 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
965 # Download best format that contains video,
966 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
967 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
972 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
973 # For this case, an output template should be used since
974 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
975 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
979 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
980 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but better result
982 # Download the worst video available (old method)
983 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
985 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
986 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
988 # Download the smallest video available
989 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+br'
993 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
994 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
996 # Download the best video with the best extension
997 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
998 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
1002 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1003 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1004 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1006 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1007 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1008 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
1010 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1011 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1012 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1013 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1014 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
1018 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1019 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1020 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1022 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1023 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1024 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1026 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1027 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1031 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1032 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1033 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1035 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1036 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1037 $ youtube-dlc -S 'proto'
1041 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1042 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1044 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1045 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1046 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1048 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1049 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1050 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1054 # More complex examples
1056 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1057 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1058 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1060 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1061 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1062 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1063 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1067 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1068 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1069 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1070 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1078 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)