3 [](#readme)
5 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
6 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
7 [](LICENSE)
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators)
9 [](supportedsites.md)
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
11 []
(https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
12 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
15 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
19 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
21 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
22 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
23 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
27 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
28 * [General Options](#general-options)
29 * [Network Options](#network-options)
30 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
31 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
32 * [Download Options](#download-options)
33 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
34 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
35 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
36 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
37 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
38 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
39 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
40 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
41 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
42 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
43 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
44 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
45 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
46 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
47 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
48 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
49 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
51 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
52 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
53 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
54 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
55 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
57 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
63 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
65 * **
[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
67 * **[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))
69 * **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)
71 * **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.
73 * **Youtube improvements**:
74 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
75 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
76 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
77 * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
78 * Partial workaround for throttling issue
79 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
80 * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
81 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded
83 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
85 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
87 * **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
89 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
91 * **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision 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, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ
93 * **Fixed/improved 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, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll playlist, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds,
95 * **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
97 * **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`)
99 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
101 * **Output template improvements**: Output templates can now have date-time formatting, numeric offsets, object traversal etc. See [output template](#output-template) for details. Even more advanced operations can also be done with the help of
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
103 * **Other new options**:
`--print`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
105 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
107 * **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
109 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
112 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
115 **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
117 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.
119 ### Differences in default behavior
121 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
123 * The options
`--id`,
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
124 * `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
125 * 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`
126 * 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
127 * 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
128 * 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
129 * `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
130 * 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
131 * `--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
132 * `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
133 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
134 * 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
135 * 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
136 * 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
137 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
138 * 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
139 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
140 * Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use
`--no-clean-infojson` or
`--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
141 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the seperate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this.
143 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
144 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
145 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
146 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
150 yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
152 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
153 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
154 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp):
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
155 * Use pip+git:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
156 * Install master branch:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
158 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
160 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:
163 sudo curl -L 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 wget 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 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
174 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
179 If you are using
`pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
182 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
184 <!-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 -->
185 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.
187 While all the other dependancies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
188 * [**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)
189 * [**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)
190 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
191 * [**pycryptodome**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting various data. Licenced under
[BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
192 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
193 * [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licenced under
[MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
194 * [**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)
195 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
196 * [**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)
197 * [**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)
198 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
200 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
202 Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodome and websockets included.
207 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodome, websockets)
209 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome websockets
211 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.
213 You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
215 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
217 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
220 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
221 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
223 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
227 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
229 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
230 <!-- Auto generated -->
233 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
234 --version Print program version and exit
235 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
236 sure that you have sufficient permissions
237 (run with sudo if needed)
238 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
239 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
240 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
241 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
242 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
243 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
244 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
245 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
247 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
249 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
250 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
251 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
252 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
253 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
254 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
255 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
256 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
257 this is not possible instead of searching
258 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
259 except the one provided by --config-location.
260 When given inside a configuration
261 file, no further configuration files are
262 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
263 compatibility) if this option is found
264 inside the system configuration file, the
265 user configuration is not loaded
266 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
267 either the path to the config or its
269 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
271 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
272 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
273 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
274 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
275 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
276 with youtube-dl and youtube-dlc
277 configurations by reverting some of the
278 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
279 default behavior" for details
282 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
283 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
285 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
286 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
287 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
288 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
289 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
290 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
293 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
294 some geo-restricted sites. The default
295 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
296 option is not present) is used for the
298 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
299 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
300 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
301 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
302 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
303 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
305 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
306 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
310 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
311 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
312 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
313 indices of the videos in the playlist
314 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
315 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
316 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
317 specify range: "--playlist-items
318 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
319 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
320 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
322 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
324 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
325 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
326 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
327 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
329 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
330 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
331 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
332 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
333 this date. The date formats accepted is the
335 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
336 this date. The date formats accepted is the
338 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
340 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
342 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
343 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
344 number or a string using the operators
345 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
346 also simply specify a field to match if the
347 field is present and "!field" to check if
348 the field is not present. In addition,
349 Python style regular expression matching
350 can be done using "~=", and multiple
351 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "
\"
352 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
353 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?
