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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)](#installation "Installation")
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/actions/workflow/status/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/core.yml?branch=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&display_timestamp=committer)](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 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
29 * [Update](#update)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [Compile](#compile)
33 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Configuration file encoding](#configuration-file-encoding)
52 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
53 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
54 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
55 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
56 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
57 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
58 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
59 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
60 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
61 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
62 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
63 * [PLUGINS](#plugins)
64 * [Installing Plugins](#installing-plugins)
65 * [Developing Plugins](#developing-plugins)
66 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
67 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
68 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
69 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
70 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
71 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
72 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
73 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
74 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
75
76
77 # NEW FEATURES
78
79 * Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12.17+ [commit/2dd6c6e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/2dd6c6e)** ([exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc v2020.11.11-3+ [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest [youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
80
81 * **[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in YouTube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
82
83 * **[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))
84
85 * **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 NicoNico livestreams are not available. See [#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
86
87 * **YouTube improvements**:
88 * Supports Clips, Stories (`ytstories:<channel UCID>`), Search (including filters)**\***, YouTube Music Search, Channel-specific search, Search prefixes (`ytsearch:`, `ytsearchdate:`)**\***, Mixes, YouTube Music Albums/Channels ([except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723)), and Feeds (`:ytfav`, `:ytwatchlater`, `:ytsubs`, `:ythistory`, `:ytrec`, `:ytnotif`)
89 * Fix for [n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
90 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
91 * Download livestreams from the start using `--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
92 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
93 * Channel URLs download all uploads of the channel, including shorts and live
94
95 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using `--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]`
96
97 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using `--download-sections`
98
99 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using `--split-chapters`
100
101 * **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
102
103 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use `aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
104
105 * **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)
106
107 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
108
109 * **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
110
111 * **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`)
112
113 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
114
115 * **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`
116
117 * **Other new options**: Many new options have been added such as `--alias`, `--print`, `--concat-playlist`, `--wait-for-video`, `--retry-sleep`, `--sleep-requests`, `--convert-thumbnails`, `--force-download-archive`, `--force-overwrites`, `--break-on-reject` etc
118
119 * **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
120
121 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
122
123 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using `yt-dlp -U`
124
125 See [changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
126
127 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
128
129 ### Differences in default behavior
130
131 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
132
133 * yt-dlp supports only [Python 3.7+](## "Windows 7"), and *may* remove support for more versions as they [become EOL](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#python-release-cycle); while [youtube-dl still supports Python 2.6+ and 3.2+](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/30568#issue-1118238743)
134 * The options `--auto-number` (`-A`), `--title` (`-t`) and `--literal` (`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
135 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to `ffmpeg`
136 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
137 * 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`
138 * 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
139 * 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
140 * 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
141 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use `--abort-on-error` or `--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
142 * 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
143 * `--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
144 * 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
145 * `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
146 * The output of `-F` is listed in a new format. Use `--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
147 * Live chats (if available) are considered as subtitles. Use `--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use `--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent any live chat/danmaku from downloading
148 * YouTube channel URLs download all uploads of the channel. To download only the videos in a specific tab, pass the tab's URL. 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
149 * Unavailable videos are also listed for YouTube playlists. Use `--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
150 * The upload dates extracted from YouTube are in UTC [when available](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/89e4d86171c7b7c997c77d4714542e0383bf0db0/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L3898-L3900). Use `--compat-options no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date` to prefer the non-UTC upload date.
151 * 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
152 * Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
153 * 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
154 * 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
155 * `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`
156 * yt-dlp's sanitization of invalid characters in filenames is different/smarter than in youtube-dl. You can use `--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
157 * yt-dlp tries to parse the external downloader outputs into the standard progress output if possible (Currently implemented: [~~aria2c~~](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/5931)). You can use `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress` to get the downloader output as-is
158
159 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
160
161 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
162 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as `--compat-options all,-multistreams`
163 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as `--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
164 * `--compat-options 2021`: Same as `--compat-options 2022,no-certifi,filename-sanitization,no-youtube-prefer-utc-upload-date`
165 * `--compat-options 2022`: Same as `--compat-options no-external-downloader-progress`. Use this to enable all future compat options
166
167
168 # INSTALLATION
169
170 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
171 [![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)
172 [![Unix](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Linux/BSD-red.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=linux)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
173 [![MacOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/-MacOS-lightblue.svg?style=for-the-badge&logo=apple)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
174 [![PyPi](https://img.shields.io/badge/-PyPi-blue.svg?logo=pypi&labelColor=555555&style=for-the-badge)](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
175 [![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)
176 [![Other variants](https://img.shields.io/badge/-Other-grey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](#release-files)
177 [![All versions](https://img.shields.io/badge/-All_Versions-lightgrey.svg?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
178 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
179
180 You can install yt-dlp using [the binaries](#release-files), [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) or one using a third-party package manager. See [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) for detailed instructions
181
182
183 ## UPDATE
184 You can use `yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
185
186 If you [installed with PIP](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
187
188 For other third-party package managers, see [the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation#third-party-package-managers) or refer their documentation
189
190
191 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
192 ## RELEASE FILES
193
194 #### Recommended
195
196 File|Description
197 :---|:---
198 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independent [zipimport](https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipimport.html) binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
199 [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**)
200 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|Universal MacOS (10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
201
202 #### Alternatives
203
204 File|Description
205 :---|:---
206 [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
207 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with `py2exe`<br/> ([Not recommended](#standalone-py2exe-builds-windows))
208 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
209 [yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
210 [yt-dlp_linux_armv7l](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_armv7l)|Linux standalone armv7l (32-bit) binary
211 [yt-dlp_linux_aarch64](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux_aarch64)|Linux standalone aarch64 (64-bit) binary
212 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
213 [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)
214 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (10.9+) standalone x64 executable
215
216 #### Misc
217
218 File|Description
219 :---|:---
220 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
221 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
222 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
223 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
224
225
226 **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)
227
228 ## DEPENDENCIES
229 Python versions 3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
230
231 <!-- Python 3.5+ uses VC++14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
232 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999 --x>
233 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.
