]> jfr.im git - yt-dlp.git/blob - README.md
`--match-filter -` to interactively ask for each video
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1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
2 <div align="center">
3
4 [![YT-DLP](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master/.github/banner.svg)](#readme)
5
6 [![Release version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?color=brightgreen&label=Download&style=for-the-badge)](#release-files "Release")
7 [![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [![Donate](https://img.shields.io/badge/_-Donate-red.svg?logo=githubsponsors&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 [![Matrix](https://img.shields.io/matrix/yt-dlp:matrix.org?color=brightgreen&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=element&style=for-the-badge)](https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 [![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/807245652072857610?color=blue&labelColor=555555&label=&logo=discord&style=for-the-badge)](https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [![Supported Sites](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Supported_Sites-brightgreen.svg?style=for-the-badge)](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Unlicense-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE "License")
13 [![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/Core%20Tests/master?label=Tests&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 [![Commits](https://img.shields.io/github/commit-activity/m/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?label=commits&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 [![Last Commit](https://img.shields.io/github/last-commit/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/master?label=&style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
16
17 </div>
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
19
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
21
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
23
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
28 * [Update](#update)
29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
31 * [Compile](#compile)
32 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
49 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
51 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
54 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
58 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
60 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
61 * [PLUGINS](#plugins)
62 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
64 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
65 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
68 * [MORE](#more)
69 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
70
71
72 # NEW FEATURES
73
74 * Based on **youtube-dl 2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc 2020.11.11-3 [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)
75
76 * **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
77
78 * **[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))
79
80 * **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.
81
82 * **Youtube improvements**:
83 * All Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
84 * Search (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
87 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to `/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (experimental)
92
93 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
94
95 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
96
97 * **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
98
99 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
100
101 * **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)
102
103 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN
104
105 * **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
106
107 * **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`)
108
109 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
110
111 * **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`
112
113 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--concat-playlist`, `--print`, `--wait-for-video`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--write-link`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
114
115 * **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
116
117 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
118
119 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
120
121 See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
122
123 ### Differences in default behavior
124
125 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
126
127 * The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
128 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
129 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
130 * 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`
131 * 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
132 * 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
133 * 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
134 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
135 * 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
136 * `--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
137 * 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
138 * `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
139 * The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
140 * All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use `--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
141 * Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
142 * 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
143 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
144 * 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
145 * Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
146 * 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
147 * 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
148 * `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`
149 * youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
150
151 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
152
153 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
154 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
155 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
156
157
158 # INSTALLATION
159
160 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
161
162 ### Using the release binary
163
164 You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
165
166 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
167 [![Windows](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Windows_x64-blue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=windows)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
168 [![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/MacOS/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
169 [![Source Tarball](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Source_tar-green.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
170 [![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
171 [![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
172 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
173
174 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)
175
176 <!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
177 In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
178
179 ```
180 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
181 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
182 ```
183
184 ```
185 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
186 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
187 ```
188
189 ```
190 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
191 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
192 ```
193
194
195 ### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
196
197 You can install the [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
198 ```
199 python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
200 ```
201
202 You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
203 ```
204 python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
205 ```
206
207 If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
208 ```
209 python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
210 ```
211
212 Note that on some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`
213
214 <!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
215 ### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
216
217 macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
218
219 ```
220 brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
221 ```
222
223 ## UPDATE
224 You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
225
226 If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
227
228 If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run `brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
229
230 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
231 ## RELEASE FILES
232
233 #### Recommended
234
235 File|Description
236 :---|:---
237 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
238 [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**)
239 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
240
241 #### Alternatives
242
243 File|Description
244 :---|:---
245 [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
246 [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/> Does not contain `pycryptodomex`, needs VC++14
247 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
248 [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)
249
250 #### Misc
251
252 File|Description
253 :---|:---
254 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
255 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
256 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
257 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
258
259 ## DEPENDENCIES
260 Python versions 3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
261
262 <!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
263 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
264 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.