100
354 & description~=
\'(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b\'"
355 matches only videos that are not live, has
356 a like count more than
100 (or the like
357 field is not available), and also has a
358 description that contains the phrase "cats
359 & dogs" (ignoring case)
360 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
361 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
362 to a video and a playlist
363 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
364 a video and a playlist
365 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
367 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
368 archive file. Record the IDs of all
369 downloaded videos in it
370 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
371 a file that is in the archive
372 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
373 a file that has been filtered out
374 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
375 of the playlist is skipped
376 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
379 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
380 video that should be download concurrently
382 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
384 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
385 below which throttling is assumed and the
386 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
387 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
389 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
390 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
392 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
393 hlsnative and ISM (default)
394 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
395 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
396 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
397 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
398 downloading is finished
399 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
400 downloading is finished (default)
401 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
403 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
404 from an initial value of --buffer-size
406 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
407 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
408 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
409 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
410 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
412 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
413 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
415 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
416 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
418 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
419 allowing some players to play the video
420 while downloading, and reducing the chance
421 of file corruption if download is
422 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
424 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
425 videos. This is default when not
426 downloading live streams
427 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
428 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
429 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
430 use it for. Currently supports native,
431 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
432 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
433 this option multiple times to set different
434 downloaders for different protocols. For
435 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
436 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
437 http/ftp downloads, and the native
438 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
439 (Alias: --external-downloader)
440 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
441 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
442 the arguments separated by a colon ":". You
443 can use this option multiple times to give
444 different arguments to different downloaders
445 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
447 ## Filesystem Options:
448 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
449 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
450 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
452 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
453 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
454 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
455 same types as --output are supported.
456 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
457 (default) and "temp" paths. All
458 intermediary files are first downloaded to
459 the temp path and then the final files are
460 moved over to the home path after download
461 is finished. This option is ignored if
462 --output is an absolute path
463 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
464 TEMPLATE" for details
465 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
466 fields in output filename template
468 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
469 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
471 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
473 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
474 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
475 using windows (default)
476 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
477 extension) to the specified number of
479 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
480 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
481 This option includes --no-continue
482 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
483 related files (default)
484 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
486 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
487 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
488 restart download of the entire file
489 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
490 into output file (default)
491 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
493 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
494 file modification time (default)
495 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
496 the file modification time
497 --write-description Write video description to a .description
499 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
500 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
501 (this may contain personal information)
502 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
503 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
504 .annotations.xml file
505 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
506 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
507 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
508 --write-description etc. (default)
509 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
510 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
511 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
512 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
513 could still contain some personal
514 information (default)
515 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
516 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
517 infojson. The comments are fetched even
518 without this option if the extraction is
519 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
520 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
521 extraction is known to be quick
522 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
523 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
524 (created with the "--write-info-json"
526 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
528 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
530 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
531 Load cookies from a user profile of the
532 given web browser. Currently supported
533 browsers are: brave|chrome|chromium|edge|fi
534 refox|opera|safari|vivaldi. You can specify
535 the user profile name or directory using
536 "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
537 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
538 given, the most recently accessed one is
540 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
541 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
542 can store some downloaded information (such
543 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
544 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
546 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
547 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
549 ## Thumbnail Options:
550 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
551 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
553 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
554 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
555 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
557 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
558 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
559 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
560 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
561 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
562 OS caches the URL based on the file path
563 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
564 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
566 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
567 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
568 --verbose, print the log to stderr
569 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
570 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
572 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
574 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
575 for extracting metadata even if the videos
576 are not actually available for download
578 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
579 formats are found (default)
580 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
581 related files (Alias: --no-download)
582 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
583 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
584 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
585 the output template can be used
586 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
587 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
588 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
589 description of available keys
590 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
591 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
592 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
593 a playlist, the whole playlist information
594 is dumped in a single line
595 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
596 written as far as no errors occur, even if
597 -s or another simulation option is used
598 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
599 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
600 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
601 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
602 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
603 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
604 to debug problems (very verbose)
605 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
606 files in the current directory to debug
608 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
611 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
612 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
613 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
614 information about the video (Currently
615 supported only for YouTube)
