1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#installation "Installation")
7 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp "PyPi")
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators "Donate")
9 []
(https://matrix.to/#/#yt-dlp:matrix.org "Matrix")
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r "Discord")
11 [](supportedsites.md "Supported Sites")
12 [](LICENSE "License")
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions "CI Status")
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
15 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits "Commit History")
18 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
20 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
22 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "USAGE AND OPTIONS" SECTION HERE -->
24 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
25 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
26 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
27 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
28 * [Detailed instructions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation)
30 * [Release Files](#release-files)
31 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
33 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
34 * [General Options](#general-options)
35 * [Network Options](#network-options)
36 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
37 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
38 * [Download Options](#download-options)
39 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
40 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
41 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
42 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
43 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
44 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
45 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
46 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
47 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
48 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
49 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
50 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
51 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
52 * [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
53 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
54 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
55 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
56 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
57 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
58 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
59 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
60 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
61 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
63 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
64 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
65 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
66 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
67 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
68 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
69 * [WIKI](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki)
70 * [FAQ](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ)
71 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
76 * Merged with **youtube-dl v2021.12
.17+
[commit/ed5c44e](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/ed5c44e7b74ac77f87ca5ed6cb5e964a0c6a0678)**<!--(
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21))--> and **youtube-dlc v2020.11
.11-
3+
[commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
78 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
80 * **[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))
82 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--write-comments`,
`BiliBiliSearch`,
`BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
84 * **YouTube improvements**:
85 * 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`)
86 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326) **\***
87 * Supports some (but not all) age-gated content without cookies
88 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (*experimental*)
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from YouTube Music when premium cookies are given
90 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
92 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
94 * **Download time range**: Videos can be downloaded partially based on either timestamps or chapters using
`--download-sections`
96 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
98 * **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
100 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
102 * **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)
104 * **New MSOs**: Philo, Spectrum, SlingTV, Cablevision, RCN etc.
106 * **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
108 * **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`)
110 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for details
112 * **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`
114 * **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
116 * **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
118 * **Plugins**: Extractors and PostProcessors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
120 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
122 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
124 Features marked with a **\*** have been back-ported to youtube-dl
126 ### Differences in default behavior
128 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
130 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
131 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
132 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [CONFIGURATION](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
133 * 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`
134 * 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
135 * 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
136 * 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
137 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
138 * 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
139 * `--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
140 * 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
141 * `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
142 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
143 * 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
144 * Youtube channel URLs are automatically redirected to
`/video`. Append a
`/featured` to the URL to download only the videos in the home page. If the channel does not have a videos tab, we try to download the equivalent
`UU` playlist instead. For all other tabs, if the channel does not show the requested tab, an error will be raised. Also,
`/live` URLs raise an error if there are no live videos instead of silently downloading the entire channel. You may use
`--compat-options no-youtube-channel-redirect` to revert all these redirections
145 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
146 * 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.
147 * 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
148 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
149 * 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
150 * 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
151 * `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`
152 * 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
154 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
156 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options (Do NOT use)
157 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
158 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
163 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
164 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
165 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
166 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
167 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
168 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
169 [](#release-files)
170 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
171 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
173 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
177 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the release binaries](#release-files)
179 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
181 For other third-party package managers, see
[the wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation) or refer their documentation
184 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
191 [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**)
192 [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**)
193 [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**)
199 [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
200 [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))
201 [yt-dlp_linux](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux)|Linux standalone x64 binary
202 [yt-dlp_linux.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_linux.zip)|Unpackaged Linux executable (no auto-update)
203 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
204 [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)
205 [yt-dlp_macos_legacy](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos_legacy)|MacOS (
10.9+) standalone x64 executable
211 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball
212 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
213 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
214 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
217 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)
220 Python versions
3.7+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
222 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
223 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
224 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.
227 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
229 ### Strongly recommended
231 * [**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)
233 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
234 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide
[custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at
[yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See
[the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
237 * [**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)
238 * [**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>
239 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
243 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For
`--embed-thumbnail` in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
244 * [**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)
245 * [**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
249 * [**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)
250 * [**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)
251 * [**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)
252 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
256 * [**avconv** and **avprobe**](https://www.libav.org) - Now **deprecated** alternative to ffmpeg. License
[depends on the build](https://libav.org/legal)
257 * [**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)
258 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg can be used instead with
`--downloader ffmpeg`. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
259 * [**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)
261 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
263 The standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with **\*** included.
265 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
270 ### Standalone PyInstaller Builds
271 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.
