1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#installation "Installation")
7 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 []
(https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [](LICENSE "License")
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
33 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
54 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
56 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
60 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
62 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
64 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
65 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
66 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
67 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
68 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
69 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
70 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
71 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
72 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
77 * Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12
.17+
[commit/ed5c44e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/ed5c44e7b74ac77f87ca5ed6cb5e964a0c6a0678)**<!--(
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11
.11-
3+
[commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
79 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
81 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using
`-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
83 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--write-comments`,
`BiliBiliSearch`,
`BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
85 * **YouTube improvements**:
86 * Supports Clips, Stories (
`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels (
[except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`,
`:ytnotif`)
87 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
88 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
89 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
90 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
91 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
93 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
95 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using
`--download-sections`
97 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
99 * **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
101 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
103 * **New and fixed extractors**: Many new extractors have been added and a lot of existing ones have been fixed. See the [changelog](Changelog.md) or the [list of supported sites](supportedsites.md)
105 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
107 * **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
109 * **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`)
111 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
113 * **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`
115 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as
`--alias`,
`--print`,
`--concat-playlist`,
`--wait-for-video`,
`--retry-sleep`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
117 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--format`/
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection), merge multi-video/audio, multiple
`--config-locations`,
`--exec` at different stages, etc
119 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
121 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
123 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
125 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
127 ### Differences in default behavior
129 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
131 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
132 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
133 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
134 * 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`
135 * 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
136 * The default format selector is
`bv*+ba/b`. This means that if a combined video + audio format that is better than the best video-only format is found, the former will be preferred. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
137 * 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
138 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
139 * 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
140 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-info-json`. Use
`--no-embed-info-json` or
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
141 * Some metadata are embedded into different fields when using
`--add-metadata` as compared to youtube-dl. Most notably,
`comment` field contains the
`webpage_url` and
`synopsis` contains the
`description`. You can [use
`--parse-metadata`](#modifying-metadata) to modify this to your liking or use
`--compat-options embed-metadata` to revert this
142 * `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
143 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
144 * Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use
`--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use
`--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
145 * YouTube channel URLs are automatically redirected to
`/video`. Append a
`/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent
`UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
146 * Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
147 * The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC
[when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
148 * 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
149 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
150 * 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
151 * When
`--embed-subs` and
`--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just
`--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See
[#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info.
`--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
152 * `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use
`--compat-options no-certifi`
153 * yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use
`--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
155 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
157 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
158 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
159 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
164 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
165 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
166 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
167 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
168 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
169 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
170 [](#release-files)
171 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
172 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
174 You can install yt-dlp using
[the binaries](#release-files), [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See
[the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
178 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
180 If you
[installed with PIP](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
182 For other third-party package managers, see
[the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
185 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
192 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent
[zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
193 [yt-dlp.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary (recommended for **Windows**)
194 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (
10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
200 [yt-dlp_x86.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_x86.exe)|Windows (Vista SP2+) standalone x86 (
32-bit) binary
201 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with
`py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
202 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
203 [yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
204 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
205 [yt-dlp_macos.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos.zip)|Unpackaged MacOS (
10.15+) executable (no auto-update)
206 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (
10.9+) standalone x64 executable
212 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
213 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
214 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
215 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
218 Note: The manpages, shell completion files etc. are available in the
[source tarball](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
221 Python versions
3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
223 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
224 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
225 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.
228 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
230 ### Strongly recommended
232 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
234 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
235 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide
[custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at
[yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See
[the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
238 * [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under
[MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
239 * [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or
[**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) -
[Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>
[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
240 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
244 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For
`--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
245 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For
`--embed-thumbnail` in
`mp4`/
`m4a` files when
`mutagen`/
`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
246 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr),
[**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or
[**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (
`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under
[MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt),
[LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and
[GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
250 * [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-
128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under
[BSD-2-Clause](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
251 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
252 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For
`--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
253 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
257 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License
[depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
258 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the now **deprecated**
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-options). Licensed under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
259 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with
`--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
260 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp`/
`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with
`--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
262 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
264 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
266 If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the
`--verbose` output
271 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
272 To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and
`pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run
`pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM,
32/
64 bit) as the Python used.