265 -->
266
267 While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
268
269 * [**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)
270 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
271 * [**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)
272 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
273 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For accessing 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)
274 * [**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>
275 * [**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)
276 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
277 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
278 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
279 * [**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)
280 * [**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)
281 * Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
282
283 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
284
285 The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter and all optional python packages (marked with \*) included.
286
287 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
288 **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
289
290
291 ## COMPILE
292
293 **For Windows**:
294 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using `devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (32/64 bit) as the python used to build it.
295
296 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
297 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
298 py pyinst.py
299
300 Note that pyinstaller [does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
301
302 **For Unix**:
303 You will need the required build tools: `python`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`, `zip`, `pytest`
304 Then simply run `make`. You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
305
306 **Note**: In either platform, `devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
307
308 You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
309
310 # USAGE AND OPTIONS
311
312 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
313 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
314
315 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
316 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
317
318 <!-- Auto generated -->
319 ## General Options:
320 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
321 --version Print program version and exit
322 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
323 sure that you have sufficient permissions
324 (run with sudo if needed)
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
329 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
330 a playlist (default)
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
336 extractors and exit
337 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
338 extractor
339 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
340 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
341 from google videos for the search term
342 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
343 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
344 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
345 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
346 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
347 this is not possible instead of searching
348 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
349 except those given by --config-locations.
350 For backward compatibility, if this option
351 is found inside the system configuration
352 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
353 (Alias: --no-config)
354 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
355 (default). When given inside a
356 configuration file, ignore all previous
357 --config-locations defined in the current
358 file
359 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
360 either the path to the config or its
361 containing directory. Can be used multiple
362 times and inside other configuration files
363 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
364 only list them
365 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
366 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
367 Currently only supported for YouTube
368 (Experimental)
369 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
370 (default)
371 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
372 available. Pass the minimum number of
373 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
374 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
375 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
376 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
377 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
378 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
379 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
380 configurations by reverting some of the
381 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
382 default behavior" for details
383
384 ## Network Options:
385 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
386 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
387 scheme. For example
388 socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/. Pass in
389 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
390 connection
391 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
392 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
393 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
394 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
395
396 ## Geo-restriction:
397 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
398 some geo-restricted sites. The default
399 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
400 option is not present) is used for the
401 actual downloading
402 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
403 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
404 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
405 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
406 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
407 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
408 country code
409 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
410 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
411 notation
412
413 ## Video Selection:
414 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is 1)
415 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
416 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
417 indices of the videos in the playlist
418 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
419 1,2,5,8" if you want to download videos
420 indexed 1, 2, 5, 8 in the playlist. You can
421 specify range: "--playlist-items
422 1-3,7,10-13", it will download the videos
423 at index 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13
424 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
425 SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
426 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
427 (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
428 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
429 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
430 "(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
431 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
432 this date. The date formats accepted is the
433 same as --date
434 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
435 this date. The date formats accepted is the
436 same as --date
437 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
438 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
439 number or a string using the operators
440 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
441 also simply specify a field to match if the
442 field is present, use "!field" to check if
443 the field is not present, and "&" to check
444 multiple conditions. Use a "\" to escape
445 "&" or quotes if needed. If used multiple
446 times, the filter matches if atleast one of
447 the conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
448 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
449 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'"
450 matches only videos that are not live OR
451 those that have a like count more than 100
452 (or the like field is not available) and
453 also has a description that contains the
454 phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
455 "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
456 whether to download each video
457 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
458 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
459 to a video and a playlist
460 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
461 a video and a playlist
462 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
463 age
464 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
465 archive file. Record the IDs of all
466 downloaded videos in it
467 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
468 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
469 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
470 a file that is in the archive
471 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
472 a file that has been filtered out
473 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing and --break-on-
474 reject act only on the current input URL
475 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and --break-on-reject
476 terminates the entire download queue
477 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
478 of the playlist is skipped
479
480 ## Download Options:
481 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
482 video that should be downloaded
483 concurrently (default is 1)
484 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
485 (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
486 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
487 below which throttling is assumed and the
488 video data is re-extracted (e.g. 100K)
489 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
490 "infinite"
491 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
492 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
493 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
494 is 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
495 ISM)
496 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
497 hlsnative and ISM (default)
498 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
499 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
500 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
501 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
502 downloading is finished
503 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
504 downloading is finished (default)
505 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
506 (default is 1024)
507 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
508 from an initial value of --buffer-size
509 (default)
510 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
511 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