273 python3 -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
274 python3 devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
277 On some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`.
279 Note that pyinstaller with versions below
4.4 [do not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment.
281 **Important**: Running
`pyinstaller` directly **without** using
`pyinst.py` is **not** officially supported. This may or may not work correctly.
283 ### Platform-independent Binary (UNIX)
284 You will need the build tools
`python` (
3.7+),
`zip`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`\* and
`pytest`\*.
286 After installing these, simply run
`make`.
288 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)
290 ### Standalone Py2Exe Builds (Windows)
292 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.
294 If you wish to build it anyway, install Python and py2exe, and then simply run
`setup.py py2exe`
296 py -m pip install -U py2exe -r requirements.txt
297 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
302 * **
`devscripts/update-version.py [revision]`** - Update the version number based on current date
303 * **
`devscripts/set-variant.py variant [-M update_message]`** - Set the build variant of the executable
304 * **
`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.
306 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
310 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
311 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
313 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
314 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
316 <!-- Auto generated -->
318 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
319 --version Print program version and exit
320 -U, --update Update this program to the latest version
321 --no-update Do not check for updates (default)
322 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
323 The download will be considered successful
324 even if the postprocessing fails
325 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download errors;
326 e.g. to skip unavailable videos in a
328 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
329 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
330 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
331 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
332 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
334 --use-extractors NAMES Extractor names to use separated by commas.
335 You can also use regexes, "all", "default"
336 and "end" (end URL matching); e.g. --ies
337 "holodex.*,end,youtube". Prefix the name
338 with a "-" to exclude it, e.g. --ies
339 default,-generic. Use --list-extractors for
340 a list of extractor names. (Alias: --ies)
341 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. E.g.
342 "gvsearch2:python" downloads two videos from
343 google videos for the search term "python".
344 Use the value "auto" to let yt-dlp guess
345 ("auto_warning" to emit a warning when
346 guessing). "error" just throws an error. The
347 default value "fixup_error" repairs broken
348 URLs, but emits an error if this is not
349 possible instead of searching
350 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
351 except those given by --config-locations.
352 For backward compatibility, if this option
353 is found inside the system configuration
354 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
356 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
357 (default). When given inside a configuration
358 file, ignore all previous --config-locations
359 defined in the current file
360 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
361 either the path to the config or its
362 containing directory ("-" for stdin). Can be
363 used multiple times and inside other
365 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
367 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
368 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
369 Currently only supported for YouTube
371 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
373 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
374 available. Pass the minimum number of
375 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
376 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
377 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
378 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
379 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output (Alias:
381 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
382 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
383 configurations by reverting some of the
384 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
385 default behavior" for details
386 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
387 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
388 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
389 according to the Python string formatting
390 mini-language. E.g. --alias get-audio,-X
391 "-S=aext:{
0},abr -x --audio-format {
0}"
392 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
393 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
394 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
395 All defined aliases are listed in the --help
396 output. Alias options can trigger more
397 aliases; so be careful to avoid defining
398 recursive options. As a safety measure, each
399 alias may be triggered a maximum of
100
400 times. This option can be used multiple times
403 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. To
404 enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper scheme,
405 e.g. socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/.
406 Pass in an empty string (--proxy "") for
408 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
409 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
410 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
411 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
414 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
415 some geo-restricted sites. The default proxy
416 specified by --proxy (or none, if the option
417 is not present) is used for the actual
419 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
420 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header (default)
421 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
422 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
423 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
424 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
426 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
427 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR notation
430 -I, --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Comma separated playlist_index of the videos
431 to download. You can specify a range using
432 "[START]:[STOP][:STEP]". For backward
433 compatibility, START-STOP is also supported.
434 Use negative indices to count from the right
435 and negative STEP to download in reverse
436 order. E.g. "-I
1:
3,
7,-
5::