274 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
275 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
278 On some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`.
280 `pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to
`pyinstaller`, such as
`--onefile/-F` or
`--onedir/-D`, which is further
[documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
282 Note that pyinstaller with versions below
4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
284 **Important**: Running
`pyinstaller` directly **without** using
`pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
286 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
287 You will need the build tools
`python` (
3.7+),
`zip`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`\* and
`pytest`\*.
289 After installing these, simply run
`make`.
291 You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
293 ### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
295 While we provide the option to build with
[py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain
`pycryptodomex`/
`certifi` and needs VC++
14** on the target computer to run.
297 If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run
`setup.py py2exe`
299 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
305 * **
`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
306 * **
`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
307 * **
`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable
`YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
309 You can also fork the project on GitHub and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
313 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
314 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
316 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
317 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
319 <!-- Auto generated -->
321 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
322 --version Print program version and exit
323 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
324 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
325 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
326 The download will be considered successful
327 even if the postprocessing fails
328 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
329 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
331 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
332 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
333 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
334 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
335 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
337 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
338 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
339 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
340 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
341 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
342 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
343 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
344 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
345 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
346 google videos for the search term "python".
347 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
348 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
349 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
350 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
351 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
352 possible instead of searching
353 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
354 except those given by --config-locations.
355 For backward compatibility, if this option
356 is found inside the system configuration
357 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
359 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
360 (default). When given inside a configuration
361 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
362 defined in the current file
363 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
364 either the path to the config or its
365 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
366 used multiple times and inside other
368 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
370 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
371 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
372 Currently only supported for YouTube
374 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
376 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
377 available. Pass the minimum number of
378 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
379 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
380 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
381 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
382 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
384 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
385 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
386 configurations by reverting some of the
387 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
388 default behavior" for details
389 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
390 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
391 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
392 according to the Python string formatting
393 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
394 "-S=aext:{
0},abr -x --audio-format {
0}"
395 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
396 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
397 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
398 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
399 output. Alias options can trigger more
400 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
401 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
402 alias may be triggered a maximum of
100
403 times. This option can be used multiple times
406 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
407 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
408 e.g. socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/.
409 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
411 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
412 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
413 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
414 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
417 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
418 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
419 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
420 is not present) is used for the actual
422 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
423 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
424 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
425 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
426 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
427 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
429 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
430 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
433 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
434 to download. You can specify a range using
435 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
436 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
437 Use negative indices to count from the right
438 and negative STEP to download in reverse
439 order. E.g. "-I
1:
3,
7,-
5::
2" used on a
440 playlist of size
15 will download the videos
441 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
11,
13,
15
442 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
443 SIZE, e.g.
50k or
44.6M
444 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE,
446 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
447 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
448 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
449 E.g. --date today-
2weeks
450 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
453 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
454 this date. The date formats accepted is the
456 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
457 field can be compared with a number or a
458 string using the operators defined in
459 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
460 specify a field to match if the field is
461 present, use "!field" to check if the field
462 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
463 conditions. Use a "
\" to escape "&" or
464 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
465 the filter matches if atleast one of the
466 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
467 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
468 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'" matches
469 only videos that are not live OR those that
470 have a like count more than
100 (or the like
471 field is not available) and also has a
472 description that contains the phrase "cats &
473 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
474 interactively ask whether to download each
476 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
477 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
478 to a video and a playlist
479 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
480 a video and a playlist
481 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
483 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
484 archive file. Record the IDs of all
485 downloaded videos in it
486 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
487 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
488 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
489 a file that is in the archive
490 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
491 a file that has been filtered out
492 --break-per-input --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject,
493 --max-downloads, and autonumber resets per
495 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
496 terminates the entire download queue
497 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
498 the playlist is skipped
501 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
502 video that should be downloaded concurrently
504 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
506 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
507 below which throttling is assumed and the
508 video data is re-extracted, e.g.