234 -->
235
236 While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
237
238 ### Strongly recommended
239
240 * [**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)
241
242 There are bugs in ffmpeg 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 some of 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
243
244 **Important**: What you need is ffmpeg *binary*, **NOT** [the python package of the same name](https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg)
245
246 ### Networking
247 * [**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)
248 * [**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>
249 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
250
251 ### Metadata
252
253 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For `--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
254 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For `--embed-thumbnail` in `mp4`/`m4a` files when `mutagen`/`ffmpeg` cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
255 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr), [**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or [**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata (`--xattr`) on **Linux**. Licensed under [MIT](https://github.com/xattr/xattr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt), [LGPL2.1](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr/blob/master/COPYING) and [GPLv2+](http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/tree/doc/COPYING) respectively
256
257 ### Misc
258
259 * [**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)
260 * [**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)
261 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For `--cookies-from-browser` to access the **Gnome** keyring while decrypting cookies of **Chromium**-based browsers on **Linux**. Licensed under [BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
262 * Any external downloader that you want to use with `--downloader`
263
264 ### Deprecated
265
266 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License [depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
267 * [**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)
268 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
269 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp`/`mms` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with `--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
270
271 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
272
273 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
274
275 If you do not have the necessary dependencies for a task you are attempting, yt-dlp will warn you. All the currently available dependencies are visible at the top of the `--verbose` output
276
277
278 ## COMPILE
279
280 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
281 To build the standalone executable, you must have Python and `pyinstaller` (plus any of yt-dlp's [optional dependencies](#dependencies) if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, simply run `pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (x86/ARM, 32/64 bit) as the Python used.
282
283 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
284 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
285 python3 pyinst.py
286
287 On some systems, you may need to use `py` or `python` instead of `python3`.
288
289 `pyinst.py` accepts any arguments that can be passed to `pyinstaller`, such as `--onefile/-F` or `--onedir/-D`, which is further [documented here](https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/usage.html#what-to-generate).
290
291 **Note**: Pyinstaller versions below 4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
292
293 **Important**: Running `pyinstaller` directly **without** using `pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
294
295 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
296 You will need the build tools `python` (3.7+), `zip`, `make` (GNU), `pandoc`\* and `pytest`\*.
297
298 After installing these, simply run `make`.
299
300 You can also run `make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files. (The build tools marked with **\*** are not needed for this)
301
302 ### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
303
304 While we provide the option to build with [py2exe](https://www.py2exe.org), it is recommended to build [using PyInstaller](#standalone-pyinstaller-builds) instead since the py2exe builds **cannot contain `pycryptodomex`/`certifi` and needs VC++14** on the target computer to run.
305
306 If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run `setup.py py2exe`
307
308 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
309 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
310 py setup.py py2exe
311
312 ### Related scripts
313
314 * **`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
315 * **`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
316 * **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
317
318 You can also fork the project on GitHub and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a full release
319
320 # USAGE AND OPTIONS
321
322 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
323 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
324
325 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
326 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
327
328 <!-- Auto generated -->
329 ## General Options:
330 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
331 --version Print program version and exit
332 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
333 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
334 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
335 The download will be considered successful
336 even if the postprocessing fails
337 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
338 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
339 playlist (default)
340 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
341 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
342 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
343 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
344 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
345 extractors and exit
346 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
347 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
348 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
349 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
350 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
351 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
352 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
353 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
354 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
355 google videos for the search term "python".
356 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
357 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
358 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
359 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
360 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
361 possible instead of searching
362 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
363 except those given by --config-locations.
364 For backward compatibility, if this option
365 is found inside the system configuration
366 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
367 (Alias: --no-config)
368 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
369 (default). When given inside a configuration
370 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
371 defined in the current file
372 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
373 either the path to the config or its
374 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
375 used multiple times and inside other
376 configuration files
377 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
378 only list them
379 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
380 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
381 Currently only supported for YouTube
382 (Experimental)
383 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
384 (default)
385 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
386 available. Pass the minimum number of
387 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
388 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
389 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
390 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
391 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
392 --no-colours)
393 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
394 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
395 configurations by reverting some of the
396 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
397 default behavior" for details
398 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
399 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
400 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
401 according to the Python string formatting
402 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
403 "-S=aext:{0},abr -x --audio-format {0}"
404 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
405 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
406 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
407 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
408 output. Alias options can trigger more
409 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
410 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
411 alias may be triggered a maximum of 100
412 times. This option can be used multiple times
413
414 ## Network Options:
415 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
416 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
417 e.g. socks5://user:pass@127.0.0.1:1080/.
418 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
419 direct connection
420 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
421 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
422 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
423 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
424 --enable-file-urls Enable file:// URLs. This is disabled by
425 default for security reasons.