2" used on a
437 playlist of size
15 will download the videos
438 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
11,
13,
15
439 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
440 SIZE, e.g.
50k or
44.6M
441 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE,
443 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
444 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
445 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
446 E.g. --date today-
2weeks
447 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
448 this date. The date formats accepted is the
450 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
451 this date. The date formats accepted is the
453 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any "OUTPUT TEMPLATE"
454 field can be compared with a number or a
455 string using the operators defined in
456 "Filtering Formats". You can also simply
457 specify a field to match if the field is
458 present, use "!field" to check if the field
459 is not present, and "&" to check multiple
460 conditions. Use a "
\" to escape "&" or
461 quotes if needed. If used multiple times,
462 the filter matches if atleast one of the
463 conditions are met. E.g. --match-filter
464 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
465 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'" matches
466 only videos that are not live OR those that
467 have a like count more than
100 (or the like
468 field is not available) and also has a
469 description that contains the phrase "cats &
470 dogs" (caseless). Use "--match-filter -" to
471 interactively ask whether to download each
473 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
474 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
475 to a video and a playlist
476 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
477 a video and a playlist
478 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
480 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
481 archive file. Record the IDs of all
482 downloaded videos in it
483 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
484 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
485 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
486 a file that is in the archive
487 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
488 a file that has been filtered out
489 --break-per-input --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject,
490 --max-downloads, and autonumber resets per
492 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
493 terminates the entire download queue
494 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest of
495 the playlist is skipped
498 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
499 video that should be downloaded concurrently
501 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second,
503 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
504 below which throttling is assumed and the
505 video data is re-extracted, e.g.
100K
506 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
508 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
509 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
510 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default is
511 10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and ISM)
512 --retry-sleep [TYPE:]EXPR Time to sleep between retries in seconds
513 (optionally) prefixed by the type of retry
514 (http (default), fragment, file_access,
515 extractor) to apply the sleep to. EXPR can
516 be a number, linear=START[:END[:STEP=
1]] or
517 exp=START[:END[:BASE=
2]]. This option can be
518 used multiple times to set the sleep for the
519 different retry types, e.g. --retry-sleep
520 linear=
1::
2 --retry-sleep fragment:exp=
1:
20
521 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
522 hlsnative and ISM downloads (default)
523 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
524 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment
525 Abort download if a fragment is unavailable
526 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
527 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
528 downloading is finished
529 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
530 downloading is finished (default)
531 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer, e.g.
1024 or
16K
533 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
534 from an initial value of --buffer-size
536 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
537 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
538 downloading, e.g.
10485760 or
10M (default
539 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
540 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
542 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
543 --lazy-playlist Process entries in the playlist as they are
544 received. This disables n_entries,
545 --playlist-random and --playlist-reverse
546 --no-lazy-playlist Process videos in the playlist only after
547 the entire playlist is parsed (default)
548 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
550 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
551 allowing some players to play the video
552 while downloading, and reducing the chance
553 of file corruption if download is
554 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
556 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
557 videos. This is default when not downloading
559 --download-sections REGEX Download only chapters whose title matches
560 the given regular expression. Time ranges
561 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
562 of chapters to download the specified range.
563 Needs ffmpeg. This option can be used
564 multiple times to download multiple
565 sections, e.g. --download-sections
566 "*
10:
15-inf" --download-sections "intro"
567 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
568 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
569 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
570 use it for. Currently supports native,
571 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
572 wget. You can use this option multiple times
573 to set different downloaders for different
574 protocols. E.g. --downloader aria2c
575 --downloader "dash,m3u8:native" will use
576 aria2c for http/ftp downloads, and the
577 native downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
578 (Alias: --external-downloader)
579 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
580 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
581 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
582 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to different
583 positions using the same syntax as
584 --postprocessor-args. You can use this
585 option multiple times to give different
586 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
587 --external-downloader-args)
589 ## Filesystem Options:
590 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
591 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
592 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
594 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
595 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
596 downloaded. Specify the type of file and the
597 path separated by a colon ":". All the same
598 TYPES as --output are supported.
599 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
600 (default) and "temp" paths. All intermediary
601 files are first downloaded to the temp path
602 and then the final files are moved over to
603 the home path after download is finished.
604 This option is ignored if --output is an
606 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
607 TEMPLATE" for details
608 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder for unavailable fields in
609 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" (default: "NA")
610 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII characters,
611 and avoid "&" and spaces in filenames
612 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
614 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
615 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
616 using Windows (default)
617 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
618 extension) to the specified number of
620 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
621 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files. This
622 option includes --no-continue
623 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
624 related files (default)
625 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
627 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
628 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
629 restart download of the entire file
630 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
631 into output file (default)
632 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly into
634 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the file
635 modification time (default)
636 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
637 the file modification time
638 --write-description Write video description to a .description file
639 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
640 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
641 (this may contain personal information)
642 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
643 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
644 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
645 --write-description etc. (default)
646 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
647 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
648 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as filenames
649 from the infojson. Note that it could still
650 contain some personal information (default)
651 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
652 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
653 infojson. The comments are fetched even
654 without this option if the extraction is
655 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
656 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
657 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
659 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
660 (created with the "--write-info-json" option)
661 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies from
662 and dump cookie jar in
663 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
665 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE][::CONTAINER]
666 The name of the browser to load cookies
667 from. Currently supported browsers are:
668 brave, chrome, chromium, edge, firefox,
669 opera, safari, vivaldi. Optionally, the
670 KEYRING used for decrypting Chromium cookies
671 on Linux, the name/path of the PROFILE to
672 load cookies from, and the CONTAINER name
673 (if Firefox) ("none" for no container) can
674 be given with their respective seperators.
675 By default, all containers of the most
676 recently accessed profile are used.
677 Currently supported keyrings are: basictext,
678 gnomekeyring, kwallet
679 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
680 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where yt-dlp can
681 store some downloaded information (such as
682 client ids and signatures) permanently. By
683 default ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/yt-dlp
684 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
685 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
687 ## Thumbnail Options:
688 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
689 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)
690 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
691 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
692 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
694 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
695 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
696 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
697 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
698 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
699 OS caches the URL based on the file path
700 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
701 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
703 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
704 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with --verbose,
705 print the log to stderr
706 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
707 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
709 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
711 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
712 extracting metadata even if the videos are
713 not actually available for download
715 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
716 formats are found (default)
717 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
718 related files (Alias: --no-download)
719 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
720 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
721 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
722 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
723 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
724 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
725 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
726 used. This option can be used multiple times
727 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
728 Append given template to the file. The
729 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as that
730 of --print. FILE uses the same syntax as the
731 output template. This option can be used
733 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
734 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
735 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
736 description of available keys
737 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
738 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
739 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
740 a playlist, the whole playlist information
741 is dumped in a single line
742 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
743 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
744 another simulation option is used (Alias:
745 --force-download-archive)
746 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
747 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
748 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
749 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
750 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
751 Template for progress outputs, optionally
752 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
753 "download-title:" (the console title),
754 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
755 The video's fields are accessible under the
756 "info" key and the progress attributes are
757 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.
758 --console-title --progress-template
759 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
760 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
761 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
762 to debug problems (very verbose)
763 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to files
764 in the current directory to debug problems
765 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
768 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
769 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to servers
770 that do not support RFC
5746 secure
772 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
773 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
774 information about the video (Currently
775 supported only for YouTube)
776 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
777 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
778 option multiple times
779 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
780 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
781 or fribidi executable in PATH
782 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
783 during data extraction
784 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
785 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
786 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
787 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
788 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can only
789 be used along with --min-sleep-interval
790 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
793 ## Video Format Options:
794 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
796 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
797 "Sorting Formats" for more details
798 --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
799 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
800 Formats" for more details (Alias: --S-force)
801 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
802 specified sort order (default)
803 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
805 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for each
806 output file (default)
807 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
809 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for each
810 output file (default)
811 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
812 over non-free ones of same quality. Use with
813 "-S ext" to strictly prefer free containers
814 irrespective of quality
815 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
817 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
818 those that are actually downloadable
819 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
820 actually downloadable
821 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
823 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
824 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
825 --merge-output-format FORMAT Containers that may be used when merging
826 formats, separated by "/", e.g. "mp4/mkv".
827 Ignored if no merge is required. (currently
828 supported: avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, webm)
831 --write-subs Write subtitle file
832 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
833 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
834 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
835 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
836 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
837 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
838 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
839 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format; accepts formats preference,
840 e.g. "srt" or "ass/srt/best"
841 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
842 be regex) or "all" separated by commas, e.g.
843 --sub-langs "en.*,ja". You can prefix the
844 language code with a "-" to exclude it from
845 the requested languages, e.g. --sub-langs
846 all,-live_chat. Use --list-subs for a list
847 of available language tags
849 ## Authentication Options:
850 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
851 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
852 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
853 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
854 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
855 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
856 either the path or its containing directory.
858 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
859 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
860 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
861 a list of available MSOs
862 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
863 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
864 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
866 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system operators
867 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
868 format. May include the private key
869 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE
870 Path to private key file for client
872 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
873 Password for client certificate private key,
874 if encrypted. If not provided, and the key
875 is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask interactively
877 ## Post-Processing Options:
878 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
879 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
880 --audio-format FORMAT Format to convert the audio to when -x is
881 used. (currently supported: best (default),
882 aac, alac, flac, m4a, mp3, opus, vorbis,
883 wav). You can specify multiple rules using
884 similar syntax as --remux-video
885 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
886 converting the audio with -x. Insert a value
887 between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for VBR or a
888 specific bitrate like
128K (default
5)
889 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
890 necessary (currently supported: avi, flv,
891 mkv, mov, mp4, webm, aac, aiff, alac, flac,
892 m4a, mka, mp3, ogg, opus, vorbis, wav). If
893 target container does not support the
894 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
895 can specify multiple rules; e.g.
896 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to m4a,
897 mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv
898 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
899 necessary. The syntax and supported formats
900 are the same as --remux-video
901 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
902 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
903 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
904 to give the argument to the specified
905 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
906 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
907 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
908 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
909 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
910 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
911 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
912 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
913 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
914 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
915 specified executable only when being used by
916 the specified postprocessor. Additionally,
917 for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be
918 appended to the prefix optionally followed
919 by a number to pass the argument before the
920 specified input/output file, e.g. --ppa
921 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
922 this option multiple times to give different
923 arguments to different postprocessors.
925 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
926 after post-processing
927 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
928 post-processing (default)
929 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
930 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
931 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
933 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
934 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
935 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
936 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
937 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
938 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json are
939 used (Alias: --add-metadata)
940 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
941 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
942 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
943 (Alias: --add-chapters)
944 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default) (Alias:
946 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
948 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
950 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
951 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
953 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
954 Replace text in a metadata field using the
955 given regex. This option can be used
957 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
958 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
959 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
960 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
961 (default; only when the videos form a single
962 show). All the video files must have same
963 codecs and number of streams to be
964 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
965 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
966 the output filename for the concatenated
967 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
968 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
969 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
970 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
971 default; fix file if we can, warn
972 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
974 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
975 path to the binary or its containing directory
976 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
977 when to execute it (after_move if
978 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
979 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
980 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
981 output template can be used to pass any
982 field as arguments to the command. After
983 download, an additional field "filepath"
984 that contains the final path of the
985 downloaded file is also available, and if no
986 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
987 to the end of the command. This option can
988 be used multiple times
989 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
990 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
991 (currently supported: ass, lrc, srt, vtt)
992 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
993 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
994 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp). You
995 can specify multiple rules using similar
996 syntax as --remux-video
997 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
998 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix can
999 be used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
1000 the output filename for the split files. See
1001 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
1002 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters (default)
1003 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
1004 given regular expression. The syntax is the
1005 same as --download-sections. This option can
1006 be used multiple times
1007 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1009 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes at cuts when
1010 downloading/splitting/removing sections.
1011 This is slow due to needing a re-encode, but
1012 the resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1014 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1015 when cutting/splitting (default)
1016 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS]
1017 The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1018 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1019 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1020 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1021 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1022 The "when" argument determines when the
1023 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1024 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1025 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1026 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1027 "post_process" (after each video download;
1028 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1029 file to it's final locations), "after_video"
1030 (after downloading and processing all
1031 formats of a video), or "playlist" (at end
1032 of playlist). This option can be used
1033 multiple times to add different postprocessors
1035 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1036 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1037 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1038 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1040 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1041 for, separated by commas. Available
1042 categories are sponsor, intro, outro,
1043 selfpromo, preview, filler, interaction,
1044 music_offtopic, poi_highlight, all and
1045 default (=all). You can prefix the category
1046 with a "-" to exclude it. See [
1] for
1047 description of the categories. E.g.
1048 --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1049 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1050 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1051 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1052 category is present in both mark and remove,
1053 remove takes precedence. The syntax and
1054 available categories are the same as for
1055 --sponsorblock-mark except that "default"
1056 refers to "all,-filler" and poi_highlight is
1058 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1059 An output template for the title of the
1060 SponsorBlock chapters created by
1061 --sponsorblock-mark. The only available
1062 fields are start_time, end_time, category,
1063 categories, name, category_names. Defaults
1064 to "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1065 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1066 --sponsorblock-remove
1067 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1068 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1070 ## Extractor Options:
1071 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor errors
1072 (default is
3), or "infinite"
1073 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1074 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1075 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1076 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1077 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1078 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1079 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1080 formats at discontinuities such as ad breaks
1082 --extractor-args IE_KEY:ARGS Pass ARGS arguments to the IE_KEY extractor.