100K
509 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
511 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
512 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
513 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
514 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
515 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
516 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
517 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
518 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
519 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=
1]] or
520 exp=START[:END[:BASE=
2]]. This option can be
521 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
522 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
523 linear=
1::
2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=
1:
20
524 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
525 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
526 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
527 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
528 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
529 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
530 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
531 downloading is finished
532 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
533 downloading is finished (default)
534 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g.
1024 or
16K
536 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
537 from an initial value of --buffer-size
539 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
540 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
541 downloading, e.g.
10485760 or
10M (default
542 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
543 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
545 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
546 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
547 received. This disables n_entries,
548 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
549 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
550 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
551 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
553 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
554 allowing some players to play the video
555 while downloading, and reducing the chance
556 of file corruption if download is
557 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
559 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
560 videos. This is default when not downloading
562 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
563 the given regular expression. Time ranges
564 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
565 of chapters to download the specified range.
566 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
567 multiple times to download multiple
568 sections, e.g. --download-sections
569 "*
10:
15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
570 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
571 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
572 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
573 use it for. Currently supports native,
574 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
575 wget. You can use this option multiple times
576 to set different downloaders for different
577 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
578 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
579 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
580 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
581 (Alias: --external-downloader)
582 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
583 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
584 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
585 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
586 positions using the same syntax as
587 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
588 option multiple times to give different
589 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
590 --external-downloader-args)
592 ## Filesystem Options:
593 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
594 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
595 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
597 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
598 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
599 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
600 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
601 TYPES as --output are supported.
602 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
603 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
604 files are first downloaded to the temp path
605 and then the final files are moved over to
606 the home path after download is finished.
607 This option is ignored if --output is an
609 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
610 TEMPLATE" for details
611 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
612 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
613 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
614 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
615 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
617 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
618 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
619 using Windows (default)
620 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
621 extension) to the specified number of
623 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
624 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
625 option includes --no-continue
626 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
627 related files (default)
628 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
630 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
631 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
632 restart download of the entire file
633 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
634 into output file (default)
635 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
637 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
638 modification time (default)
639 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
640 the file modification time
641 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
642 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
643 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
644 (this may contain personal information)
645 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
646 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
647 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
648 --write-description etc. (default)
649 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
650 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
651 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
652 from the infojson. Note that it could still
653 contain some personal information (default)
654 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
655 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
656 infojson. The comments are fetched even
657 without this option if the extraction is
658 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
659 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
660 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
662 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
663 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
664 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
665 and dump cookie jar in
666 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
668 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
669 The name of the browser to load cookies
670 from. Currently supported browsers are:
671 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
672 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
673 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
674 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
675 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
676 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
677 be given with their respective seperators.
678 By default, all containers of the most
679 recently accessed profile are used.
680 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
681 gnomekeyring, kwallet
682 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
683 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
684 store some downloaded information (such as
685 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
686 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
687 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
688 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
690 ## Thumbnail Options:
691 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
692 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
693 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
694 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
695 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
697 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
698 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
699 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
700 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
701 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
702 OS caches the URL based on the file path
703 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
704 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
706 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
707 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
708 print the log to stderr
709 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
710 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
712 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
714 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
715 extracting metadata even if the videos are
716 not actually available for download
718 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
719 formats are found (default)
720 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
721 related files (Alias: --no-download)
722 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
723 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
724 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
725 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
726 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
727 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
728 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
729 used. This option can be used multiple times
730 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
731 Append given template to the file. The
732 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
733 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
734 output template. This option can be used
736 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
737 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
738 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
739 description of available keys
740 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
741 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
742 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
743 a playlist, the whole playlist information
744 is dumped in a single line
745 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
746 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
747 another simulation option is used (Alias:
748 --force-download-archive)
749 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
750 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
751 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
752 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
753 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
754 Template for progress outputs, optionally
755 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
756 "download-title:" (the console title),
757 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
758 The video's fields are accessible under the
759 "info" key and the progress attributes are
760 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
761 --console-title --progress-template
762 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
763 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
764 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
765 to debug problems (very verbose)
766 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
767 in the current directory to debug problems
768 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
771 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
772 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
773 that do not support RFC
5746 secure
775 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
776 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
777 information about the video (Currently
778 supported only for YouTube)
779 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
780 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
781 option multiple times
782 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
783 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
784 or fribidi executable in PATH
785 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
786 during data extraction
787 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
788 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
789 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
790 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
791 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
792 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
793 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
796 ## Video Format Options:
797 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
799 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
800 "Sorting Formats" for more details
801 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
802 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
803 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
804 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
805 specified sort order (default)
806 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
808 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
809 output file (default)
810 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
812 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
813 output file (default)
814 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
815 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
816 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
817 irrespective of quality
818 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
820 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
821 those that are actually downloadable
822 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
823 actually downloadable
824 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
826 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
827 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
828 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
829 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
830 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
831 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
834 --write-subs Write subtitle file
835 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
836 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
837 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
838 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
839 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
840 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
841 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
842 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
843 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
844 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
845 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
846 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
847 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
848 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
849 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
850 of available language tags
852 ## Authentication Options:
853 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
854 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
855 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
856 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
857 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
858 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
859 either the path or its containing directory.