426
427 ## Geo-restriction:
428 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
429 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
430 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
431 is not present) is used for the actual
432 downloading
433 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
434 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
435 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
436 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
437 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
438 explicitly provided two-letter ISO 3166-2
439 country code
440 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
441 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
442
443 ## Video Selection:
444 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the items
445 to download. You can specify a range using
446 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
447 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
448 Use negative indices to count from the right
449 and negative STEP to download in reverse
450 order. E.g. "-I 1:3,7,-5::2" used on a
451 playlist of size 15 will download the items
452 at index 1,2,3,7,11,13,15
453 --min-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is smaller than
454 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
455 --max-filesize SIZE Abort download if filesize is larger than
456 SIZE, e.g. 50k or 44.6M
457 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
458 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
459 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
460 E.g. "--date today-2weeks" downloads
461 only videos uploaded on the same day two
462 weeks ago
463 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
464 this date. The date formats accepted is the
465 same as --date
466 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
467 this date. The date formats accepted is the
468 same as --date
469 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
470 field can be compared with a number or a
471 string using the operators defined in
472 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
473 specify a field to match if the field is
474 present, use "!field" to check if the field
475 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
476 conditions. Use a "\" to escape "&" or
477 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
478 the filter matches if atleast one of the
479 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
480 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?100 &
481 description~='(?i)\bcats \& dogs\b'" matches
482 only videos that are not live OR those that
483 have a like count more than 100 (or the like
484 field is not available) and also has a
485 description that contains the phrase "cats &
486 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
487 interactively ask whether to download each
488 video
489 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
490 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
491 to a video and a playlist
492 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
493 a video and a playlist
494 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
495 age
496 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
497 archive file. Record the IDs of all
498 downloaded videos in it
499 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
500 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
501 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
502 a file that is in the archive
503 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
504 a file that has been filtered out
505 --break-per-input Alters --max-downloads, --break-on-existing,
506 --break-on-reject, and autonumber to reset
507 per input URL
508 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
509 terminates the entire download queue
510 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
511 the playlist is skipped
512
513 ## Download Options:
514 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
515 video that should be downloaded concurrently
516 (default is 1)
517 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
518 e.g. 50K or 4.2M
519 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
520 below which throttling is assumed and the
521 video data is re-extracted, e.g. 100K
522 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is 10), or
523 "infinite"
524 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
525 error (default is 3), or "infinite"
526 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
527 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
528 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
529 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
530 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
531 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
532 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=1]] or
533 exp=START[:END[:BASE=2]]. This option can be
534 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
535 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
536 linear=1::2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=1:20
537 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
538 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
539 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragments)
540 --abort-on-unavailable-fragments
541 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
542 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
543 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
544 downloading is finished
545 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
546 downloading is finished (default)
547 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g. 1024 or 16K
548 (default is 1024)
549 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
550 from an initial value of --buffer-size
551 (default)
552 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
553 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
554 downloading, e.g. 10485760 or 10M (default
555 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
556 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
557 (experimental)
558 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
559 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
560 received. This disables n_entries,
561 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
562 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
563 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
564 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
565 expected file size
566 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
567 allowing some players to play the video
568 while downloading, and reducing the chance
569 of file corruption if download is
570 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
571 live streams
572 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
573 videos. This is default when not downloading
574 live streams
575 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
576 the given regular expression. Time ranges
577 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
578 of chapters to download the specified range.
579 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
580 multiple times to download multiple
581 sections, e.g. --download-sections
582 "*10:15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
583 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
584 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
585 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
586 use it for. Currently supports native,
587 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
588 wget. You can use this option multiple times
589 to set different downloaders for different
590 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
591 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
592 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
593 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
594 (Alias: --external-downloader)
595 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
596 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
597 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
598 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
599 positions using the same syntax as
600 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
601 option multiple times to give different
602 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
603 --external-downloader-args)
604
605 ## Filesystem Options:
606 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
607 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
608 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
609 comments and ignored
610 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
611 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
612 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
613 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
614 TYPES as --output are supported.
615 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
616 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
617 files are first downloaded to the temp path
618 and then the final files are moved over to
619 the home path after download is finished.
620 This option is ignored if --output is an
621 absolute path
622 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
623 TEMPLATE" for details
624 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
625 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
626 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
627 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
628 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
629 filenames (default)
630 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
631 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
632 using Windows (default)
633 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
634 extension) to the specified number of
635 characters
636 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
637 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
638 option includes --no-continue
639 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
640 related files (default)
641 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
642 (default)
643 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
644 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
645 restart download of the entire file
646 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
647 into output file (default)
648 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
649 output file
650 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
651 modification time (default)
652 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
653 the file modification time
654 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
655 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
656 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
657 (this may contain personal information)
658 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
659 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
660 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
661 --write-description etc. (default)
662 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
663 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
664 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
665 from the infojson. Note that it could still
666 contain some personal information (default)
667 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
668 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
669 infojson. The comments are fetched even
670 without this option if the extraction is
671 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
672 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
673 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
674 --no-get-comments)
675 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
676 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
677 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
678 and dump cookie jar in
679 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
680 (default)
681 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
682 The name of the browser to load cookies
683 from. Currently supported browsers are:
684 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
685 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
686 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
687 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
688 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
689 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
690 be given with their respective seperators.
691 By default, all containers of the most
692 recently accessed profile are used.
693 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
694 gnomekeyring, kwallet
695 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
696 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
697 store some downloaded information (such as
698 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
699 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
700 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
701 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
702
703 ## Thumbnail Options:
704 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
705 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
706 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
707 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
708 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
709
710 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
711 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
712 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
713 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
714 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
715 OS caches the URL based on the file path
716 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
717 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
718
719 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
720 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
721 print the log to stderr
722 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
723 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
724 anything to disk
725 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
726 options are used
727 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
728 extracting metadata even if the videos are
729 not actually available for download
730 (experimental)
731 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
732 formats are found (default)
733 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
734 related files (Alias: --no-download)
735 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
736 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
737 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
738 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
739 --use-postprocessor (default: video).
740 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
741 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
742 used. This option can be used multiple times
743 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
744 Append given template to the file. The
745 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
746 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
747 output template. This option can be used
748 multiple times
749 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
750 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
751 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
752 description of available keys
753 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
754 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
755 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
756 a playlist, the whole playlist information
757 is dumped in a single line
758 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
759 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
760 another simulation option is used (Alias:
761 --force-download-archive)
762 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
763 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
764 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
765 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
766 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
767 Template for progress outputs, optionally
768 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
769 "download-title:" (the console title),
770 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
771 The video's fields are accessible under the
772 "info" key and the progress attributes are
773 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
774 --console-title --progress-template
775 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
776 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
777 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
778 to debug problems (very verbose)
779 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
780 in the current directory to debug problems
781 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
782
783 ## Workarounds:
784 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
785 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
786 that do not support RFC 5746 secure
787 renegotiation
788 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
789 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
790 information about the video (Currently
791 supported only for YouTube)
792 --add-headers FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
793 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
794 option multiple times
795 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
796 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
797 or fribidi executable in PATH
798 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
799 during data extraction
800 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
801 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
802 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
803 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
804 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
805 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
806 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
807 subtitle download
808
809 ## Video Format Options:
810 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
811 for more details
812 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
813 "Sorting Formats" for more details
814 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
815 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
816 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
817 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
818 specified sort order (default)
819 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
820 into a single file
821 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
822 output file (default)
823 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
824 into a single file
825 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
826 output file (default)
827 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
828 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
829 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
830 irrespective of quality
831 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
832 containers (default)
833 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
834 those that are actually downloadable
835 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
836 actually downloadable
837 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
838 downloadable
839 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
840 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
841 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
842 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
843 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
844 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
845
846 ## Subtitle Options:
847 --write-subs Write subtitle file
848 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
849 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
850 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
851 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
852 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
853 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
854 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
855 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
856 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
857 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
858 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
859 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
860 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
861 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
862 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
863 of available language tags
864
865 ## Authentication Options:
866 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
867 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
868 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
869 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
870 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
871 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
872 either the path or its containing directory.