512 downloading (e.g. 10485760 or 10M) (default
513 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
514 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
515 (experimental)
516 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
517 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
518 (default)
519 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
520 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
521 expected file size
522 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
523 allowing some players to play the video
524 while downloading, and reducing the chance
525 of file corruption if download is
526 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
527 live streams
528 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
529 videos. This is default when not
530 downloading live streams
531 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
532 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
533 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
534 use it for. Currently supports native,
535 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
536 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
537 this option multiple times to set different
538 downloaders for different protocols. For
539 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
540 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
541 http/ftp downloads, and the native
542 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
543 --external-downloader)
544 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
545 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
546 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
547 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
548 different positions using the same syntax
549 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
550 option multiple times to give different
551 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
552 --external-downloader-args)
553
554 ## Filesystem Options:
555 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
556 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
557 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
558 comments and ignored
559 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
560 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
561 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
562 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
563 same TYPES as --output are supported.
564 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
565 (default) and "temp" paths. All
566 intermediary files are first downloaded to
567 the temp path and then the final files are
568 moved over to the home path after download
569 is finished. This option is ignored if
570 --output is an absolute path
571 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
572 TEMPLATE" for details
573 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
574 fields in output filename template
575 (default: "NA")
576 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
577 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
578 filenames
579 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
580 filenames (default)
581 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
582 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
583 using Windows (default)
584 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
585 extension) to the specified number of
586 characters
587 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
588 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
589 This option includes --no-continue
590 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
591 related files (default)
592 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
593 (default)
594 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
595 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
596 restart download of the entire file
597 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
598 into output file (default)
599 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
600 into output file
601 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
602 file modification time (default)
603 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
604 the file modification time
605 --write-description Write video description to a .description
606 file
607 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
608 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
609 (this may contain personal information)
610 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
611 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
612 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
613 --write-description etc. (default)
614 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
615 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
616 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
617 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
618 could still contain some personal
619 information (default)
620 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
621 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
622 infojson. The comments are fetched even
623 without this option if the extraction is
624 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
625 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
626 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
627 --no-get-comments)
628 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
629 (created with the "--write-info-json"
630 option)
631 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
632 from and dump cookie jar in
633 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
634 (default)
635 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
636 The name of the browser and (optionally)
637 the name/path of the profile to load
638 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
639 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
640 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
641 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
642 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
643 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
644 can be (optionally) specified after the
645 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
646 supported keyrings are: basictext,
647 gnomekeyring, kwallet
648 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
649 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
650 can store some downloaded information (such
651 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
652 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
653 ~/.cache/yt-dlp
654 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
655 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
656
657 ## Thumbnail Options:
658 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
659 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
660 (default)
661 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
662 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
663 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
664
665 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
666 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
667 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
668 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
669 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
670 OS caches the URL based on the file path
671 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
672 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
673
674 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
675 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
676 --verbose, print the log to stderr
677 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
678 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
679 anything to disk
680 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
681 options are used
682 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
683 extracting metadata even if the videos are
684 not actually available for download
685 (experimental)
686 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
687 formats are found (default)
688 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
689 related files (Alias: --no-download)
690 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
691 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
692 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
693 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
694 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
695 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
696 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
697 used. This option can be used multiple
698 times
699 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
700 Append given template to the file. The
701 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
702 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
703 as the output template. This option can be
704 used multiple times
705 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
706 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
707 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
708 description of available keys
709 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
710 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
711 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
712 a playlist, the whole playlist information
713 is dumped in a single line
714 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
715 written as far as no errors occur, even if
716 -s or another simulation option is used
717 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
718 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
719 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
720 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
721 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
722 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
723 Template for progress outputs, optionally
724 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
725 "download-title:" (the console title),
726 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
727 The video's fields are accessible under the
728 "info" key and the progress attributes are
729 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
730 --console-title --progress-template
731 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
732 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
733 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
734 to debug problems (very verbose)
735 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
736 files in the current directory to debug
737 problems
738 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
739
740 ## Workarounds:
741 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
742 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
743 servers that do not support RFC 5746 secure
744 renegotiation
745 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
746 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
747 information about the video (Currently