861 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
862 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
863 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
864 a list of available MSOs
865 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
866 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
867 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
869 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
870 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
871 format. May include the private key
872 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
873 Path to private key file for client
875 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
876 Password for client certificate private key,
877 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
878 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
880 ## Post-Processing Options:
881 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
882 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
883 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
884 used. (currently supported: best (default),
885 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
886 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
887 similar syntax as --remux-video
888 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
889 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
890 between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for VBR or a
891 specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
892 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
893 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
894 mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
895 m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
896 target container does not support the
897 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
898 can specify multiple rules; e.g.
899 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
900 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
901 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
902 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
903 are the same as --remux-video
904 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
905 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
906 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
907 to give the argument to the specified
908 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
909 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
910 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
911 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
912 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
913 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
914 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
915 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
916 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
917 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
918 specified executable only when being used by
919 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
920 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
921 appended to the prefix optionally followed
922 by a number to pass the argument before the
923 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
924 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
925 this option multiple times to give different
926 arguments to different postprocessors.
928 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
929 after post-processing
930 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
931 post-processing (default)
932 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
933 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
934 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
936 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
937 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
938 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
939 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
940 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
941 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
942 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
943 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
944 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
945 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
946 (Alias: --add-chapters)
947 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
949 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
951 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
953 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
954 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
956 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
957 Replace text in a metadata field using the
958 given regex. This option can be used
960 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
961 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
962 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
963 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
964 (default; only when the videos form a single
965 show). All the video files must have same
966 codecs and number of streams to be
967 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
968 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
969 the output filename for the concatenated
970 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
971 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
972 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
973 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
974 default; fix file if we can, warn
975 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
977 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
978 path to the binary or its containing directory
979 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
980 when to execute it (after_move if
981 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
982 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
983 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
984 output template can be used to pass any
985 field as arguments to the command. After
986 download, an additional field "filepath"
987 that contains the final path of the
988 downloaded file is also available, and if no
989 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
990 to the end of the command. This option can
991 be used multiple times
992 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
993 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
994 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
995 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
996 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
997 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
998 can specify multiple rules using similar
999 syntax as --remux-video
1000 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1001 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1002 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1003 the output filename for the split files. See
1004 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1005 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1006 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1007 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1008 same as --download-sections. This option can
1009 be used multiple times
1010 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1012 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1013 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1014 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1015 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1017 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1018 when cutting/splitting (default)
1019 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1020 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1021 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1022 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1023 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1024 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1025 The "when" argument determines when the
1026 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1027 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1028 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1029 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1030 "post_process" (after each video download;
1031 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1032 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1033 (after downloading and processing all
1034 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1035 of playlist). This option can be used
1036 multiple times to add different postprocessors
1038 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1039 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1040 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1041 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1043 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1044 for, separated by commas. Available
1045 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1046 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1047 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all and
1048 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1049 with a "-" to exclude it. See [
1] for
1050 description of the categories. E.g.