873 Defaults to ~/.netrc
874 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
875 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
876 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
877 a list of available MSOs
878 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
879 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
880 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
881 interactively
882 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
883 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
884 format. May include the private key
885 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
886 Path to private key file for client
887 certificate
888 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
889 Password for client certificate private key,
890 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
891 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
892
893 ## Post-Processing Options:
894 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
895 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
896 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
897 used. (currently supported: best (default),
898 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
899 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
900 similar syntax as --remux-video
901 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
902 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
903 between 0 (best) and 10 (worst) for VBR or a
904 specific bitrate like 128K (default 5)
905 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
906 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
907 gif, mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac,
908 flac, m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis,
909 wav). If target container does not support
910 the video/audio codec, remuxing will fail.
911 You can specify multiple rules; e.g.
912 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
913 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
914 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
915 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
916 are the same as --remux-video
917 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
918 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
919 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
920 to give the argument to the specified
921 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
922 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
923 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
924 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
925 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
926 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
927 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
928 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
929 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
930 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
931 specified executable only when being used by
932 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
933 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
934 appended to the prefix optionally followed
935 by a number to pass the argument before the
936 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
937 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
938 this option multiple times to give different
939 arguments to different postprocessors.
940 (Alias: --ppa)
941 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
942 after post-processing
943 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
944 post-processing (default)
945 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
946 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
947 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
948 webm and mkv videos)
949 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
950 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
951 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
952 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
953 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
954 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
955 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
956 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
957 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
958 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
959 (Alias: --add-chapters)
960 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
961 --no-add-chapters)
962 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
963 mkv/mka video files
964 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
965 to the video file
966 --parse-metadata [WHEN:]FROM:TO
967 Parse additional metadata like title/artist
968 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
969 for details. Supported values of "WHEN" are
970 the same as that of --use-postprocessor
971 (default: pre_process)
972 --replace-in-metadata [WHEN:]FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
973 Replace text in a metadata field using the
974 given regex. This option can be used
975 multiple times. Supported values of "WHEN"
976 are the same as that of --use-postprocessor
977 (default: pre_process)
978 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
979 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
980 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
981 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
982 (default; only when the videos form a single
983 show). All the video files must have same
984 codecs and number of streams to be
985 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
986 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
987 the output filename for the concatenated
988 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
989 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
990 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
991 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
992 default; fix file if we can, warn
993 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
994 already exists)
995 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
996 path to the binary or its containing directory
997 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
998 when to execute it, separated by a ":".
999 Supported values of "WHEN" are the same as
1000 that of --use-postprocessor (default:
1001 after_move). Same syntax as the output
1002 template can be used to pass any field as
1003 arguments to the command. After download, an
1004 additional field "filepath" that contains
1005 the final path of the downloaded file is
1006 also available, and if no fields are passed,
1007 %(filepath,_filename|)q is appended to the
1008 end of the command. This option can be used
1009 multiple times
1010 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
1011 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
1012 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
1013 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
1014 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
1015 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
1016 can specify multiple rules using similar
1017 syntax as --remux-video
1018 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
1019 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
1020 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1021 the output filename for the split files. See
1022 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1023 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1024 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1025 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1026 same as --download-sections. This option can
1027 be used multiple times
1028 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1029 (default)
1030 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1031 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1032 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1033 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1034 around the cuts
1035 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1036 when cutting/splitting (default)
1037 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1038 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1039 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1040 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1041 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1042 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1043 The "when" argument determines when the
1044 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1045 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1046 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1047 "video" (after --format; before
1048 --print/--output), "before_dl" (before each
1049 video download), "post_process" (after each
1050 video download; default), "after_move"
1051 (after moving video file to it's final
1052 locations), "after_video" (after downloading
1053 and processing all formats of a video), or
1054 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This option
1055 can be used multiple times to add different
1056 postprocessors
1057
1058 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1059 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1060 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1061 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1062
1063 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1064 for, separated by commas. Available
1065 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1066 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1067 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, chapter, all
1068 and default (=all). You can prefix the
1069 category with a "-" to exclude it. See [1]
1070 for description of the categories. E.g.
1071 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1072 [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1073 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1074 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1075 category is present in both mark and remove,
1076 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1077 available categories are the same as for
1078 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1079 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight,
1080 chapter are not available
1081 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1082 An output template for the title of the
1083 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1084 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1085 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1086 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1087 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1088 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1089 --sponsorblock-remove
1090 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1091 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1092
1093 ## Extractor Options:
1094 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1095 (default is 3), or "infinite"
1096 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1097 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1098 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1099 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1100 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1101 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1102 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1103 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1104 (default)
1105 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1106 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1107 can use this option multiple times to give
1108 arguments for different extractors
1109
1110 # CONFIGURATION
1111
1112 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1113
1114 1. **Main Configuration**:
1115 * The file given by `--config-location`
1116 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1117 * If using a binary, `yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1118 * If running from source-code, `yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of `yt_dlp`
1119 1. **Home Configuration**:
1120 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by `-P`
1121 * If `-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1122 1. **User Configuration**:
1123 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1124 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1125 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1126 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp.conf`
1127 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1128 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1129 * `~/yt-dlp.conf`
1130 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1131 * `~/.yt-dlp/config`
1132 * `~/.yt-dlp/config.txt`
1133
1134 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1135 1. **System Configuration**:
1136 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1137 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config`
1138 * `/etc/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1139
1140 E.g. with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under `YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1141 ```
1142 # Lines starting with # are comments
1143
1144 # Always extract audio
1145 -x
1146
1147 # Do not copy the mtime
1148 --no-mtime
1149
1150 # Use this proxy
1151 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1152
1153 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1154 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1155 ```
1156
1157 **Note**: Options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after `-` or `--`, e.g. `-o` or `--proxy` but not `- o` or `-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
1158
1159 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.
1160
1161 ### Configuration file encoding
1162
1163 The configuration files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1164
1165 If you want your file to be decoded differently, add `# coding: ENCODING` to the beginning of the file (e.g. `# coding: shift-jis`). There must be no characters before that, even spaces or BOM.