748 supported only for YouTube)
749 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
750 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
751 option multiple times
752 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
753 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
754 or fribidi executable in PATH
755 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
756 during data extraction
757 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
758 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
759 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
760 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
761 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
762 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
763 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
764 subtitle download
765
766 ## Video Format Options:
767 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
768 for more details
769 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
770 "Sorting Formats" for more details
771 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
772 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
773 Formats" for more details
774 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
775 specified sort order (default), see
776 "Sorting Formats" for more details
777 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
778 into a single file
779 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
780 each output file (default)
781 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
782 into a single file
783 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
784 each output file (default)
785 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
786 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
787 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
788 containers irrespective of quality
789 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
790 containers (default)
791 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
792 those that are actually downloadable
793 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
794 actually downloadable
795 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
796 downloadable
797 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
798 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
799 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
800 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
801 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
802 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
803
804 ## Subtitle Options:
805 --write-subs Write subtitle file
806 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
807 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
808 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
809 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
810 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
811 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
812 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
813 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
814 preference, for example: "srt" or
815 "ass/srt/best"
816 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
817 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
818 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
819 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
820 from the requested languages. (Eg:
821 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
822 for a list of available language tags
823
824 ## Authentication Options:
825 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
826 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
827 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
828 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
829 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
830 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
831 either the path or its containing
832 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
833 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
834 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
835 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
836 a list of available MSOs
837 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
838 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
839 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
840 interactively
841 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
842 operators
843
844 ## Post-Processing Options:
845 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
846 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
847 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
848 to when -x is used. Currently supported
849 formats are: best (default) or one of aac,
850 flac, mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
851 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
852 converting the audio with -x. Insert a
853 value between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for
854 VBR or a specific bitrate like 128K
855 (default 5)
856 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
857 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
858 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
859 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
860 target container does not support the
861 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
862 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
863 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
864 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
865 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
866 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
867 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
868 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
869 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
870 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
871 to give the argument to the specified
872 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
873 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
874 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
875 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
876 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
877 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
878 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
879 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
880 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
881 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
882 specified executable only when being used
883 by the specified postprocessor.
884 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
885 can be appended to the prefix optionally
886 followed by a number to pass the argument
887 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
888 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
889 use this option multiple times to give
890 different arguments to different
891 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
892 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
893 after post-processing
894 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
895 post-processing (default)
896 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
897 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
898 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
899 webm and mkv videos)
900 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
901 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
902 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
903 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
904 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
905 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
906 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
907 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
908 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
909 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
910 (Alias: --add-chapters)
911 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
912 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
913 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
914 mkv/mka video files
915 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
916 to the video file
917 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
918 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
919 for details
920 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
921 Replace text in a metadata field using the
922 given regex. This option can be used
923 multiple times
924 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
925 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
926 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
927 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
928 (default; only when the videos form a
929 single show). All the video files must have
930 same codecs and number of streams to be
931 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
932 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
933 the output filename for the concatenated
934 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
935 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
936 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
937 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
938 default; fix file if we can, warn
939 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
940 already exists)
941 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
942 path to the binary or its containing
943 directory
944 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
945 when to execute it (after_move if
946 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
947 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
948 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
949 output template can be used to pass any
950 field as arguments to the command. After
951 download, an additional field "filepath"
952 that contains the final path of the
953 downloaded file is also available, and if
954 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
955 appended to the end of the command. This
956 option can be used multiple times
957 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
958 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
959 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
960 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
961 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
962 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
963 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
964 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
965 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
966 to set the output filename for the split
967 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
968 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
969 (default)
970 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
971 given regular expression. Time ranges
972 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
973 of chapters to remove the specified range.