1051 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1052 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1053 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1054 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1055 category is present in both mark and remove,
1056 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1057 available categories are the same as for
1058 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1059 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight and
1060 chapter are not available
1061 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1062 An output template for the title of the
1063 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1064 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1065 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1066 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1067 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1068 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1069 --sponsorblock-remove
1070 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1071 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1073 ## Extractor Options:
1074 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1075 (default is
3), or "infinite"
1076 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1077 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1078 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1079 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1080 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1081 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1082 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1083 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1085 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1086 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1087 can use this option multiple times to give
1088 arguments for different extractors
1092 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1094 1. **Main Configuration**:
1095 * The file given by
`--config-location`
1096 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1097 * If using a binary,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1098 * If running from source-code,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of
`yt_dlp`
1099 1. **Home Configuration**:
1100 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`
1101 * If
`-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1102 1. **User Configuration**:
1103 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1104 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1105 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1106 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1108 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1110 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1111 1. **System Configuration**:
1112 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1114 E.g. 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:
1116 # Lines starting with # are comments
1118 # Always extract audio
1121 # Do not copy the mtime
1125 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1127 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1128 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1131 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`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
1133 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable all configuration files for a particular yt-dlp run. If
`--ignore-config` is found inside any configuration file, no further configuration will be loaded. For example, having the option in the portable configuration file prevents loading of home, user, and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
1135 ### Configuration file encoding
1137 The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1139 If you want your file to be decoded differently, add
`# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g.
`# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
1141 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1143 You may also want to configure automatic credentials storage for extractors that support authentication (by providing login and password with
`--username` and
`--password`) in order not to pass credentials as command line arguments on every yt-dlp execution and prevent tracking plain text passwords in the shell command history. You can achieve this using a
[`.netrc` file](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/.netrc/info) on a per-extractor basis. For that you will need to create a
`.netrc` file in
`--netrc-location` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
1145 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1146 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1148 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1150 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1154 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1155 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1157 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1159 The default location of the .netrc file is
`~` (see below).
1161 ### Notes about environment variables
1162 * Environment variables are normally specified as
`${VARIABLE}`/
`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and
`%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as
`${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1163 * yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g.
`--output`,
`--config-location`
1164 * If unset,
`${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to
`~/.config` and
`${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to
`~/.cache`
1165 * On Windows,
`~` points to
`${HOME}` if present; or,
`${USERPROFILE}` or
`${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1166 * On Windows,
`${USERPROFILE}` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` and
`${APPDATA}` to
`${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1170 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.
1172 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1173 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1174 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1176 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).
1178 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g.
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1180 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1182 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot
`.` separator; e.g.
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon
`:`; E.g.
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces
`{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g.
`%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g.
`%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
1184 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. E.g.
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1186 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
`>`. E.g.
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`,
`%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`,
`%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1188 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. E.g.
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1190 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a
`&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1192 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` separator. This overrides
`--output-na-placeholder`. E.g.
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1194 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to
`B` = **B**ytes,
`j` = **j**son (flag
`#` for pretty-printing,
`+` for Unicode),
`h` = HTML escaping,
`l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag
`#` for
`\n` newline-separated),
`q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag
`#` to split a list into different arguments),
`D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g.
10M) (flag
`#` to use
1024 as factor), and
`S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag
`#` for restricted)
1196 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type
`U` can be used for NFC
[Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (
`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag
`+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g.
`%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1198 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1200 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1203 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon
`:`. The different file types supported are
`subtitle`,
`thumbnail`,
`description`,
`annotation` (deprecated),
`infojson`,
`link`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`,
`pl_video`. E.g.
`-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g.
`--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1205 The available fields are:
1207 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1208 - `title` (string): Video title
1209 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1210 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1211 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1212 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1213 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1214 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1215 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1216 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1217 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1218 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1219 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1220 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1221 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1222 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1223 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1224 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1225 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1226 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1227 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1228 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1229 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1230 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1231 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
1232 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1233 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1234 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1235 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1236 - `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)
1237 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1238 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1239 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1240 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1241 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1242 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1243 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1244 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1245 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1246 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1247 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1248 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1249 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1250 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1251 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1252 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1253 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1254 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1255 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1256 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1257 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1258 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1259 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1260 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1261 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1262 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1264 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1266 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1268 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1269 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1270 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1272 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1274 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1275 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1276 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1277 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1278 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1279 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1280 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1282 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1284 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1285 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1286 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1287 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1288 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1289 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1290 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1291 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1292 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1293 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1295 Available only when using
`--download-sections` and for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1297 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1298 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1299 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1300 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1302 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1304 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1305 - `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
1306 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1307 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1308 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1309 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1312 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1314 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1315 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1316 - `categories` (list): The
[SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
1317 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1318 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1319 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1320 - `type` (string): The
[SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
1322 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. 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.