1166
1167 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1168
1169 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:
1170 ```
1171 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1172 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1173 ```
1174 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1175 ```
1176 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1177 ```
1178 E.g.
1179 ```
1180 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1181 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1182 ```
1183 To activate authentication with the `.netrc` file you should pass `--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1184
1185 The default location of the .netrc file is `~` (see below).
1186
1187 ### Notes about environment variables
1188 * Environment variables are normally specified as `${VARIABLE}`/`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and `%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as `${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1189 * yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g. `--output`, `--config-location`
1190 * If unset, `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to `~/.config` and `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to `~/.cache`
1191 * On Windows, `~` points to `${HOME}` if present; or, `${USERPROFILE}` or `${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1192 * On Windows, `${USERPROFILE}` generally points to `C:\Users\<user name>` and `${APPDATA}` to `${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1193
1194 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
1195
1196 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.
1197
1198 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1199 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1200 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1201
1202 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).
1203
1204 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to [Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), e.g. `%(NAME)s` or `%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1205
1206 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1207
1208 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a dot `.` separator; e.g. `%(tags.0)s`, `%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`. You can do Python slicing with colon `:`; E.g. `%(id.3:7:-1)s`, `%(formats.:.format_id)s`. Curly braces `{}` can be used to build dictionaries with only specific keys; e.g. `%(formats.:.{format_id,height})#j`. An empty field name `%()s` refers to the entire infodict; e.g. `%(.{id,title})s`. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use `-j` to see such fields
1209
1210 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using `+` and `-` respectively. E.g. `%(playlist_index+10)03d`, `%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1211
1212 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to [strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a `>`. E.g. `%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`, `%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`, `%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1213
1214 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a `,`. E.g. `%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1215
1216 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can be specified using a `&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1217
1218 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a `|` separator. This overrides `--output-na-placeholder`. E.g. `%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1219
1220 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types `diouxXeEfFgGcrs`, yt-dlp additionally supports converting to `B` = **B**ytes, `j` = **j**son (flag `#` for pretty-printing, `+` for Unicode), `h` = HTML escaping, `l` = a comma separated **l**ist (flag `#` for `\n` newline-separated), `q` = a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag `#` to split a list into different arguments), `D` = add **D**ecimal suffixes (e.g. 10M) (flag `#` to use 1024 as factor), and `S` = **S**anitize as filename (flag `#` for restricted)
1221
1222 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type `U` can be used for NFC [Unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag `+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. E.g. `%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1223
1224 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1225 ```
1226 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1227 ```
1228
1229 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon `:`. The different file types supported are `subtitle`, `thumbnail`, `description`, `annotation` (deprecated), `infojson`, `link`, `pl_thumbnail`, `pl_description`, `pl_infojson`, `chapter`, `pl_video`. E.g. `-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. E.g. `--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1230
1231 <a id="outtmpl-postprocess-note"></a>
1232
1233 **Note**: Due to post-processing (i.e. merging etc.), the actual output filename might differ. Use `--print after_move:filepath` to get the name after all post-processing is complete.
1234
1235 The available fields are:
1236
1237 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1238 - `title` (string): Video title
1239 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1240 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1241 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1242 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1243 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1244 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1245 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1246 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1247 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1248 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1249 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1250 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1251 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1252 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1253 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1254 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1255 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1256 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1257 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1258 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1259 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1260 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1261 - `concurrent_view_count` (numeric): How many users are currently watching the video on the platform.
1262 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1263 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1264 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1265 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1266 - `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)
1267 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1268 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1269 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1270 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1271 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1272 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1273 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1274 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1275 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1276 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1277 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1278 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at `--autonumber-start`
1279 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1280 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1281 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1282 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1283 - `playlist` (string): `playlist_id` or `playlist_title`
1284 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1285 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1286 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1287 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1288 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1289 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1290 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1291 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1292 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as `webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1293
1294 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1295
1296 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1297
1298 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1299 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1300 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1301
1302 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1303
1304 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1305 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1306 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1307 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1308 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1309 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1310 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1311
1312 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1313
1314 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1315 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1316 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1317 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1318 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1319 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1320 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1321 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1322 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1323 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1324
1325 Available only when using `--download-sections` and for `chapter:` prefix when using `--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1326
1327 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1328 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1329 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1330 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1331
1332 Available only when used in `--print`:
1333
1334 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1335 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the [actual filename may differ](#outtmpl-postprocess-note)
1336 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by `--list-formats`
1337 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by `--list-thumbnails`
1338 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1339 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by `--list-subs`
1340
1341
1342 Available only in `--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1343
1344 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1345 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1346 - `categories` (list): The [SponsorBlock categories](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Category) the chapter belongs to
1347 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1348 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1349 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1350 - `type` (string): The [SponsorBlock action type](https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Types#Action_Type) of the chapter
1351
1352 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. E.g. for `-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title `yt-dlp test video` and id `BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a `yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1353
1354 **Note**: 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).
1355
1356 **Tip**: Look at the `-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1357
1358 For numeric sequences you can use [numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting); e.g. `%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to 5 characters, like in `00042`.
1359
1360 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.
1361
1362 To use percent literals in an output template use `%%`. To output to stdout use `-o -`.
1363
1364 The current default template is `%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1365
1366 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.
1367
1368 #### Output template examples
1369
1370 ```bash
1371 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1372 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1373
1374 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1375 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1376
1377 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1378 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1379
1380 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1381 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1382
1383 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1384 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1385
1386 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1387 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1388
1389 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1390 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1391
1392 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1393 $ 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"
1394
1395 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1396 $ 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"
1397
1398 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1399 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1400 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1401
1402 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1403 $ 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
1404
1405 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1406 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1407 ```
1408
1409 # FORMAT SELECTION
1410
1411 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1412 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`.
1413
1414 **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.
1415
1416 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.
1417
1418 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1419 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1420 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1421
1422 The simplest case is requesting a specific format; e.g. with `-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to 22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using `--list-formats` or `-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1423
1424 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.