974 Eg: --remove-chapters "*10:15-15:00"
975 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
976 be used multiple times
977 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
978 (default)
979 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
980 removing/splitting them. Requires a
981 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
982 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
983 around the cuts
984 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
985 when cutting/splitting (default)
986 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
987 postprocessors to be enabled, and
988 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
989 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
990 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
991 The "when" argument determines when the
992 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
993 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
994 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
995 "before_dl" (before each video download),
996 "post_process" (after each video download;
997 default), "after_move" (after moving video
998 file to it's final locations),
999 "after_video" (after downloading and
1000 processing all formats of a video), or
1001 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
1002 option can be used multiple times to add
1003 different postprocessors
1004
1005 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1006 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1007 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1008 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1009
1010 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1011 for, separated by commas. Available
1012 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1013 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1014 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1015 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1016 exempt it. See [1] for description of the
1017 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1018 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1019 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1020 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1021 category is present in both mark and
1022 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1023 and available categories are the same as
1024 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1025 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1026 poi_highlight is not available
1027 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1028 The title template for SponsorBlock
1029 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1030 The same syntax as the output template is
1031 used, but the only available fields are
1032 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1033 name, category_names. Defaults to
1034 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1035 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1036 --sponsorblock-remove
1037 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1038 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1039
1040 ## Extractor Options:
1041 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
1042 errors (default is 3), or "infinite"
1043 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1044 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1045 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1046 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1047 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1048 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1049 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1050 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1051 breaks (default)
1052 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1053 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1054 use this option multiple times to give
1055 arguments for different extractors
1056
1057 # CONFIGURATION
1058
1059 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1060
1061 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by `--config-location`
1062 1. **Portable Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
1063 1. **Home Configuration**: `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
1064 1. **User Configuration**:
1065 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1066 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1067 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1068 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1069 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1070 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1071
1072 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to `~/.config` if undefined. On windows, `%APPDATA%` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and `~` points to `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`), or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1073
1074 1. **System Configuration**: `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1075
1076 For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1077 ```
1078 # Lines starting with # are comments
1079
1080 # Always extract audio
1081 -x
1082
1083 # Do not copy the mtime
1084 --no-mtime
1085
1086 # Use this proxy
1087 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1088
1089 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1090 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1091 ```
1092
1093 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`.
1094
1095 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.
1096
1097 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1098
1099 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:
1100 ```
1101 touch $HOME/.netrc
1102 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1103 ```
1104 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1105 ```
1106 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1107 ```
1108 For example:
1109 ```
1110 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1111 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1112 ```
1113 To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1114
1115 The default location of the .netrc file is `$HOME` (`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is `%HOME%` if present, `%USERPROFILE%` (generally `C:\Users\<user name>`) or `%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1116
1117 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1118
1119 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.
1120
1121 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1122 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1123 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1124
1125 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).
1126
1127 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). For example, `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1128
1129 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1130
1131 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a `.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using `:`. Eg: `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`, `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. `%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
1132
1133 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. Eg: `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1134
1135 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. Eg: `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1136
1137 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. Eg: `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1138
1139 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can 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.