616 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
617 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
618 access is restricted to one domain
619 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
620 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
621 option multiple times
622 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
623 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
624 or fribidi executable in PATH
625 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
626 during data extraction
627 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
628 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
629 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
630 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
631 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
632 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
633 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
636 ## Video Format Options:
637 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
639 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
640 "Sorting Formats" for more details
641 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
642 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
643 Formats" for more details
644 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
645 specified sort order (default), see
646 "Sorting Formats" for more details
647 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
649 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
650 each output file (default)
651 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
653 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
654 each output file (default)
655 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
656 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
657 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
658 containers irrespective of quality
659 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
661 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
662 actually downloadable
663 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats selected are
664 actually downloadable
665 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
666 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
667 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
668 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
669 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
670 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
671 --allow-unplayable-formats Allow unplayable formats to be listed and
672 downloaded. All video post-processing will
674 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Do not allow unplayable formats to be
675 listed or downloaded (default)
678 --write-subs Write subtitle file
679 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
680 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
681 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
682 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
683 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
684 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
685 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
686 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
687 preference, for example: "srt" or
689 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
690 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
691 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
692 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
693 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
694 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
695 list of available language tags
697 ## Authentication Options:
698 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
699 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
700 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
701 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
702 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
703 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
704 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
705 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
706 a list of available MSOs
707 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
708 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
709 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
711 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
714 ## Post-Processing Options:
715 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
716 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
717 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
718 to when -x is used. Currently supported
719 formats are: best (default) or one of
720 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
721 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
722 value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for
723 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
725 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
726 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
727 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
728 target container does not support the
729 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
730 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
731 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
732 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
733 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
734 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
735 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
736 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
737 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
738 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
739 to give the argument to the specified
740 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
741 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
742 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
743 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
744 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
745 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
746 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
747 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
748 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
749 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
750 arguments to the specified executable only
751 when being used by the specified
752 postprocessor. Additionally, for
753 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
754 to the prefix optionally followed by a
755 number to pass the argument before the
756 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
757 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
758 this option multiple times to give
759 different arguments to different
760 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
761 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
762 after post-processing
763 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
764 post-processing (default)
765 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
766 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
767 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
769 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
770 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
771 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
772 --embed-metadata Embed metadata including chapter markers
773 (if supported by the format) to the video
774 file (Alias: --add-metadata)
775 --no-embed-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
776 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
777 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
778 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
780 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
781 Replace text in a metadata field using the
782 given regex. This option can be used
784 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
785 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
786 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
787 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
788 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
789 default; fix file if we can, warn
790 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
792 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
793 path to the binary or its containing
795 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
796 downloading and post-processing. Same
797 syntax as the output template can be used
798 to pass any field as arguments to the
799 command. An additional field "filepath"
800 that contains the final path of the
801 downloaded file is also available. If no
802 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
803 to the end of the command. This option can
804 be used multiple times
805 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
806 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
807 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
808 but "filepath" is not available. This
809 option can be used multiple times
810 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
811 --exec-before-download
812 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
813 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
814 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
815 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
816 (currently supported: jpg|png)
817 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
818 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
819 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
820 to set the output filename for the split
821 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
822 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
825 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
826 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
827 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
828 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
830 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
831 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
832 binary exists (Youtube only)
833 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
834 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
836 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
838 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
840 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
841 video was already downloaded (default)
842 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
843 the path to the binary or its containing
846 ## Extractor Options:
847 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
848 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
849 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
850 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
851 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
852 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
853 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
854 discontinuities such as ad breaks
855 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
856 formats at discontinuities such as ad
858 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
859 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
860 use this option multiple times to give
861 arguments for different extractors
865 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
867 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
868 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.