1425
1426 You can use `-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1427
1428 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1429
1430 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1431 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with `--audio-multistreams`, `--video-multistreams` or both)
1432 - `b*`, `best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie; `vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1433 - `b`, `best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1434 - `bv`, `bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[acodec=none]`
1435 - `bv*`, `bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec!=none]`
1436 - `ba`, `bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to `best*[vcodec=none]`
1437 - `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))
1438 - `w*`, `worst*`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1439 - `w`, `worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1440 - `wv`, `worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]`
1441 - `wv*`, `worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1442 - `wa`, `worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]`
1443 - `wa*`, `worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]`
1444
1445 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.
1446
1447 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.
1448
1449 If you want to download multiple videos, and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred; e.g. `-f 22/17/18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1450
1451 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`.
1452
1453 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg installed); e.g. `-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1454
1455 **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
1456
1457 Unless `--video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. E.g. `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams` will download and merge only `bestvideo` and `bestaudio`. `best` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams` will download only `best` while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams` will ignore `best` and download only `bestaudio`.
1458
1459 ## Filtering Formats
1460
1461 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=720]"` (or `-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1462
1463 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`, `=` (equals), `!=` (not equals):
1464
1465 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1466 - `filesize_approx`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1467 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1468 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1469 - `aspect_ratio`: Aspect ratio of the video, if known
1470 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1471 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1472 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1473 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1474 - `fps`: Frame rate
1475 - `audio_channels`: The number of audio channels
1476 - `stretched_ratio`: `width:height` of the video's pixels, if not square
1477
1478 Also filtering work for comparisons `=` (equals), `^=` (starts with), `$=` (ends with), `*=` (contains), `~=` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1479
1480 - `url`: Video URL
1481 - `ext`: File extension
1482 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1483 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1484 - `container`: Name of the container format
1485 - `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`)
1486 - `language`: Language code
1487 - `dynamic_range`: The dynamic range of the video
1488 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1489 - `format`: A human-readable description of the format
1490 - `format_note`: Additional info about the format
1491 - `resolution`: Textual description of width and height
1492
1493 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 `._-`.
1494
1495 **Note**: 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.
1496
1497 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?720][tbr>500]"` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all` to download all formats that satisfy the filter, e.g. `-f "all[vcodec=none]"` selects all audio-only formats.
1498
1499 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses; e.g. `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<480]"` will download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480.
1500
1501 ## Sorting Formats
1502
1503 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...`.
1504
1505 The available fields are:
1506
1507 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that have a video stream
1508 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that have an audio stream
1509 - `ie_pref`: The format preference
1510 - `lang`: The language preference
1511 - `quality`: The quality of the format
1512 - `source`: The preference of the source
1513 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (`https`/`ftps` > `http`/`ftp` > `m3u8_native`/`m3u8` > `http_dash_segments`> `websocket_frag` > `mms`/`rtsp` > `f4f`/`f4m`)
1514 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (`av01` > `vp9.2` > `vp9` > `h265` > `h264` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` > other)
1515 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (`flac`/`alac` > `wav`/`aiff` > `opus` > `vorbis` > `aac` > `mp4a` > `mp3` > `ac4` > `eac3` > `ac3` > `dts` > other)
1516 - `codec`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec`
1517 - `vext`: Video Extension (`mp4` > `mov` > `webm` > `flv` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, `webm` is preferred.
1518 - `aext`: Audio Extension (`m4a` > `aac` > `mp3` > `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to `ogg` > `opus` > `webm` > `mp3` > `m4a` > `aac`
1519 - `ext`: Equivalent to `vext,aext`
1520 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1521 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1522 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1523 - `height`: Height of video
1524 - `width`: Width of video
1525 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1526 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1527 - `hdr`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV` > `HDR12` > `HDR10+` > `HDR10` > `HLG` > `SDR`)
1528 - `channels`: The number of audio channels
1529 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1530 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1531 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1532 - `br`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr`
1533 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1534
1535 **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.
1536
1537 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+`. E.g. `+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:`. E.g. `res:720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec` and `ext`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. E.g. `+codec:avc:m4a` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a`) sets the video codec preference to `h264` > `h265` > `vp9` > `vp9.2` > `av01` > `vp8` > `h263` > `theora` and audio codec preference to `mp4a` > `aac` > `vorbis` > `opus` > `mp3` > `ac3` > `dts`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~` as the delimiter. E.g. `filesize~1G` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1538
1539 The fields `hasvid` and `ie_pref` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:12,vcodec:vp9.2,channels,acodec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1540
1541 Note that the default has `vcodec:vp9.2`; i.e. `av1` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1542
1543 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`.
1544
1545 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1546
1547 ## Format Selection examples
1548
1549 ```bash
1550 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1551 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1552 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1553
1554 # Download best format that contains video,
1555 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1556 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1557
1558 # Same as above
1559 $ yt-dlp
1560
1561 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1562 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1563 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1564 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1565
1566 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1567 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1568 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1569
1570 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1571 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1572 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1573
1574
1575 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1576 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1577
1578 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1579 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1580
1581 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1582 $ yt-dlp -S "+res"
1583
1584 # Download the smallest video available
1585 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1586
1587
1588
1589 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1590 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1591
1592 # Download the best video with the best extension
1593 # (For video, mp4 > mov > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1594 $ yt-dlp -S "ext"
1595
1596
1597
1598 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1599 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1600 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1601
1602 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1603 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1604 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1605
1606 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1607 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1608 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1609 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1610 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1611
1612
1613
1614 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1615 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1616 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1617
1618 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1619 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1620 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1621
1622 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1623 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1624
1625
1626
1627 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1628 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1629 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1630
1631 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1632 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1633 $ yt-dlp -S "proto"
1634
1635
1636
1637 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1638 # or the best video if there is no such video
1639 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1640
1641 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1642 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1643 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1644
1645 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1646 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1647 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1648
1649
1650
1651 # More complex examples
1652
1653 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1654 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1655 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1656
1657 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1658 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1659 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1660 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1661
1662
1663
1664 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1665 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1666 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1667 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1668 ```
1669
1670 # MODIFYING METADATA
1671
1672 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata` and `--replace-in-metadata`
1673
1674 `--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.
1675
1676 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups, a single field name, or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
1677
1678 Note that these options preserve their relative order, allowing replacements to be made in parsed fields and viceversa. Also, any field thus created can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata`.