1140
1141 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-template`. Eg: `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1142
1143 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, `B`, `j`, `l`, `q`, `D`, `S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg: 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted), respectively
1144
1145 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. Eg: `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1146
1147 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1148 ```
1149 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1150 ```
1151
1152 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`. For example, `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg: `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1153
1154 The available fields are:
1155
1156 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1157 - `title` (string): Video title
1158 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1159 - `url` (string): Video URL
1160 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1161 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1162 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1163 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1164 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1165 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1166 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1167 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1168 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1169 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1170 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1171 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1172 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1173 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1174 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1175 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1176 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1177 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1178 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1179 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1180 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1181 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1182 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1183 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1184 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1185 - `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)
1186 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1187 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
1188 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1189 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1190 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1191 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1192 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1193 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1194 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1195 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by `--format`
1196 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1197 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1198 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1199 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1200 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1201 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1202 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1203 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1204 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1205 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1206 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
1207 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1208 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1209 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1210 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1211 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1212 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1213 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1214 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1215 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
1216 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1217 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1218 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1219 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1220 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
1221 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1222 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1223 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1224 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1225 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1226 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1227 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1228 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1229 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1230
1231 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1232
1233 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1234 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1235 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1236
1237 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1238
1239 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1240 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1241 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1242 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1243 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1244 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1245 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1246
1247 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1248
1249 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1250 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1251 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1252 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1253 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1254 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1255 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1256 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1257 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1258 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1259
1260 Available for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1261
1262 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1263 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1264 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1265 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1266
1267 Available only when used in `--print`:
1268
1269 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1270 - `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
1271 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1272 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1273 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1274 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1275
1276
1277 Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1278
1279 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1280 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1281 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1282 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1283 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1284 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1285
1286 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1287
1288 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).
1289
1290 **Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1291
1292 For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example, `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1293
1294 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.
1295
1296 To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1297
1298 The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1299
1300 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.
1301
1302 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1303 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1304
1305 If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (`%`) by doubling, so that `-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become `-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch `%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact: `-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
1306 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1307
1308 #### Output template examples
1309
1310 ```bash
1311 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1312 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1313
1314 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1315 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1316
1317 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1318 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1319
1320 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1321 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1322
1323 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1324 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1325
1326 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1327 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1328
1329 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1330 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1331
1332 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1333 $ 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"
1334
1335 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1336 $ 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"
1337
1338 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1339 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1340 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1341
1342 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1343 $ 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
1344
1345 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1346 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1347 ```
1348
1349 # FORMAT SELECTION
1350
1351 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1352 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`.
1353
1354 **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.
1355
1356 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.
1357
1358 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1359 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1360 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1361
1362 The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1363
1364 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.
1365
1366 You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1367
1368 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1369
1370 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1371 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1372 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1373 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1374 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1375 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1376 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1377 - `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))
1378 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1379 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1380 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
1381 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1382 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
1383 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
1384
1385 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.
1386
1387 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.
1388
1389 If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1390
1391 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`.
1392
1393 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1394
1395 **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
1396
1397 Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
1398
1399 ## Filtering Formats
1400
1401 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1402
1403 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1404
1405 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1406 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1407 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1408 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1409 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1410 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1411 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1412 - `fps`: Frame rate
1413
1414 Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1415
1416 - `ext`: File extension
1417 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1418 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1419 - `container`: Name of the container format
1420 - `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`)
1421 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1422 - `language`: Language code
1423
1424 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 `._-`.
1425
1426 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.
1427
1428 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
1429
1430 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"`.
1431
1432 ## Sorting Formats
1433
1434 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...`.
1435
1436 The available fields are:
1437
1438 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1439 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1440 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1441 - `lang`: The language preference
1442 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1443 - `source`: The preference of the source
1444 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1445 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1446 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
1447 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
1448 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1449 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `opus` > `ogg` > `webm` > `m4a` > `mp3` > `aac`.
1450 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
1451 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1452 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1453 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1454 - `height`: Height of video
1455 - `width`: Width of video
1456 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1457 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1458 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
1459 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1460 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1461 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1462 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1463 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1464
1465 **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.
1466
1467 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. Eg: `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. Eg: `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1468
1469 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,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1470
1471 Note that the default has `codec: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.
1472
1473 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`.