1083 See "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You
1084 can use this option multiple times to give
1085 arguments for different extractors
1089 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1091 1. **Main Configuration**:
1092 * The file given by
`--config-location`
1093 1. **Portable Configuration**: (Recommended for portable installations)
1094 * If using a binary,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the binary
1095 * If running from source-code,
`yt-dlp.conf` in the parent directory of
`yt_dlp`
1096 1. **Home Configuration**:
1097 * `yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`
1098 * If
`-P` is not given, the current directory is searched
1099 1. **User Configuration**:
1100 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1101 * `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/yt-dlp.conf`
1102 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1103 * `${APPDATA}/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1105 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1107 See also: [Notes about environment variables](#notes-about-environment-variables)
1108 1. **System Configuration**:
1109 * `/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1111 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:
1113 # Lines starting with # are comments
1115 # Always extract audio
1118 # Do not copy the mtime
1122 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1124 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1125 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1128 Note that options in configuration file are just the same options aka switches used in regular command line calls; thus there **must be no whitespace** after
`-` or
`--`, e.g.
`-o` or
`--proxy` but not
`- o` or
`-- proxy`. They must also be quoted when necessary as-if it were a UNIX shell.
1130 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.
1132 ### Config file encoding
1134 The config files are decoded according to the UTF BOM if present, and in the encoding from system locale otherwise.
1136 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.
1138 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1140 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:
1142 touch ${HOME}/.netrc
1143 chmod a-rwx,u+rw ${HOME}/.netrc
1145 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1147 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1151 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1152 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1154 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1156 The default location of the .netrc file is
`~` (see below).
1158 ### Notes about environment variables
1159 * Environment variables are normally specified as
`${VARIABLE}`/
`$VARIABLE` on UNIX and
`%VARIABLE%` on Windows; but is always shown as
`${VARIABLE}` in this documentation
1160 * yt-dlp also allow using UNIX-style variables on Windows for path-like options; e.g.
`--output`,
`--config-location`
1161 * If unset,
`${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}` defaults to
`~/.config` and
`${XDG_CACHE_HOME}` to
`~/.cache`
1162 * On Windows,
`~` points to
`${HOME}` if present; or,
`${USERPROFILE}` or
`${HOMEDRIVE}${HOMEPATH}` otherwise
1163 * On Windows,
`${USERPROFILE}` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` and
`${APPDATA}` to
`${USERPROFILE}\AppData\Roaming`
1167 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.
1169 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1170 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1171 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1173 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).
1175 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.
1177 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1179 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
1181 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`
1183 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`
1185 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. E.g.
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1187 1. **Replacement**: A replacement value can specified using a
`&` separator. If the field is *not* empty, this replacement value will be used instead of the actual field content. This is done after alternate fields are considered; thus the replacement is used if *any* of the alternative fields is *not* empty.
1189 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`
1191 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),
`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)
1193 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
1195 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1197 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1200 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.
1202 The available fields are:
1204 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1205 - `title` (string): Video title
1206 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1207 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1208 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1209 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1210 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1211 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1212 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1213 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1214 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1215 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1216 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1217 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1218 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1219 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1220 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1221 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1222 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1223 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1224 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1225 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1226 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1227 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1228 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1229 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1230 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1231 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1232 - `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)
1233 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1234 - `live_status` (string): One of "not_live", "is_live", "is_upcoming", "was_live", "post_live" (was live, but VOD is not yet processed)
1235 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1236 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1237 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1238 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1239 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1240 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1241 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1242 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1243 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1244 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1245 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1246 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1247 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1248 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1249 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1250 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1251 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1252 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1253 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1254 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1255 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1256 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1257 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1258 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1260 All the fields in [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats) can also be used
1262 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1264 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1265 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1266 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1268 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1270 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1271 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1272 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1273 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1274 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1275 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1276 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1278 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1280 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1281 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1282 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1283 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1284 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1285 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1286 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1287 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1288 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1289 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1291 Available only when using
`--download-sections` and for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1293 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1294 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1295 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1296 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1298 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1300 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1301 - `filename` (string): Name of the video file. Note that the actual filename may be different due to post-processing. Use
`--exec echo` to get the name after all postprocessing is complete
1302 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1303 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1304 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1305 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1308 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1310 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1311 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1312 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1313 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1314 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1315 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1317 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.
1319 Note that some of the sequences are not guaranteed to be present since they depend on the metadata obtained by a particular extractor. Such sequences will be replaced with placeholder value provided with
`--output-na-placeholder` (
`NA` by default).
1321 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1323 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`.
1325 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.
1327 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1329 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1331 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.
1333 #### Output template examples
1336 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1337 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1339 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1340 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1342 $ yt-dlp --print filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1343 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1345 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1346 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1348 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1349 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1351 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1352 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1354 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1355 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1357 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1358 $ 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"
1360 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1361 $ 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"
1363 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1364 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1365 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1367 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1368 $ 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
1370 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1371 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1376 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1377 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`.