1679
1680 This option also has a few special uses:
1681
1682 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls` to the URL that you want to download. E.g. `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1683
1684 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description` field will be added to the `description` field in the file - you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_` prefix (e.g. `meta1_language`). Any value set to the `meta_` field will overwrite all default values.
1685
1686 **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.
1687
1688 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1689
1690 Metadata fields | From
1691 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1692 `title` | `track` or `title`
1693 `date` | `upload_date`
1694 `description`, `synopsis` | `description`
1695 `purl`, `comment` | `webpage_url`
1696 `track` | `track_number`
1697 `artist` | `artist`, `creator`, `uploader` or `uploader_id`
1698 `genre` | `genre`
1699 `album` | `album`
1700 `album_artist` | `album_artist`
1701 `disc` | `disc_number`
1702 `show` | `series`
1703 `season_number` | `season_number`
1704 `episode_id` | `episode` or `episode_id`
1705 `episode_sort` | `episode_number`
1706 `language` of each stream | the format's `language`
1707
1708 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1709
1710
1711 ## Modifying metadata examples
1712
1713 ```bash
1714 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1715 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1716
1717 # Regex example
1718 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1719
1720 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1721 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1722
1723 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1724 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1725
1726 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1727 # handling multiple lines correctly
1728 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1729
1730 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1731 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1732
1733 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1734 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1735
1736 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1737 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1738
1739 ```
1740
1741 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1742
1743 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`. `ARGS` is a `;` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. E.g. `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1744
1745 Note: In CLI, `ARG` can use `-` instead of `_`; e.g. `youtube:player-client"` becomes `youtube:player_client"`
1746
1747 The following extractors use this feature:
1748
1749 #### youtube
1750 * `lang`: Prefer translated metadata (`title`, `description` etc) of this language code (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
1751 * `skip`: One or more of `hls`, `dash` or `translated_subs` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and [auto-translated subtitles](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/4090#issuecomment-1158102032) respectively
1752 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web`, `android` and `ios` with variants `_music`, `_embedded`, `_embedscreen`, `_creator` (e.g. `web_embedded`); and `mweb` and `tv_embedded` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web` is used, but `tv_embedded` and `creator` variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly, the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com` urls. You can use `all` to use all the clients, and `default` for the default clients.
1753 * `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
1754 * `comment_sort`: `top` or `new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1755 * `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`
1756 * 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
1757 * `include_incomplete_formats`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1758 * `innertube_host`: Innertube API host to use for all API requests; e.g. `studio.youtube.com`, `youtubei.googleapis.com`. Note that cookies exported from one subdomain will not work on others
1759 * `innertube_key`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1760
1761 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1762 * `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)
1763 * `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1764
1765 #### generic
1766 * `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments. Does not apply to ffmpeg
1767
1768 #### funimation
1769 * `language`: Audio languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese`
1770 * `version`: The video version to extract - `uncut` or `simulcast`
1771
1772 #### crunchyrollbeta (Crunchyroll)
1773 * `format`: Which stream type(s) to extract (default: `adaptive_hls`). Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls`, `adaptive_dash`, `vo_adaptive_hls`, `vo_adaptive_dash`, `download_hls`, `download_dash`, `multitrack_adaptive_hls_v2`
1774 * `hardsub`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all` (default: `None` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None`
1775
1776 #### vikichannel
1777 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes`, `movies`, `clips`, `trailers`
1778
1779 #### niconico
1780 * `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.**
1781
1782 #### youtubewebarchive
1783 * `check_all`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails`, `captures`
1784
1785 #### gamejolt
1786 * `comment_sort`: `hot` (default), `you` (cookies needed), `top`, `new` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1787
1788 #### hotstar
1789 * `res`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd`, `hd`, `fhd`
1790 * `vcodec`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264`, `h265`, `dvh265`
1791 * `dr`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr`, `hdr10`, `dv`
1792
1793 #### tiktok
1794 * `api_hostname`: Hostname to use for mobile API requests, e.g. `api-h2.tiktokv.com`
1795 * `app_version`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1796 * `manifest_app_version`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
1797
1798 #### rokfinchannel
1799 * `tab`: Which tab to download - one of `new`, `top`, `videos`, `podcasts`, `streams`, `stacks`
1800
1801 #### twitter
1802 * `force_graphql`: Force usage of the GraphQL API. By default it will only be used if login cookies are provided
1803
1804 **Note**: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1805
1806 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1807
1808
1809 # PLUGINS
1810
1811 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!**
1812
1813 Plugins can be of `<type>`s `extractor` or `postprocessor`.
1814 - Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it.
1815 - Extractor plugins take priority over builtin extractors.
1816 - Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME`.
1817
1818
1819 Plugins are loaded from the namespace packages `yt_dlp_plugins.extractor` and `yt_dlp_plugins.postprocessor`.
1820
1821 In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
1822
1823 yt_dlp_plugins/
1824 extractor/
1825 myplugin.py
1826 postprocessor/
1827 myplugin.py
1828
1829 yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
1830
1831 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1832
1833 ## Installing Plugins
1834
1835 Plugins can be installed using various methods and locations.
1836
1837 1. **Configuration directories**:
1838 Plugin packages (containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder) can be dropped into the following standard [configuration locations](#configuration):
1839 * **User Plugins**
1840 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1841 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1842 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/` (recommended on Windows)
1843 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1844 * `~/.yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1845 * `~/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1846 * **System Plugins**
1847 * `/etc/yt-dlp/plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1848 * `/etc/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1849 2. **Executable location**: Plugin packages can similarly be installed in a `yt-dlp-plugins` directory under the executable location:
1850 * Binary: where `<root-dir>/yt-dlp.exe`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1851 * Source: where `<root-dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`, `<root-dir>/yt-dlp-plugins/<package name>/yt_dlp_plugins/`
1852
1853 3. **pip and other locations in `PYTHONPATH`**
1854 * Plugin packages can be installed and managed using `pip`. See [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) for an example.
1855 * Note: plugin files between plugin packages installed with pip must have unique filenames.
1856 * Any path in `PYTHONPATH` is searched in for the `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder.
1857 * Note: This does not apply for Pyinstaller/py2exe builds.