1474
1475 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1476
1477 ## Format Selection examples
1478
1479 ```bash
1480 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1481 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1482 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1483
1484 # Download best format that contains video,
1485 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1486 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1487
1488 # Same as above
1489 $ yt-dlp
1490
1491 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1492 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1493 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1494 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1495
1496 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1497 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1498 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1499
1500 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1501 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1502 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1503
1504
1505 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1506 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1507
1508 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1509 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1510
1511 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1512 $ yt-dlp -S "+res"
1513
1514 # Download the smallest video available
1515 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1516
1517
1518
1519 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1520 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1521
1522 # Download the best video with the best extension
1523 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1524 $ yt-dlp -S "ext"
1525
1526
1527
1528 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1529 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1530 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1531
1532 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1533 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1534 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1535
1536 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1537 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1538 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1539 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1540 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1541
1542
1543
1544 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1545 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1546 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1547
1548 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1549 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1550 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1551
1552 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1553 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1554
1555
1556
1557 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1558 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1559 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1560
1561 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1562 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1563 $ yt-dlp -S "proto"
1564
1565
1566
1567 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1568 # or the best video if there is no such video
1569 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1570
1571 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1572 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1573 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1574
1575 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1576 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1577 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1578
1579
1580
1581 # More complex examples
1582
1583 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1584 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1585 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1586
1587 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1588 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1589 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1590 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1591
1592
1593
1594 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1595 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1596 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1597 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1598 ```
1599
1600 # MODIFYING METADATA
1601
1602 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1603
1604 `--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.
1605
1606 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 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.
1607
1608 Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata`.
1609
1610 This option also has a few special uses:
1611
1612 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1613
1614 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
1615
1616 **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.
1617
1618 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1619
1620 Metadata fields | From
1621 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1622 `title` | `track` or `title`
1623 `date` | `upload_date`
1624 `description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1625 `purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1626 `track` | `track_number`
1627 `artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1628 `genre` | `genre`
1629 `album` | `album`
1630 `album_artist` | `album_artist`
1631 `disc` | `disc_number`
1632 `show` | `series`
1633 `season_number` | `season_number`
1634 `episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1635 `episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1636 `language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1637
1638 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1639
1640
1641 ## Modifying metadata examples
1642
1643 ```bash
1644 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1645 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1646
1647 # Regex example
1648 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1649
1650 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1651 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1652
1653 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1654 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1655
1656 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1657 # handling multiple lines correctly
1658 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
1659
1660 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1661 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1662
1663 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1664 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1665
1666 ```
1667
1668 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1669
1670 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1671
1672 The following extractors use this feature:
1673
1674 #### youtube
1675 * `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
1676 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (Eg: `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.
1677 * `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
1678 * `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start` (These formats don't download properly)
1679 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1680 * `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`
1681 * 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
1682
1683 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1684 * `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)
1685 * `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1686
1687 #### funimation
1688 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1689 * `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1690
1691 #### crunchyroll
1692 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp`
1693 * `hardsub`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS`
1694
1695 #### crunchyrollbeta
1696 * `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls`
1697 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `trailer_hls`, `trailer_dash`
1698 * `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1699
1700 #### vikichannel
1701 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1702
1703 #### niconico
1704 * `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.**
1705
1706 #### youtubewebarchive
1707 * `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1708
1709 #### gamejolt
1710 * `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1711
1712 #### hotstar
1713 * `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1714 * `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1715 * `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1716
1717 #### tiktok
1718 * `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1719 * `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1720
1721 #### rokfinchannel
1722 * `tab`: Which tab to download. One of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams`)
1723
1724
1725 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1726
1727 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1728
1729
1730 # PLUGINS
1731
1732 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
1733
1734 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`.
1735
1736 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1737
1738 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
1739
1740 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1741
1742
1743
1744 # EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1745
1746 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1747
1748 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.
1749
1750 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1751
1752 ```python
1753 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1754
1755 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1756 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1757 ydl.download(URLS)
1758 ```
1759
1760 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#L181).
