4 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
7 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
10 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
11 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
12 2.6,
2.7, or
3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
13 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
14 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
17 -h, --help print this help text and exit
18 --version print program version and exit
19 -U, --update update this program to latest version. Make sure
20 that you have sufficient permissions (run with
22 -i, --ignore-errors continue on download errors, for example to to
23 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
24 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos (in the
25 playlist or the command line) if an error occurs
26 --dump-user-agent display the current browser identification
27 --user-agent UA specify a custom user agent
28 --referer REF specify a custom referer, use if the video access
29 is restricted to one domain
30 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and the URLs they
32 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported extractors
33 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy
34 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
35 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can
36 store downloaded information permanently. By
37 default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or ~/.cache
39 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
42 --playlist-start NUMBER playlist video to start at (default is
1)
43 --playlist-end NUMBER playlist video to end at (default is last)
44 --match-title REGEX download only matching titles (regex or caseless
46 --reject-title REGEX skip download for matching titles (regex or
48 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
49 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than SIZE
51 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE (e.g.
53 --date DATE download only videos uploaded in this date
54 --datebefore DATE download only videos uploaded before this date
55 --dateafter DATE download only videos uploaded after this date
56 --no-playlist download only the currently playing video
57 --age-limit YEARS download only videos suitable for the given age
58 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not present in the archive
59 file. Record all downloaded videos in it.
62 -r, --rate-limit LIMIT maximum download rate in bytes per second (e.g.
64 -R, --retries RETRIES number of retries (default is
10)
65 --buffer-size SIZE size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
67 --no-resize-buffer do not automatically adjust the buffer size. By
68 default, the buffer size is automatically resized
69 from an initial value of SIZE.
71 ## Filesystem Options:
72 -t, --title use title in file name (default)
73 --id use only video ID in file name
74 -l, --literal [deprecated] alias of --title
75 -A, --auto-number number downloaded files starting from
00000
76 -o, --output TEMPLATE output filename template. Use %(title)s to get
77 the title, %(uploader)s for the uploader name,
78 %(uploader_id)s for the uploader nickname if
79 different, %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
80 incremented number, %(ext)s for the filename
81 extension, %(format)s for the format description
82 (like "
22 -
1280x720" or "HD"),%(format_id)s for
83 the unique id of the format (like Youtube's
84 itags: "
137"),%(upload_date)s for the upload date
85 (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
86 (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the video id
87 , %(playlist)s for the playlist the video is in,
88 %(playlist_index)s for the position in the
89 playlist and %% for a literal percent. Use - to
90 output to stdout. Can also be used to download to
91 a different directory, for example with -o '/my/d
92 ownloads/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
93 --autonumber-size NUMBER Specifies the number of digits in %(autonumber)s
94 when it is present in output filename template or
95 --auto-number option is given
96 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters, and
97 avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
98 -a, --batch-file FILE file containing URLs to download ('-' for stdin)
99 -w, --no-overwrites do not overwrite files
100 -c, --continue force resume of partially downloaded files. By
101 default, youtube-dl will resume downloads if
103 --no-continue do not resume partially downloaded files (restart
105 --cookies FILE file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in
106 --no-part do not use .part files
107 --no-mtime do not use the Last-modified header to set the
108 file modification time
109 --write-description write video description to a .description file
110 --write-info-json write video metadata to a .info.json file
111 --write-annotations write video annotations to a .annotation file
112 --write-thumbnail write thumbnail image to disk
114 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
115 -q, --quiet activates quiet mode
116 -s, --simulate do not download the video and do not write
118 --skip-download do not download the video
119 -g, --get-url simulate, quiet but print URL
120 -e, --get-title simulate, quiet but print title
121 --get-id simulate, quiet but print id
122 --get-thumbnail simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
123 --get-description simulate, quiet but print video description
124 --get-filename simulate, quiet but print output filename
125 --get-format simulate, quiet but print output format
126 --newline output progress bar as new lines
127 --no-progress do not print progress bar
128 --console-title display progress in console titlebar
129 -v, --verbose print various debugging information
130 --dump-intermediate-pages print downloaded pages to debug problems(very
132 --write-pages Write downloaded pages to files in the current
135 ## Video Format Options:
136 -f, --format FORMAT video format code, specifiy the order of
137 preference using slashes: "-f
22/
17/
18". "-f mp4"
138 and "-f flv" are also supported
139 --all-formats download all available video formats
140 --prefer-free-formats prefer free video formats unless a specific one
142 --max-quality FORMAT highest quality format to download
143 -F, --list-formats list all available formats (currently youtube