869 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
870 1. **User Configuration**:
871 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
872 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
873 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
874 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
876 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
878 Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
879 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
881 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:
883 # Lines starting with # are comments
885 # Always extract audio
888 # Do not copy the mtime
892 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
894 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
895 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
898 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`.
900 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.
902 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
904 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:
907 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
909 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
911 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
915 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
916 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
918 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
920 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
922 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
927 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.
929 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
931 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).
933 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.
935 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
936 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a
`.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using
`:`. Eg:
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`,
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`.
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
937 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`
938 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`
939 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`
940 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q` can be used for converting to **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist and a string **q**uoted for the terminal respectively
942 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
944 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
947 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.
949 The available fields are:
951 - `id` (string): Video identifier
952 - `title` (string): Video title
953 - `url` (string): Video URL
954 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
955 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
956 - `description` (string): The description of the video
957 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
958 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
959 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
960 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
961 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
962 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
963 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
964 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
965 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
966 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
967 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
968 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
969 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
970 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
971 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
972 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
973 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
974 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
975 - `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)
976 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
977 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
978 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
979 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
980 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
981 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
982 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
983 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
984 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
985 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
986 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
987 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
988 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
989 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
990 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
991 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
992 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
993 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
994 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
995 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
996 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
997 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
998 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
999 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1000 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1001 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1002 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1003 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1004 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1005 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
1006 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1007 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1008 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1009 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1010 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1011 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1012 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1014 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1016 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1017 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1018 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1020 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1022 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1023 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1024 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1025 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1026 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1027 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1028 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1030 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1032 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1033 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1034 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1035 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1036 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1037 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1038 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1039 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1040 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1041 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1043 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1045 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1046 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1047 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1048 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1050 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1052 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1053 - `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
1055 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).
1057 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.
1059 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`.
1061 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.
1063 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1065 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1067 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:
1069 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1071 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"`.
1073 #### Output template examples
1075 Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
1078 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1079 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
1081 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1082 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
1084 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1085 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1087 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1088 $ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1090 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1091 $ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1093 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1094 $ 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/
1096 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1097 $ 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
1099 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1100 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1105 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1106 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`.
1108 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.
1110 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1112 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.
1114 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.
1116 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1118 - `all`: Select all formats
1119 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1120 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1121 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1122 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1123 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1124 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1125 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
1126 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1127 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1128 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1129 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
1130 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
1131 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
1133 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.
1135 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.
1137 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.
1139 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`.
1141 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. Unless
`--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless
`--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all
3 given formats. The resulting file will have
2 video streams and
2 audio streams. But
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only
`bestvideo` and
`bestaudio`.
`best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (
`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important.
`-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while
`-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore
`best` and download only
`bestaudio`.
1143 ## Filtering Formats
1145 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1147 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
1149 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1150 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1151 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1152 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1153 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1154 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1155 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1158 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1160 - `ext`: File extension
1161 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1162 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1163 - `container`: Name of the container format
1164 - `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`)
1165 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1166 - `language`: Language code
1168 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
1170 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.
1172 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.
1174 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]'`.
1178 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:
1180 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1181 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1182 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1183 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
1184 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
1185 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
1186 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8_native`/
`m3u8` >
`http_dash_segments`>
`websocket_frag` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
1187 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9.2` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
1188 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
1189 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
1190 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
1191 - `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`.
1192 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
1193 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
1194 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1195 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1196 - `height`: Height of video
1197 - `width`: Width of video
1198 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1199 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1200 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1201 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1202 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1203 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
1204 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1206 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.
1208 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.
1210 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`.