1761
1762 **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)
1763
1764 ## Embedding examples
1765
1766 #### Extracting information
1767
1768 ```python
1769 import json
1770 import yt_dlp
1771
1772 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1773
1774 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1775 ydl_opts = {}
1776 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1777 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1778
1779 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1780 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1781 ```
1782 #### Download using an info-json
1783
1784 ```python
1785 import yt_dlp
1786
1787 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1788
1789 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1790 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1791
1792 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1793 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1794 ```
1795
1796 #### Extract audio
1797
1798 ```python
1799 import yt_dlp
1800
1801 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1802
1803 ydl_opts = {
1804 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best'
1805 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1806 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1807 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1808 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1809 }]
1810 }
1811
1812 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1813 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1814 ```
1815 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1816
1817 ```python
1818 import yt_dlp
1819
1820 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1821
1822 class MyLogger:
1823 def debug(self, msg):
1824 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1825 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1826 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1827 pass
1828 else:
1829 self.info(msg)
1830
1831 def info(self, msg):
1832 pass
1833
1834 def warning(self, msg):
1835 pass
1836
1837 def error(self, msg):
1838 print(msg)
1839
1840
1841 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1842 def my_hook(d):
1843 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1844 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1845
1846
1847 ydl_opts = {
1848 'logger': MyLogger(),
1849 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1850 }
1851
1852 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1853 ydl.download(URLS)
1854 ```
1855
1856 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1857
1858 ```python
1859 import yt_dlp
1860
1861 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1862
1863 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1864 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1865 def run(self, info):
1866 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1867 return [], info
1868
1869
1870 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1871 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1872 ydl.download(URLS)
1873 ```
1874
1875
1876 #### Use a custom format selector
1877
1878 ```python
1879 import yt_dlp
1880
1881 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1882
1883 def format_selector(ctx):
1884 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1885 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1886
1887 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1888 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1889
1890 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1891 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1892 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1893
1894 # find compatible audio extension
1895 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1896 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1897 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1898 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1899
1900 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1901 yield {
1902 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1903 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1904 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1905 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1906 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1907 }
1908
1909
1910 ydl_opts = {
1911 'format': format_selector,
1912 }
1913
1914 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1915 ydl.download(URLS)
1916 ```
1917
1918 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1919
1920 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1921
1922 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1923
1924 #### Almost redundant options
1925 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1926
1927 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1928 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1929 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1930 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1931
1932 #### Redundant options
1933 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1934
1935 --get-description --print description
1936 --get-duration --print duration_string
1937 --get-filename --print filename
1938 --get-format --print format
1939 --get-id --print id
1940 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1941 -e, --get-title --print title
1942 -g, --get-url --print urls
1943 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1944 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1945 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1946 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1947 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1948 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
1949
1950
1951 #### Not recommended
1952 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1953
1954 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
1955 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
1956 --all-formats -f all
1957 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1958 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1959 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
1960 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1961 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1962 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1963 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1964 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1965 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1966 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1967 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1968 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1969 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1970 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1971
1972
1973 #### Developer options
1974 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1975
1976 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
1977 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
1978 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1979 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
1980
1981
1982 #### Old aliases
1983 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1984
1985 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1986 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
1987 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1988 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1989 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1990 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1991 --load-info --load-info-json
1992 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
1993 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1994 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1995 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1996 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1997 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1998 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1999 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2000 --write-srt --write-subs
2001 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2002
2003 #### Sponskrub Options
2004 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
2005
2006 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2007 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2008 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2009 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2010 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2011 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2012 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2013 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2014
2015 #### No longer supported
2016 These options may no longer work as intended
2017
2018 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2019 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2020 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2021 --no-call-home Default
2022 --include-ads No longer supported
2023 --no-include-ads Default
2024 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2025 --no-write-annotations Default
2026
2027 #### Removed
2028 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2029
2030 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2031 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2032
2033 # CONTRIBUTING
2034 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)
2035
2036 # MORE
2037 For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)