147 --write-sub write subtitle file
148 --write-auto-sub write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
149 --all-subs downloads all the available subtitles of the
151 --list-subs lists all available subtitles for the video
152 --sub-format FORMAT subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt] youtube
154 --sub-lang LANGS languages of the subtitles to download (optional)
155 separated by commas, use IETF language tags like
158 ## Authentication Options:
159 -u, --username USERNAME account username
160 -p, --password PASSWORD account password
161 -n, --netrc use .netrc authentication data
162 --video-password PASSWORD video password (vimeo only)
164 ## Post-processing Options:
165 -x, --extract-audio convert video files to audio-only files (requires
166 ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or avprobe)
167 --audio-format FORMAT "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or
168 "wav"; best by default
169 --audio-quality QUALITY ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification, insert
170 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for VBR
171 or a specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
172 --recode-video FORMAT Encode the video to another format if necessary
173 (currently supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm)
174 -k, --keep-video keeps the video file on disk after the post-
175 processing; the video is erased by default
176 --no-post-overwrites do not overwrite post-processed files; the post-
177 processed files are overwritten by default
178 --embed-subs embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
180 --add-metadata add metadata to the files
184 You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as
`--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into
`/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or
`~/.config/youtube-dl.conf`.
188 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format
`%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
190 - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
191 - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
192 - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
193 - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
194 - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
195 - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
196 - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
197 - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
198 - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
199 - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
201 The current default template is
`%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
203 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:
205 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
206 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
207 $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
208 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
212 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options
`--date`,
`--datebefore` or
`--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
214 - Absolute dates: Dates in the format
`YYYYMMDD`.
215 - Relative dates: Dates in the format
`(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
219 $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-
6months #will only download the videos uploaded in the last
6 months
220 $ youtube-dl --date
19700101 #will only download the videos uploaded in January
1,
1970
221 $ youtube-dl --dateafter
20000101 --datebefore
20100101 #will only download the videos uploaded between
2000 and
2010
225 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
227 Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be
1080p or
720p in some cases, so you no longer need the
`-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the
`-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
229 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
231 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're
[considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
233 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
235 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as
[vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or
[mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
237 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
239 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the
`--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use
`--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
241 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
243 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July
2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with
`sudo youtube-dl --update`.
245 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
247 youtube requires an additional signature since September
2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with
`sudo youtube-dl --update`.
249 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
253 File "youtube-dl", line
2
254 SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '
\x93' ...
256 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python
2.6 or
2.7.
258 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
260 Since June
2012 (#
342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to
`youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the
`__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run
`make youtube-dl`.
262 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
264 To run the exe you need to install first the
[Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
268 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
270 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.
274 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues>
278 * Your exact command line, like
`youtube-dl -t "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlDtZ6Oc3s&feature=channel_video_title"`. A common mistake is not to escape the
`&`. Putting URLs in quotes should solve this problem.
279 * If possible re-run the command with
`--verbose`, and include the full output, it is really helpful to us.
280 * The output of
`youtube-dl --version`
281 * The output of
`python --version`
282 * The name and version of your Operating System ("Ubuntu
11.04 x64" or "Windows
7 x64" is usually enough).
284 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.