1212 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1214 ## Format Selection examples
1216 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1219 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1220 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1221 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
1223 # Download best format that contains video,
1224 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1225 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
1230 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1231 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1232 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1233 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1235 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1236 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1237 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1239 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1240 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1241 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
1244 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1245 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1247 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1248 $ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
1250 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1253 # Download the smallest video available
1254 $ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
1258 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1259 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1261 # Download the best video with the best extension
1262 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1267 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1268 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1269 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1271 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1272 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1273 $ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
1275 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1276 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1277 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1278 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1279 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
1283 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1284 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1285 $ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1287 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1288 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1289 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1291 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1292 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1296 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1297 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1298 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1300 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1301 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1306 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1307 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1309 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1310 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1311 $ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
1313 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1314 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1315 $ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
1319 # More complex examples
1321 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1322 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1323 $ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1325 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1326 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1327 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1328 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
1332 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1333 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1334 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1335 $ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1338 # MODIFYING METADATA
1340 The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
1342 `--replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE` is used to replace text in any metadata field using
[python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax).
[Backreferences](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html?highlight=backreferences#re.sub) can be used in the replace string for advanced use.
1344 The general syntax of
`--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or a template (with same syntax as
[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.
1346 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`.
1348 This option also has a few special uses:
1349 * 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
1350 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a
`meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to
`meta_description` field will be added to the
`description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis"
1352 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1354 Metadata fields|From
1356 `title`|
`track` or
`title`
1357 `date`|
`upload_date`
1358 `description`,
`synopsis`|
`description`
1359 `purl`,
`comment`|
`webpage_url`
1360 `track`|
`track_number`
1361 `artist`|
`artist`,
`creator`,
`uploader` or
`uploader_id`
1364 `album_artist`|
`album_artist`
1365 `disc`|
`disc_number`
1367 `season_number`|
`season_number`
1368 `episode_id`|
`episode` or
`episode_id`
1369 `episode_sort`|
`episode_number`
1370 `language` of each stream|From the format's
`language`
1371 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1374 ## Modifying metadata examples
1376 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1379 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1380 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
1383 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
1385 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1386 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
1388 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
1389 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
1391 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1392 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1396 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1398 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:player_client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1400 The following extractors use this feature:
1402 * `skip`:
`hls` or
`dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1403 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are
`web`,
`android`,
`ios`,
`mweb`. These also have
`_music`,
`_embedded`,
`_agegate`, and
`_creator` variants (Eg:
`web_embedded`) (
`mweb` has only
`_agegate`). By default,
`android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for
`music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use
`all` to use all the clients
1404 * `player_skip`:
`configs` - skip any requests for client configs and use defaults
1405 * `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
1406 * `comment_sort`:
`top` or
`new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side).
1407 * `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all).
1408 * `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths
1 or
2 (default).
1411 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg:
`funimation:language=english,japanese`
1412 * `version`: The video version to extract -
`uncut` or
`simulcast`
1415 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of
`episodes`,
`movies`,
`clips`,
`trailers`
1417 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1422 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.
1424 **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`)
1426 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1428 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1430 #### Redundant options
1431 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1433 --get-description --print description
1434 --get-duration --print duration_string
1435 --get-filename --print filename
1436 --get-format --print format
1438 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1439 -e, --get-title --print title
1440 -g, --get-url --print urls
1441 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1444 #### Not recommended
1445 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1447 --all-formats -f all
1448 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1449 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1450 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)
03d
1451 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1452 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1453 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1454 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1455 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1456 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1457 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1458 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1459 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1460 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1461 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1464 #### Developer options
1465 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1467 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
1468 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
1472 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1474 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1475 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1476 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1477 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1478 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1479 --load-info --load-info-json
1480 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1481 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1482 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1483 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1484 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1485 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1486 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1487 --write-srt --write-subs
1488 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1490 #### No longer supported
1491 These options may no longer work as intended
1493 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1494 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1495 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1496 --no-call-home Default
1497 --include-ads No longer supported
1498 --no-include-ads Default
1501 These options were deprecated since
2014 and have now been entirely removed
1503 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1504 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1505 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1506 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1510 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob