1 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
4 [](#readme)
6 [](#release-files "Release")
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)
29 * [Release Files](#release-files)
30 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
32 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
33 * [General Options](#general-options)
34 * [Network Options](#network-options)
35 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
36 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
37 * [Download Options](#download-options)
38 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
39 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
40 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
41 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
42 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
43 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
44 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
45 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
46 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
47 * [SponsorBlock Options](#sponsorblock-options)
48 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
49 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
50 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
51 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
52 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
53 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
54 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
55 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
56 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
57 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
58 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
59 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
60 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
62 * [EMBEDDING YT-DLP](#embedding-yt-dlp)
63 * [Embedding examples](#embedding-examples)
64 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
65 * [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing-to-yt-dlp)
66 * [Opening an Issue](CONTRIBUTING.md#opening-an-issue)
67 * [Developer Instructions](CONTRIBUTING.md#developer-instructions)
69 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
74 * Based on **youtube-dl
2021.12.17 [commit/6508688](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/6508688e88c83bb811653083db9351702cd39a6a)** (
[exceptions](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/21)) and **youtube-dlc
2020.11.11-
3 [commit/f9401f2](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/commit/f9401f2a91987068139c5f757b12fc711d4c0cee)**: You get all the features and patches of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) in addition to the latest
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
76 * **
[SponsorBlock Integration](#sponsorblock-options)**: You can mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the [SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
78 * **[Format Sorting](#sorting-formats)**: The default format sorting options have been changed so that higher resolution and better codecs will be now preferred instead of simply using larger bitrate. Furthermore, you can now specify the sort order using
`-S`. This allows for much easier format selection than what is possible by simply using
`--format` ([examples](#format-selection-examples))
80 * **Merged with animelover1984/youtube-dl**: You get most of the features and improvements from
[animelover1984/youtube-dl](https://github.com/animelover1984/youtube-dl) including
`--write-comments`,
`BiliBiliSearch`,
`BilibiliChannel`, Embedding thumbnail in mp4/ogg/opus, playlist infojson etc. Note that the NicoNico livestreams are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
82 * **Youtube improvements**:
83 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`,
`:ytnotif`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
84 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
85 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
86 * Some (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
87 * Fix for
[n-sig based throttling](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/issues/29326)
88 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
89 * `255kbps` audio is extracted (if available) from youtube music when premium cookies are given
90 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded (
[except self-uploaded music](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/723))
91 * Download livestreams from the start using
`--live-from-start` (experimental)
92 * Support for downloading stories (
`ytstories:<channel UCID>`)
94 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]`
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
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
`--concat-playlist`,
`--print`,
`--wait-for-video`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--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 ### Differences in default behavior
126 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc:
128 * The options
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
129 * `avconv` is not supported as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
130 * yt-dlp stores config files in slightly different locations to youtube-dl. See [configuration](#configuration) for a list of correct locations
131 * 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`
132 * 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
133 * 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
134 * 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
135 * `--no-abort-on-error` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
136 * 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
137 * `--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
138 * 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
139 * `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
140 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
141 * All *experiences* of a funimation episode are considered as a single video. This behavior breaks existing archives. Use
`--compat-options seperate-video-versions` to extract information from only the default player
142 * Youtube live chat (if available) is considered as a subtitle. Use
`--sub-langs all,-live_chat` to download all subtitles except live chat. You can also use
`--compat-options no-live-chat` to prevent live chat from downloading
143 * 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
144 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
145 * 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
146 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
147 * 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
148 * 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
149 * `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`
150 * youtube-dl tries to remove some superfluous punctuations from filenames. While this can sometimes be helpfull, it is often undesirable. So yt-dlp tries to keep the fields in the filenames as close to their original values as possible. You can use
`--compat-options filename-sanitization` to revert to youtube-dl's behavior
152 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
154 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
155 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
156 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
161 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
163 ### Using the release binary
165 You can simply download the [correct binary file](#release-files) for your OS
167 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
168 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.exe)
169 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)
170 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)
171 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)
172 [](#release-files)
173 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases)
174 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
176 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)
178 <!-- TODO: Move to Wiki -->
179 In UNIX-like OSes (MacOS, Linux, BSD), you can also install the same in one of the following ways:
182 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
183 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
187 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
188 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
192 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp --dir /usr/local/bin -o yt-dlp
193 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
197 ### With [PIP](https://pypi.org/project/pip)
199 You can install the
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp) with:
201 python3 -m pip install -U yt-dlp
204 You can install without any of the optional dependencies using:
206 python3 -m pip install --no-deps -U yt-dlp
209 If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can also install the master branch with:
211 python3 -m pip install --force-reinstall https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/archive/master.tar.gz
214 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
216 <!-- TODO: Add to Wiki, Remove Taps -->
217 ### With [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)
219 macOS or Linux users that are using Homebrew can also install it by:
222 brew install yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp
226 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are [using the provided release](#using-the-release-binary)
228 If you [installed with pip](#with-pip), simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program
230 If you [installed using Homebrew](#with-homebrew), run
`brew upgrade yt-dlp/taps/yt-dlp`
232 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
239 [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp)|Platform-independant binary. Needs Python (recommended for **Linux/BSD**)
240 [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**)
241 [yt-dlp_macos](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_macos)|MacOS (
10.15+) standalone executable (recommended for **MacOS**)
247 [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
248 [yt-dlp_min.exe](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_min.exe)|Windows (Win7 SP1+) standalone x64 binary built with
`py2exe`.<br/> Does not contain
`pycryptodomex`/
`certifi`, needs VC++
14
249 [yt-dlp_win.zip](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp_win.zip)|Unpackaged Windows executable (no auto-update)
250 [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)
256 [yt-dlp.tar.gz](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp.tar.gz)|Source tarball. Also contains manpages, completions, etc
257 [SHA2-512SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-512SUMS)|GNU-style SHA512 sums
258 [SHA2-256SUMS](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/SHA2-256SUMS)|GNU-style SHA256 sums
259 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
262 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
264 <!-- Python
3.5+ uses VC++
14 and it is already embedded in the binary created
265 <!x-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 --x>
266 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.
269 While all the other dependencies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
271 * [**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)
272 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
273 * [**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)
274 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
275 * [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under
[BSD-3-Clause](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
276 * [**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>
277 * [**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)
278 * [**xattr**](https://github.com/xattr/xattr),
[**pyxattr**](https://github.com/iustin/pyxattr) or
[**setfattr**](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr) - For writing xattr metadata 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
279 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
280 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
281 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
282 * [**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)
283 * [**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)
284 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
286 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
288 The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are built with the Python interpreter and the packages marked with \* included.
290 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
291 **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
297 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and any of yt-dlp's optional dependencies if needed). Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, (optionally) build lazy extractors using
`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`, and then just run
`pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
299 py -m pip install -U pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
300 py devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
303 Note that pyinstaller
[does not support](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller#requirements-and-tested-platforms) Python installed from the Windows store without using a virtual environment
306 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
307 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
309 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts/update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
311 You can also fork the project on github and run your fork's [build workflow](.github/workflows/build.yml) to automatically build a release
315 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
316 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
318 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
319 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
321 <!-- Auto generated -->
323 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
324 --version Print program version and exit
325 -U, --update Update this program to latest version
326 -i, --ignore-errors Ignore download and postprocessing errors.
327 The download will be considered successful
328 even if the postprocessing fails
329 --no-abort-on-error Continue with next video on download
330 errors; e.g. to skip unavailable videos in
332 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
333 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
334 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
335 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
336 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
338 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
340 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
341 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
342 from google videos for the search term
343 "large apple". Use the value "auto" to let
344 yt-dlp guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
345 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
346 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
347 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
348 this is not possible instead of searching
349 --ignore-config Don't load any more configuration files
350 except those given by --config-locations.
351 For backward compatibility, if this option
352 is found inside the system configuration
353 file, the user configuration is not loaded.
355 --no-config-locations Do not load any custom configuration files
356 (default). When given inside a
357 configuration file, ignore all previous
358 --config-locations defined in the current
360 --config-locations PATH Location of the main configuration file;
361 either the path to the config or its
362 containing directory. Can be used multiple
363 times and inside other configuration files
364 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
366 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
367 --live-from-start Download livestreams from the start.
368 Currently only supported for YouTube
370 --no-live-from-start Download livestreams from the current time
372 --wait-for-video MIN[-MAX] Wait for scheduled streams to become
373 available. Pass the minimum number of
374 seconds (or range) to wait between retries
375 --no-wait-for-video Do not wait for scheduled streams (default)
376 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (even with --simulate)
377 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
378 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
379 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
380 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
381 configurations by reverting some of the
382 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
383 default behavior" for details
384 --alias ALIASES OPTIONS Create aliases for an option string. Unless
385 an alias starts with a dash "-", it is
386 prefixed with "--". Arguments are parsed
387 according to the Python string formatting
388 mini-language. Eg: --alias get-audio,-X
389 "-S=aext:{
0},abr -x --audio-format {
0}"
390 creates options "--get-audio" and "-X" that
391 takes an argument (ARG0) and expands to
392 "-S=aext:ARG0,abr -x --audio-format ARG0".
393 All defined aliases are listed in the
394 --help output. Alias options can trigger
395 more aliases; so be carefull to avoid
396 defining recursive options. As a safety
397 measure, each alias may be triggered a
398 maximum of
100 times. This option can be
402 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
403 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
405 socks5://user:pass@
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in
406 an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
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
416 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
417 option is not present) is used for the
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
431 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
432 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
433 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
434 indices of the videos in the playlist
435 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
436 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
437 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
438 specify range: "--playlist-items
439 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
440 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
441 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
442 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
443 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
445 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded on this date.
446 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
447 [now|today|yesterday][-N[day|week|month|year]].
448 Eg: --date today-
2weeks
449 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
450 this date. The date formats accepted is the
452 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
453 this date. The date formats accepted is the
455 --match-filters FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
456 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
457 number or a string using the operators
458 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
459 also simply specify a field to match if the
460 field is present, use "!field" to check if
461 the field is not present, and "&" to check
462 multiple conditions. Use a "
\" to escape
463 "&" or quotes if needed. If used multiple
464 times, the filter matches if atleast one of
465 the conditions are met. Eg: --match-filter
466 !is_live --match-filter "like_count>?
100 &
467 description~='(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b'"
468 matches only videos that are not live OR
469 those that have a like count more than
100
470 (or the like field is not available) and
471 also has a description that contains the
472 phrase "cats & dogs" (ignoring case). Use
473 "--match-filter -" to interactively ask
474 whether to download each video
475 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
476 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
477 to a video and a playlist
478 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
479 a video and a playlist
480 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
482 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
483 archive file. Record the IDs of all
484 downloaded videos in it
485 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
486 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
487 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
488 a file that is in the archive
489 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
490 a file that has been filtered out
491 --break-per-input Make --break-on-existing, --break-on-reject
492 and --max-downloads act only on the current
494 --no-break-per-input --break-on-existing and similar options
495 terminates the entire download queue
496 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
497 of the playlist is skipped
500 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
501 video that should be downloaded
502 concurrently (default is
1)
503 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
505 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
506 below which throttling is assumed and the
507 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
508 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
510 --file-access-retries RETRIES Number of times to retry on file access
511 error (default is
3), or "infinite"
512 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
513 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
515 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
516 hlsnative and ISM (default)
517 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
518 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
519 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
520 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
521 downloading is finished
522 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
523 downloading is finished (default)
524 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
526 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
527 from an initial value of --buffer-size
529 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
530 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
531 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
532 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
533 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
535 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
536 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
538 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
539 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
541 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
542 allowing some players to play the video
543 while downloading, and reducing the chance
544 of file corruption if download is
545 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
547 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
548 videos. This is default when not
549 downloading live streams
550 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
551 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
552 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
553 use it for. Currently supports native,
554 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
555 wget. You can use this option multiple
556 times to set different downloaders for
557 different protocols. For example,
558 --downloader aria2c --downloader
559 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
560 http/ftp downloads, and the native
561 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads (Alias:
562 --external-downloader)
563 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
564 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
565 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
566 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
567 different positions using the same syntax
568 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
569 option multiple times to give different
570 arguments to different downloaders (Alias:
571 --external-downloader-args)
573 ## Filesystem Options:
574 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ("-" for
575 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
576 with "#", ";" or "]" are considered as
578 --no-batch-file Do not read URLs from batch file (default)
579 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
580 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
581 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
582 same TYPES as --output are supported.
583 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
584 (default) and "temp" paths. All
585 intermediary files are first downloaded to
586 the temp path and then the final files are
587 moved over to the home path after download
588 is finished. This option is ignored if
589 --output is an absolute path
590 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
591 TEMPLATE" for details
592 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
593 fields in output filename template
595 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
596 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
598 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
600 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be Windows-compatible
601 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames Windows-compatible only if
602 using Windows (default)
603 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
604 extension) to the specified number of
606 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
607 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
608 This option includes --no-continue
609 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
610 related files (default)
611 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
613 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
614 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
615 restart download of the entire file
616 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
617 into output file (default)
618 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
620 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
621 file modification time (default)
622 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
623 the file modification time
624 --write-description Write video description to a .description
626 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
627 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
628 (this may contain personal information)
629 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
630 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
631 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
632 --write-description etc. (default)
633 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
634 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
635 --clean-info-json Remove some private fields such as
636 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
637 could still contain some personal
638 information (default)
639 --no-clean-info-json Write all fields to the infojson
640 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
641 infojson. The comments are fetched even
642 without this option if the extraction is
643 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
644 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
645 extraction is known to be quick (Alias:
647 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
648 (created with the "--write-info-json"
650 --cookies FILE Netscape formatted file to read cookies
651 from and dump cookie jar in
652 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
654 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[+KEYRING][:PROFILE]
655 The name of the browser and (optionally)
656 the name/path of the profile to load
657 cookies from, separated by a ":". Currently
658 supported browsers are: brave, chrome,
659 chromium, edge, firefox, opera, safari,
660 vivaldi. By default, the most recently
661 accessed profile is used. The keyring used
662 for decrypting Chromium cookies on Linux
663 can be (optionally) specified after the
664 browser name separated by a "+". Currently
665 supported keyrings are: basictext,
666 gnomekeyring, kwallet
667 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
668 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
669 can store some downloaded information (such
670 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
671 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/yt-dlp or
673 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
674 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
676 ## Thumbnail Options:
677 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
678 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
680 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
681 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
682 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
684 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
685 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
686 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
687 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
688 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
689 OS caches the URL based on the file path
690 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
691 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
693 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
694 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
695 --verbose, print the log to stderr
696 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
697 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
699 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
701 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Useful for
702 extracting metadata even if the videos are
703 not actually available for download
705 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
706 formats are found (default)
707 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
708 related files (Alias: --no-download)
709 -O, --print [WHEN:]TEMPLATE Field name or output template to print to
710 screen, optionally prefixed with when to
711 print it, separated by a ":". Supported
712 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
713 --use-postprocessor, and "video" (default).
714 Implies --quiet. Implies --simulate unless
715 --no-simulate or later stages of WHEN are
716 used. This option can be used multiple
718 --print-to-file [WHEN:]TEMPLATE FILE
719 Append given template to the file. The
720 values of WHEN and TEMPLATE are same as
721 that of --print. FILE uses the same syntax
722 as the output template. This option can be
724 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
725 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
726 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
727 description of available keys
728 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
729 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
730 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
731 a playlist, the whole playlist information
732 is dumped in a single line
733 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
734 written as far as no errors occur, even if
735 -s or another simulation option is used
736 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
737 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
738 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
739 --progress Show progress bar, even if in quiet mode
740 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
741 --progress-template [TYPES:]TEMPLATE
742 Template for progress outputs, optionally
743 prefixed with one of "download:" (default),
744 "download-title:" (the console title),
745 "postprocess:", or "postprocess-title:".
746 The video's fields are accessible under the
747 "info" key and the progress attributes are
748 accessible under "progress" key. E.g.:
749 --console-title --progress-template
750 "download-title:%(info.id)s-%(progress.eta)s"
751 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
752 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
753 to debug problems (very verbose)
754 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
755 files in the current directory to debug
757 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
760 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
761 --legacy-server-connect Explicitly allow HTTPS connection to
762 servers that do not support RFC
5746 secure
764 --no-check-certificates Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
765 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
766 information about the video (Currently
767 supported only for YouTube)
768 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
769 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
770 option multiple times
771 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
772 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
773 or fribidi executable in PATH
774 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
775 during data extraction
776 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
777 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
778 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
779 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
780 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
781 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
782 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
785 ## Video Format Options:
786 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
788 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
789 "Sorting Formats" for more details
790 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
791 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
792 Formats" for more details
793 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
794 specified sort order (default), see
795 "Sorting Formats" for more details
796 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
798 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
799 each output file (default)
800 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
802 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
803 each output file (default)
804 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
805 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
806 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
807 containers irrespective of quality
808 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
810 --check-formats Make sure formats are selected only from
811 those that are actually downloadable
812 --check-all-formats Check all formats for whether they are
813 actually downloadable
814 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats are actually
816 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
817 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
818 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
819 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
820 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
821 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
824 --write-subs Write subtitle file
825 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
826 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
827 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
828 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
829 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
830 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
831 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
832 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
833 preference, for example: "srt" or
835 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
836 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
837 (Eg: --sub-langs "en.*,ja") You can prefix
838 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
839 from the requested languages. (Eg:
840 --sub-langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs
841 for a list of available language tags
843 ## Authentication Options:
844 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
845 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
846 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
847 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
848 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
849 --netrc-location PATH Location of .netrc authentication data;
850 either the path or its containing
851 directory. Defaults to ~/.netrc
852 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
853 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
854 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
855 a list of available MSOs
856 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
857 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
858 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
860 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
862 --client-certificate CERTFILE Path to client certificate file in PEM
863 format. May include the private key
864 --client-certificate-key KEYFILE Path to private key file for client
866 --client-certificate-password PASSWORD
867 Password for client certificate private
868 key, if encrypted. If not provided and the
869 key is encrypted, yt-dlp will ask
872 ## Post-Processing Options:
873 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
874 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
875 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
876 to when -x is used. Currently supported
877 formats are: best (default) or one of aac,
878 flac, mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac
879 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality to use when
880 converting the audio with -x. Insert a
881 value between
0 (best) and
10 (worst) for
882 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
884 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
885 necessary (currently supported: mp4, mkv,
886 flv, webm, mov, avi, mka, ogg, aac, flac,
887 mp3, m4a, opus, vorbis, wav, alac). If
888 target container does not support the
889 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
890 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
891 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
892 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
893 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
894 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
895 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
896 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
897 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
898 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
899 to give the argument to the specified
900 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
901 Merger, ModifyChapters, SplitChapters,
902 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
903 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
904 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
905 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
906 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
907 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
908 FFmpeg and FFprobe. You can also specify
909 "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the arguments to the
910 specified executable only when being used
911 by the specified postprocessor.
912 Additionally, for ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o"
913 can be appended to the prefix optionally
914 followed by a number to pass the argument
915 before the specified input/output file. Eg:
916 --ppa "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can
917 use this option multiple times to give
918 different arguments to different
919 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
920 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
921 after post-processing
922 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
923 post-processing (default)
924 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
925 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
926 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
928 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
929 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
930 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
931 --embed-metadata Embed metadata to the video file. Also
932 embeds chapters/infojson if present unless
933 --no-embed-chapters/--no-embed-info-json
934 are used (Alias: --add-metadata)
935 --no-embed-metadata Do not add metadata to file (default)
936 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
937 --embed-chapters Add chapter markers to the video file
938 (Alias: --add-chapters)
939 --no-embed-chapters Do not add chapter markers (default)
940 (Alias: --no-add-chapters)
941 --embed-info-json Embed the infojson as an attachment to
943 --no-embed-info-json Do not embed the infojson as an attachment
945 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
946 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
948 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
949 Replace text in a metadata field using the
950 given regex. This option can be used
952 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
953 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
954 --concat-playlist POLICY Concatenate videos in a playlist. One of
955 "never", "always", or "multi_video"
956 (default; only when the videos form a
957 single show). All the video files must have
958 same codecs and number of streams to be
959 concatable. The "pl_video:" prefix can be
960 used with "--paths" and "--output" to set
961 the output filename for the concatenated
962 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
963 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
964 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
965 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
966 default; fix file if we can, warn
967 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
969 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
970 path to the binary or its containing
972 --exec [WHEN:]CMD Execute a command, optionally prefixed with
973 when to execute it (after_move if
974 unspecified), separated by a ":". Supported
975 values of "WHEN" are the same as that of
976 --use-postprocessor. Same syntax as the
977 output template can be used to pass any
978 field as arguments to the command. After
979 download, an additional field "filepath"
980 that contains the final path of the
981 downloaded file is also available, and if
982 no fields are passed, %(filepath)q is
983 appended to the end of the command. This
984 option can be used multiple times
985 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
986 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
987 (currently supported: srt, vtt, ass, lrc)
988 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
989 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
990 (currently supported: jpg, png, webp)
991 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
992 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
993 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
994 to set the output filename for the split
995 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
996 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
998 --remove-chapters REGEX Remove chapters whose title matches the
999 given regular expression. Time ranges
1000 prefixed by a "*" can also be used in place
1001 of chapters to remove the specified range.
1002 Eg: --remove-chapters "*
10:
15-
15:
00"
1003 --remove-chapters "intro". This option can
1004 be used multiple times
1005 --no-remove-chapters Do not remove any chapters from the file
1007 --force-keyframes-at-cuts Force keyframes around the chapters before
1008 removing/splitting them. Requires a
1009 re-encode and thus is very slow, but the
1010 resulting video may have fewer artifacts
1012 --no-force-keyframes-at-cuts Do not force keyframes around the chapters
1013 when cutting/splitting (default)
1014 --use-postprocessor NAME[:ARGS] The (case sensitive) name of plugin
1015 postprocessors to be enabled, and
1016 (optionally) arguments to be passed to it,
1017 separated by a colon ":". ARGS are a
1018 semicolon ";" delimited list of NAME=VALUE.
1019 The "when" argument determines when the
1020 postprocessor is invoked. It can be one of
1021 "pre_process" (after video extraction),
1022 "after_filter" (after video passes filter),
1023 "before_dl" (before each video download),
1024 "post_process" (after each video download;
1025 default), "after_move" (after moving video
1026 file to it's final locations),
1027 "after_video" (after downloading and
1028 processing all formats of a video), or
1029 "playlist" (at end of playlist). This
1030 option can be used multiple times to add
1031 different postprocessors
1033 ## SponsorBlock Options:
1034 Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor,
1035 introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the
1036 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
1038 --sponsorblock-mark CATS SponsorBlock categories to create chapters
1039 for, separated by commas. Available
1040 categories are all, default(=all), sponsor,
1041 intro, outro, selfpromo, preview, filler,
1042 interaction, music_offtopic, poi_highlight.