1324 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).
1326 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1328 For numeric sequences you can use
[numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g.
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1330 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.
1332 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1334 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1336 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.
1338 #### Output template examples
1341 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1342 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1344 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1345 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1347 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1348 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1350 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1351 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1353 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1354 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1356 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1357 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1359 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1360 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1362 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1363 $ 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"
1365 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1366 $ 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"
1368 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1369 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1370 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1372 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1373 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "subtitle:%(uploader)s/subs/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --write-subs
1375 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1376 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1381 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1382 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`.
1384 **Deprecation warning**: Latest versions of yt-dlp can stream multiple formats to the stdout simultaneously using ffmpeg. So, in future versions, the default for this will be set to
`-f bv*+ba/b` similar to normal downloads. If you want to preserve the
`-f b/bv+ba` setting, it is recommended to explicitly specify it in the configuration options.
1386 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.
1388 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1389 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1390 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1392 The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. 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.
1394 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.
1396 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1398 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1400 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1401 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1402 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie;
`vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1403 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1404 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1405 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1406 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1407 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that **contains audio**. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]` ([Do not use!](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/979#issuecomment-919629354))
1408 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1409 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1410 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1411 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1412 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1413 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1415 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use `-f worstvideo
`. It is however recommended not to use `worst
` and related options. When your format selector is `worst
`, the format which is worst in all respects is selected. Most of the time, what you actually want is the video with the smallest filesize instead. So it is generally better to use `-S +size
` or more rigorously, `-S +size,+br,+res,+fps
` instead of `-f worst
`. See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1417 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.
1419 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; e.g. `-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.
1421 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
`.
1423 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...
` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio
` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1425 **Deprecation warning**: Since the *below* described behavior is complex and counter-intuitive, this will be removed and multistreams will be enabled by default in the future. A new operator will be instead added to limit formats to single audio/video
1427 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. E.g. `-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 only `best
` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1429 ## Filtering Formats
1431 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1433 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1435 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1436 - `filesize_approx
`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1437 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1438 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1439 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1440 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1441 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1442 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1444 - `audio_channels
`: The number of audio channels
1445 - `stretched_ratio
`: `width:height
` of the video's pixels, if not square
1447 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1450 - `ext
`: File extension
1451 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1452 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1453 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1454 - `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
`)
1455 - `language
`: Language code
1456 - `dynamic_range
`: The dynamic range of the video
1457 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1458 - `format
`: A human-readable description of the format
1459 - `format_note
`: Additional info about the format
1460 - `resolution
`: Textual description of width and height
1462 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation `!
` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g. `!*=
` (does not contain). The comparand of a string comparison needs to be quoted with either double or single quotes if it contains spaces or special characters other than `._-
`.
1464 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.
1466 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, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"
` selects all audio-only formats.
1468 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<
480]"
` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
1472 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...
`.
1474 The available fields are:
1476 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1477 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
1478 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1479 - `lang
`: The language preference
1480 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1481 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1482 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1483 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1484 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1485 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1486 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1487 - `aext
`: Audio Extension (`m4a
` > `aac
` > `mp3
` > `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, the order changes to `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > `mp3
` > `m4a
` > `aac
`
1488 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1489 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1490 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1491 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1492 - `height
`: Height of video
1493 - `width
`: Width of video
1494 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1495 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1496 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1497 - `channels
`: The number of audio channels
1498 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1499 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1500 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1501 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1502 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1504 **Deprecation warning**: Many of these fields have (currently undocumented) aliases, that may be removed in a future version. It is recommended to use only the documented field names.
1506 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+
`. E.g. `+res
` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:
`. E.g. `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. E.g. `+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. E.g. `filesize~
1G
` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1508 The fields `hasvid
` and `ie_pref
` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force
`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:
12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id
`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1510 Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2
`; i.e. `av1
` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:
12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1512 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
`.
1514 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1516 ## Format Selection examples
1519 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1520 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1521 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1523 # Download best format that contains video,
1524 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1525 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1530 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1531 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1532 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1533 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1535 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1536 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1537 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1539 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1540 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1541 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1544 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1545 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1547 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1548 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1550 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1553 # Download the smallest video available
1554 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1558 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1559 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1561 # Download the best video with the best extension
1562 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1567 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1568 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1569 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1571 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1572 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1573 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1575 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1576 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1577 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1578 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1579 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1583 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1584 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1585 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1587 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1588 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1589 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1591 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1592 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1596 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1597 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1598 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1600 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1601 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1606 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1607 # or the best video if there is no such video
1608 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1610 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1611 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1612 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1614 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1615 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1616 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1620 # More complex examples
1622 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1623 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1624 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1626 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1627 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1628 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1629 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1633 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1634 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1635 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1636 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1639 # MODIFYING METADATA
1641 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1643 `--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.
1645 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO
` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, 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.
1647 Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata
`.
1649 This option also has a few special uses:
1651 * 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. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)
` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1653 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_
` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description
` field will be added to the `description
` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_
` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language
`). Any value set to the `meta_
` field will overwrite all default values.
1655 **Note**: Metadata modification happens before format selection, post-extraction and other post-processing operations. Some fields may be added or changed during these steps, overriding your changes.
1657 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1659 Metadata fields | From
1660 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1661 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1662 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1663 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1664 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1665 `track
` | `track_number
`
1666 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1669 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1670 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1672 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1673 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1674 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1675 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1677 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1680 ## Modifying metadata examples
1683 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1684 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1687 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1689 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1690 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1692 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1693 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1695 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1696 # handling multiple lines correctly
1697 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1699 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1700 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1702 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1703 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1705 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1706 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1710 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1712 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS
`. `ARGS
` is a `;
` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2
`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"
`
1714 The following extractors use this feature:
1717 * `lang
`: Language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en
` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
1718 * `skip
`: One or more of `hls
`, `dash
` or `translated_subs
` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
1719 * `player_client
`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web
`, `android
` and `ios
` with variants `_music
`, `_embedded
`, `_embedscreen
`, `_creator
` (e.g. `web_embedded
`); and `mweb
` and `tv_embedded
` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web
` is used, but `tv_embedded
` and `creator
` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com
` urls. You can use `all
` to use all the clients, and `default
` for the default clients.
1720 * `player_skip
`: Skip some network requests that are generally needed for robust extraction. One or more of `configs
` (skip client configs), `webpage
` (skip initial webpage), `js
` (skip js player). While these options can help reduce the number of requests needed or avoid some rate-limiting, they could cause some issues. See [#860](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/860) for more details
1721 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1722 * `max_comments
`: Limit the amount of comments to gather. Comma-separated list of integers representing `max-comments,max-parents,max-replies,max-replies-per-thread
`. Default is `all,all,all,all
`
1723 * E.g. `all,all,
1000,
10` will get a maximum of 1000 replies total, with up to 10 replies per thread. `1000,all,
100` will get a maximum of 1000 comments, with a maximum of 100 replies total
1724 * `include_incomplete_formats
`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1725 * `innertube_host
`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com
`, `youtubei.googleapis.com
`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
1726 * `innertube_key
`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1728 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1729 * `skip
`: One or more of `webpage
` (skip initial webpage download), `authcheck
` (allow the download of playlists requiring authentication when no initial webpage is downloaded. This may cause unwanted behavior, see [#1122](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/1122) for more details)
1730 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` and `timestamp
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1733 * `language
`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1734 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1736 #### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
1737 * `format
`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls
`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls
`, `adaptive_dash
`, `vo_adaptive_hls
`, `vo_adaptive_dash
`, `download_hls
`, `download_dash
`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2
`
1738 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all
` (default: `None
` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1741 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1744 * `segment_duration
`: Segment duration in milliseconds for HLS-DMC formats. Use it at your own risk since this feature **may result in your account termination.**
1746 #### youtubewebarchive
1747 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1750 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1753 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1754 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1755 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1758 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1759 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
1762 * `tab
`: Which tab to download - one of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`
1765 * `force_graphql
`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
1767 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1769 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1774 Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py
`; where `<root-dir>
` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp
`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py
`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip
` version
1776 Plugins can be of `<type>
`s `extractor
` or `postprocessor
`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME
`.