1379 **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.
1381 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.
1383 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1384 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1385 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1387 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.
1389 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.
1391 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1393 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1395 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1396 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1397 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio or both (ie;
`vcodec!=none or acodec!=none`)
1398 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1399 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1400 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1401 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1402 - `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))
1403 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1404 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1405 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1406 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1407 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1408 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1410 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.
1412 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.
1414 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.
1416 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
`.
1418 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.
1420 **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
1422 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 and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1424 ## Filtering Formats
1426 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1428 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1430 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1431 - `filesize_approx
`: An estimate for the number of bytes
1432 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1433 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1434 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1435 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1436 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1437 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1439 - `audio_channels
`: The number of audio channels
1440 - `stretched_ratio
`: `width:height
` of the video's pixels, if not square
1442 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1445 - `ext
`: File extension
1446 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1447 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1448 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1449 - `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
`)
1450 - `language
`: Language code
1451 - `dynamic_range
`: The dynamic range of the video
1452 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1453 - `format
`: A human-readable description of the format
1454 - `format_note
`: Additional info about the format
1455 - `resolution
`: Textual description of width and height
1457 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 `._-
`.
1459 Note that none of the aforementioned meta fields are guaranteed to be present since this solely depends on the metadata obtained by particular extractor, i.e. the metadata offered by the website. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
1461 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.
1463 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.
1467 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...
`.
1469 The available fields are:
1471 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1472 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1473 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1474 - `lang
`: The language preference
1475 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1476 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1477 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1478 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1479 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1480 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1481 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1482 - `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
`
1483 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1484 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1485 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1486 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1487 - `height
`: Height of video
1488 - `width
`: Width of video
1489 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1490 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1491 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1492 - `channels
`: The number of audio channels
1493 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1494 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1495 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1496 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1497 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1499 **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.
1501 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.
1503 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.
1505 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.
1507 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
`.
1509 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1511 ## Format Selection examples
1514 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1515 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1516 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1518 # Download best format that contains video,
1519 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1520 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1525 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1526 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1527 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1528 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1530 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1531 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1532 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1534 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1535 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1536 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1539 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1540 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1542 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1543 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1545 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1548 # Download the smallest video available
1549 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1553 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1554 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1556 # Download the best video with the best extension
1557 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1562 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1563 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1564 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1566 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1567 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1568 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1570 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1571 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1572 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1573 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1574 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1578 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1579 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1580 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1582 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1583 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1584 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1586 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1587 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1591 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1592 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1593 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1595 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1596 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1601 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1602 # or the best video if there is no such video
1603 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1605 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1606 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1607 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1609 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1610 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1611 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1615 # More complex examples
1617 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1618 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1619 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1621 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1622 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1623 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1624 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1628 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1629 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1630 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1631 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1634 # MODIFYING METADATA
1636 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1638 `--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.
1640 The general syntax of `--parse-metadata FROM:TO
` is to give the name of a field or an [output template](#output-template) to extract data from, and the format to interpret it as, separated by a colon `:`. Either a [python regular expression](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax) with named capture groups or a similar syntax to the [output template](#output-template) (only `%(field)s
` formatting is supported) can be used for `TO
`. The option can be used multiple times to parse and modify various fields.
1642 Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--embed-metadata
`.
1644 This option also has a few special uses:
1646 * 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
1648 * 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.
1650 **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.
1652 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1654 Metadata fields | From
1655 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1656 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1657 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1658 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1659 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1660 `track
` | `track_number
`
1661 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1664 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1665 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1667 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1668 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1669 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1670 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1672 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1675 ## Modifying metadata examples
1678 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1679 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1682 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1684 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1685 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1687 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1688 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --embed-metadata
1690 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1691 # handling multiple lines correctly
1692 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --embed-metadata
1694 # Do not set any "synopsis" in the video metadata
1695 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<meta_synopsis>)"
1697 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1698 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1700 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1701 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1705 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1707 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"
`
1709 The following extractors use this feature:
1712 * `lang
`: Language code to prefer translated metadata of this language (case-sensitive). By default, the video primary language metadata is preferred, with a fallback to `en
` translated. See [youtube.py](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/blob/c26f9b991a0681fd3ea548d535919cec1fbbd430/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py#L381-L390) for list of supported content language codes
1713 * `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
1714 * `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.