1858
1859
1860 `.zip`, `.egg` and `.whl` archives containing a `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folder in their root are also supported as plugin packages.
1861 * e.g. `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/plugins/mypluginpkg.zip` where `mypluginpkg.zip` contains `yt_dlp_plugins/<type>/myplugin.py`
1862
1863 Run yt-dlp with `--verbose` to check if the plugin has been loaded.
1864
1865 ## Developing Plugins
1866
1867 See the [yt-dlp-sample-plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp-sample-plugins) repo for a template plugin package and the [Plugin Development](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugin-Development) section of the wiki for a plugin development guide.
1868
1869 All public classes with a name ending in `IE`/`PP` are imported from each file for extractors and postprocessors repectively. This respects underscore prefix (e.g. `_MyBasePluginIE` is private) and `__all__`. Modules can similarly be excluded by prefixing the module name with an underscore (e.g. `_myplugin.py`).
1870
1871 To replace an existing extractor with a subclass of one, set the `plugin_name` class keyword argument (e.g. `class MyPluginIE(ABuiltInIE, plugin_name='myplugin')` will replace `ABuiltInIE` with `MyPluginIE`). Since the extractor replaces the parent, you should exclude the subclass extractor from being imported separately by making it private using one of the methods described above.
1872
1873 If you are a plugin author, add [yt-dlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/yt-dlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability.
1874
1875 See the [Developer Instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions) on how to write and test an extractor.
1876
1877 # EMBEDDING YT-DLP
1878
1879 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1880
1881 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.
1882
1883 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1884
1885 ```python
1886 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1887
1888 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1889 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1890 ydl.download(URLS)
1891 ```
1892
1893 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#L184).
1894
1895 **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)
1896
1897 ## Embedding examples
1898
1899 #### Extracting information
1900
1901 ```python
1902 import json
1903 import yt_dlp
1904
1905 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1906
1907 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1908 ydl_opts = {}
1909 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1910 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1911
1912 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1913 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1914 ```
1915 #### Download using an info-json
1916
1917 ```python
1918 import yt_dlp
1919
1920 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1921
1922 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1923 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1924
1925 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1926 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1927 ```
1928
1929 #### Extract audio
1930
1931 ```python
1932 import yt_dlp
1933
1934 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1935
1936 ydl_opts = {
1937 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1938 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1939 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1940 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1941 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1942 }]
1943 }
1944
1945 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1946 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1947 ```
1948
1949 #### Filter videos
1950
1951 ```python
1952 import yt_dlp
1953
1954 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1955
1956 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1957 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1958 duration = info.get('duration')
1959 if duration and duration < 60:
1960 return 'The video is too short'
1961
1962 ydl_opts = {
1963 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1964 }
1965
1966 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1967 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1968 ```
1969
1970 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1971
1972 ```python
1973 import yt_dlp
1974
1975 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1976
1977 class MyLogger:
1978 def debug(self, msg):
1979 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1980 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1981 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1982 pass
1983 else:
1984 self.info(msg)
1985
1986 def info(self, msg):
1987 pass
1988
1989 def warning(self, msg):
1990 pass
1991
1992 def error(self, msg):
1993 print(msg)
1994
1995
1996 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1997 def my_hook(d):
1998 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1999 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
2000
2001
2002 ydl_opts = {
2003 'logger': MyLogger(),
2004 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
2005 }
2006
2007 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2008 ydl.download(URLS)
2009 ```
2010
2011 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
2012
2013 ```python
2014 import yt_dlp
2015
2016 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2017
2018 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
2019 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
2020 def run(self, info):
2021 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
2022 return [], info
2023
2024
2025 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
2026 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
2027 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
2028 ydl.download(URLS)
2029 ```
2030
2031
2032 #### Use a custom format selector
2033
2034 ```python
2035 import yt_dlp
2036
2037 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
2038
2039 def format_selector(ctx):
2040 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
2041 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
2042
2043 # formats are already sorted worst to best
2044 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
2045
2046 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
2047 best_video = next(f for f in formats
2048 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
2049
2050 # find compatible audio extension
2051 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
2052 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
2053 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
2054 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
2055
2056 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
2057 yield {
2058 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
2059 'ext': best_video['ext'],
2060 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
2061 # Must be + separated list of protocols
2062 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
2063 }
2064
2065
2066 ydl_opts = {
2067 'format': format_selector,
2068 }
2069
2070 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
2071 ydl.download(URLS)
2072 ```
2073
2074 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
2075
2076 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
2077
2078 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
2079
2080 #### Almost redundant options
2081 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
2082
2083 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
2084 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
2085 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
2086 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
2087
2088 #### Redundant options
2089 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
2090
2091 --get-description --print description
2092 --get-duration --print duration_string
2093 --get-filename --print filename
2094 --get-format --print format
2095 --get-id --print id
2096 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2097 -e, --get-title --print title
2098 -g, --get-url --print urls
2099 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2100 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2101 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2102 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2103 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2104 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2105 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2106 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2107 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2108 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2109
2110
2111 #### Not recommended
2112 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2113
2114 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2115 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2116 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2117 --all-formats -f all
2118 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2119 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2120 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2121 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2122 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2123 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2124 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2125 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2126 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2127 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2128 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2129 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2130 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2131 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2132
2133
2134 #### Developer options
2135 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2136
2137 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2138 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2139 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2140 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2141 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2142
2143
2144 #### Old aliases
2145 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2146
2147 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2148 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2149 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2150 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2151 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2152 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2153 --load-info --load-info-json
2154 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2155 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2156 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2157 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2158 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2159 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2160 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2161 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2162 --write-srt --write-subs
2163 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2164
2165 #### Sponskrub Options
2166 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock` options
2167
2168 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2169 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2170 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2171 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2172 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2173 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2174 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2175 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2176
2177 #### No longer supported
2178 These options may no longer work as intended
2179
2180 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2181 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2182 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2183 --no-call-home Default
2184 --include-ads No longer supported
2185 --no-include-ads Default
2186 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2187 --no-write-annotations Default
2188 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2189
2190 #### Removed
2191 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2192
2193 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2194 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2195
2196 # CONTRIBUTING
2197 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)
2198
2199 # WIKI
2200 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information