1778 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1780 Note that **all** plugins are imported even if not invoked, and that **there are no checks** performed on plugin code. Use plugins at your own risk and only if you trust the code
1782 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1784 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1790 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1792 Your program should avoid parsing the normal stdout since they may change in future versions. Instead they should use options such as `-J
`, `--print
`, `--progress-template
`, `--exec
` etc to create console output that you can reliably reproduce and parse.
1794 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1797 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1799 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1800 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1804 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
1806 **Tip**: If you are porting your code from youtube-dl to yt-dlp, one important point to look out for is that we do not guarantee the return value of `YoutubeDL.extract_info
` to be json serializable, or even be a dictionary. It will be dictionary-like, but if you want to ensure it is a serializable dictionary, pass it through `YoutubeDL.sanitize_info
` as shown in the [example below](#extracting-information)
1808 ## Embedding examples
1810 #### Extracting information
1816 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1818 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1820 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1821 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1823 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1824 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1826 #### Download using an info-json
1831 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1833 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1834 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1836 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1837 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1845 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1848 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1849 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1850 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1851 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1852 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1856 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1857 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1865 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1867 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1868 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1869 duration = info.get('duration')
1870 if duration and duration < 60:
1871 return 'The video is too short'
1874 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1877 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1878 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1881 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1886 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1889 def debug(self, msg):
1890 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1891 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1892 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1897 def info(self, msg):
1900 def warning(self, msg):
1903 def error(self, msg):
1907 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1909 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1910 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1914 'logger': MyLogger(),
1915 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1918 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1922 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1927 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1929 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1930 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1931 def run(self, info):
1932 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1936 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1937 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1938 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
1943 #### Use a custom format selector
1948 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1950 def format_selector(ctx):
1951 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1952 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1954 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1955 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1957 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1958 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1959 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1961 # find compatible audio extension
1962 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1963 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1964 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1965 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1967 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1969 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1970 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1971 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1972 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1973 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1978 'format': format_selector,
1981 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1985 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1987 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1989 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1991 #### Almost redundant options
1992 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1994 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1995 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1996 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1997 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1999 #### Redundant options
2000 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
2002 --get-description --print description
2003 --get-duration --print duration_string
2004 --get-filename --print filename
2005 --get-format --print format
2007 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2008 -e, --get-title --print title
2009 -g, --get-url --print urls
2010 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2011 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2012 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2013 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2014 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2015 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2016 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2017 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2018 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2019 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2022 #### Not recommended
2023 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2025 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2026 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2027 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2028 --all-formats -f all
2029 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2030 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2031 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2032 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2033 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2034 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2035 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2036 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2037 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2038 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2039 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2040 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2041 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2042 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2045 #### Developer options
2046 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2048 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2049 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2050 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2051 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2052 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2056 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2058 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2059 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2060 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2061 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2062 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2063 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2064 --load-info --load-info-json
2065 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2066 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2067 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2068 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2069 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2070 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2071 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2072 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2073 --write-srt --write-subs
2074 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2076 #### Sponskrub Options
2077 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2079 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2080 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2081 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2082 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2083 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2084 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2085 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2086 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2088 #### No longer supported
2089 These options may no longer work as intended
2091 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2092 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2093 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2094 --no-call-home Default
2095 --include-ads No longer supported
2096 --no-include-ads Default
2097 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2098 --no-write-annotations Default
2099 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2102 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2104 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2105 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2108 See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp) for instructions on [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue) and [Contributing code to the project](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
2111 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information
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