1715 * `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
1716 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1717 * `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
`
1718 * 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
1719 * `include_incomplete_formats
`: Extract formats that cannot be downloaded completely (live dash and post-live m3u8)
1720 * `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
1721 * `innertube_key
`: Innertube API key to use for all API requests
1723 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1724 * `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)
1725 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1728 * `language
`: Languages to extract, e.g. `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1729 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1732 * `language
`: Languages to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:language=jaJp
`
1733 * `hardsub
`: Which hard-sub versions to extract, e.g. `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS
`
1735 #### crunchyrollbeta
1736 * `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
`
1737 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract, or `all
` (default: `None
` = no hardsubs), e.g. `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1740 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1743 * `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.**
1745 #### youtubewebarchive
1746 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1749 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1752 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1753 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1754 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1757 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`, e.g. `20.2.1`
1758 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with, e.g. `221`
1761 * `tab
`: Which tab to download - one of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`
1764 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1766 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1771 Plugins are loaded from `<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py
`; where `<root-dir>
` is the directory of the binary (`<root-dir>/yt-dlp
`), or the root directory of the module if you are running directly from source-code (`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py
`). Plugins are currently not supported for the `pip
` version
1773 Plugins can be of `<type>
`s `extractor
` or `postprocessor
`. Extractor plugins do not need to be enabled from the CLI and are automatically invoked when the input URL is suitable for it. Postprocessor plugins can be invoked using `--use-postprocessor NAME
`.
1775 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1777 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
1779 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1781 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
1787 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1789 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.
1791 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1794 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1796 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1797 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1801 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L180).
1803 **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)
1805 ## Embedding examples
1807 #### Extracting information
1813 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1815 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1817 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1818 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1820 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1821 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1823 #### Download using an info-json
1828 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1830 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1831 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1833 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1834 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1842 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1845 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1846 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1847 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1848 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1849 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1853 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1854 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1862 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1864 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1865 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1866 duration = info.get('duration')
1867 if duration and duration < 60:
1868 return 'The video is too short'
1871 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1874 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1875 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1878 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1883 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1886 def debug(self, msg):
1887 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1888 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1889 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1894 def info(self, msg):
1897 def warning(self, msg):
1900 def error(self, msg):
1904 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1906 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1907 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1911 'logger': MyLogger(),
1912 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1915 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1919 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1924 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1926 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1927 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1928 def run(self, info):
1929 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1933 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1934 # ℹ️ "when" can take any value in yt_dlp.utils.POSTPROCESS_WHEN
1935 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP(), when='pre_process')
1940 #### Use a custom format selector
1945 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1947 def format_selector(ctx):
1948 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1949 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1951 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1952 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1954 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1955 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1956 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1958 # find compatible audio extension
1959 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1960 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1961 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1962 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1964 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1966 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1967 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1968 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1969 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1970 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1975 'format': format_selector,
1978 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1982 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1984 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1986 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1988 #### Almost redundant options
1989 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1991 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1992 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1993 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1994 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1996 #### Redundant options
1997 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1999 --get-description --print description
2000 --get-duration --print duration_string
2001 --get-filename --print filename
2002 --get-format --print format
2004 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
2005 -e, --get-title --print title
2006 -g, --get-url --print urls
2007 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
2008 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
2009 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
2010 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
2011 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
2012 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2013 --playlist-start NUMBER -I NUMBER:
2014 --playlist-end NUMBER -I :NUMBER
2015 --playlist-reverse -I ::-1
2016 --no-playlist-reverse Default
2019 #### Not recommended
2020 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2022 --force-generic-extractor --ies generic,default
2023 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2024 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2025 --all-formats -f all
2026 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2027 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2028 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting, e.g. %(autonumber)03d
2029 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2030 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2031 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2032 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2033 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2034 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2035 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2036 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2037 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2038 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2039 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2042 #### Developer options
2043 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2045 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2046 --load-pages Load pages dumped by --write-pages
2047 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2048 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2049 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2053 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2055 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2056 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2057 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2058 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2059 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2060 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2061 --load-info --load-info-json
2062 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2063 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2064 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2065 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2066 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2067 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2068 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2069 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2070 --write-srt --write-subs
2071 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2073 #### Sponskrub Options
2074 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2076 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2077 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2078 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2079 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2080 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2081 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2082 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2083 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2085 #### No longer supported
2086 These options may no longer work as intended
2088 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2089 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2090 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2091 --no-call-home Default
2092 --include-ads No longer supported
2093 --no-include-ads Default
2094 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2095 --no-write-annotations Default
2096 --compat-options seperate-video-versions No longer needed
2099 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2101 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2102 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2105 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)
2108 See the [Wiki](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki) for more information
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