1043 You can prefix the category with a "-" to
1044 exempt it. See [
1] for description of the
1045 categories. Eg: --sponsorblock-mark all,-preview
1046 [
1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Segment_Categories
1047 --sponsorblock-remove CATS SponsorBlock categories to be removed from
1048 the video file, separated by commas. If a
1049 category is present in both mark and
1050 remove, remove takes precedence. The syntax
1051 and available categories are the same as
1052 for --sponsorblock-mark except that
1053 "default" refers to "all,-filler" and
1054 poi_highlight is not available
1055 --sponsorblock-chapter-title TEMPLATE
1056 The title template for SponsorBlock
1057 chapters created by --sponsorblock-mark.
1058 The same syntax as the output template is
1059 used, but the only available fields are
1060 start_time, end_time, category, categories,
1061 name, category_names. Defaults to
1062 "[SponsorBlock]: %(category_names)l"
1063 --no-sponsorblock Disable both --sponsorblock-mark and
1064 --sponsorblock-remove
1065 --sponsorblock-api URL SponsorBlock API location, defaults to
1066 https://sponsor.ajay.app
1068 ## Extractor Options:
1069 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
1070 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
1071 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
1072 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
1073 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
1074 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
1075 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
1076 discontinuities such as ad breaks
1077 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
1078 formats at discontinuities such as ad
1080 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
1081 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
1082 use this option multiple times to give
1083 arguments for different extractors
1087 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
1089 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
1090 1. **Portable Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the same directory as the bundled binary. If you are running from source-code (
`<root dir>/yt_dlp/__main__.py`), the root directory is used instead.
1091 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
1092 1. **User Configuration**:
1093 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
1094 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
1095 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
1096 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
1098 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
1100 `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined. On windows,
`%APPDATA%` generally points to
`C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming` and
`~` points to
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`), or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1102 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
1104 For example, with the following configuration file yt-dlp will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`YouTube` directory in your home directory:
1106 # Lines starting with # are comments
1108 # Always extract audio
1111 # Do not copy the mtime
1115 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
1117 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
1118 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
1121 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`.
1123 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.
1125 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
1127 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:
1130 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
1132 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
1134 machine <extractor> login <username> password <password>
1138 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
1139 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
1141 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
1143 The default location of the .netrc file is
`$HOME` (
`~`) in UNIX. On Windows, it is
`%HOME%` if present,
`%USERPROFILE%` (generally
`C:\Users\<user name>`) or
`%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%`
1147 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.
1149 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1150 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
1151 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1153 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).
1155 It may however also contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences may be formatted according to
[Python string formatting operations](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting). For example,
`%(NAME)s` or
`%(NAME)05d`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parentheses, followed by formatting operations.
1157 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
1159 1. **Object traversal**: The dictionaries and lists available in metadata can be traversed by using a
`.` (dot) separator. You can also do python slicing using
`:`. Eg:
`%(tags.0)s`,
`%(subtitles.en.-1.ext)s`,
`%(id.3:7:-1)s`,
`%(formats.:.format_id)s`.
`%()s` refers to the entire infodict. Note that all the fields that become available using this method are not listed below. Use
`-j` to see such fields
1161 1. **Addition**: Addition and subtraction of numeric fields can be done using
`+` and
`-` respectively. Eg:
`%(playlist_index+10)03d`,
`%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)d`
1163 1. **Date/time Formatting**: Date/time fields can be formatted according to
[strftime formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes) by specifying it separated from the field name using a
`>`. Eg:
`%(duration>%H-%M-%S)s`,
`%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s`,
`%(epoch-3600>%H-%M-%S)s`
1165 1. **Alternatives**: Alternate fields can be specified separated with a
`,`. Eg:
`%(release_date>%Y,upload_date>%Y|Unknown)s`
1167 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.
1169 1. **Default**: A literal default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` separator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
1171 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`B`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q`,
`D`,
`S` can be used for converting to **B**ytes, **j**son (flag
`#` for pretty-printing), a comma separated **l**ist (flag
`#` for
`\n` newline-separated), a string **q**uoted for the terminal (flag
`#` to split a list into different arguments), to add **D**ecimal suffixes (Eg:
10M) (flag
`#` to use
1024 as factor), and to **S**anitize as filename (flag
`#` for restricted), respectively
1173 1. **Unicode normalization**: The format type
`U` can be used for NFC
[unicode normalization](https://docs.python.org/3/library/unicodedata.html#unicodedata.normalize). The alternate form flag (
`#`) changes the normalization to NFD and the conversion flag
`+` can be used for NFKC/NFKD compatibility equivalence normalization. Eg:
`%(title)+.100U` is NFKC
1175 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
1177 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][,alternate][&replacement][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
1180 Additionally, you can set different output templates for the various metadata files separately from the general output template by specifying the type of file followed by the template separated by a colon
`:`. The different file types supported are
`subtitle`,
`thumbnail`,
`description`,
`annotation` (deprecated),
`infojson`,
`link`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`,
`pl_video`. For example,
`-o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" -o "thumbnail:%(title)s\%(title)s.%(ext)s"` will put the thumbnails in a folder with the same name as the video. If any of the templates is empty, that type of file will not be written. Eg:
`--write-thumbnail -o "thumbnail:"` will write thumbnails only for playlists and not for video.
1182 The available fields are:
1184 - `id` (string): Video identifier
1185 - `title` (string): Video title
1186 - `fulltitle` (string): Video title ignoring live timestamp and generic title
1187 - `url` (string): Video URL
1188 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
1189 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
1190 - `description` (string): The description of the video
1191 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
1192 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
1193 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
1194 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
1195 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
1196 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date in UTC (YYYYMMDD)
1197 - `release_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was released
1198 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released in UTC
1199 - `modified_timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video was last modified
1200 - `modified_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was last modified in UTC
1201 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
1202 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
1203 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
1204 - `channel_follower_count` (numeric): Number of followers of the channel
1205 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
1206 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
1207 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
1208 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
1209 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
1210 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
1211 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
1212 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
1213 - `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)
1214 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
1215 - `live_status` (string): One of "is_live", "was_live", "is_upcoming", "not_live"
1216 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
1217 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
1218 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
1219 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is "private", "premium_only", "subscriber_only", "needs_auth", "unlisted" or "public"
1220 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
1221 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
1222 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
1223 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
1224 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
1225 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
1226 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
1227 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
1228 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1229 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1230 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
1231 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1232 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1233 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
1234 - `dynamic_range` (string): The dynamic range of the video
1235 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
1236 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
1237 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
1238 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
1239 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
1240 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1241 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1242 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch of when the information extraction was completed
1243 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1244 - `video_autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each video
1245 - `n_entries` (numeric): Total number of extracted items in the playlist
1246 - `playlist_id` (string): Identifier of the playlist that contains the video
1247 - `playlist_title` (string): Name of the playlist that contains the video
1248 - `playlist` (string):
`playlist_id` or
`playlist_title`
1249 - `playlist_count` (numeric): Total number of items in the playlist. May not be known if entire playlist is not extracted
1250 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according the final index
1251 - `playlist_autonumber` (numeric): Position of the video in the playlist download queue padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1252 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1253 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1254 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1255 - `webpage_url_basename` (string): The basename of the webpage URL
1256 - `webpage_url_domain` (string): The domain of the webpage URL
1257 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1259 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1261 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1262 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1263 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1265 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1267 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1268 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1269 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1270 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1271 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1272 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1273 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1275 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1277 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1278 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1279 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1280 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1281 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1282 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1283 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1284 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1285 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1286 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1288 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1290 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1291 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1292 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1293 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1295 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1297 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1298 - `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
1299 - `formats_table` (table): The video format table as printed by
`--list-formats`
1300 - `thumbnails_table` (table): The thumbnail format table as printed by
`--list-thumbnails`
1301 - `subtitles_table` (table): The subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1302 - `automatic_captions_table` (table): The automatic subtitle format table as printed by
`--list-subs`
1305 Available only in
`--sponsorblock-chapter-title`:
1307 - `start_time` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1308 - `end_time` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1309 - `categories` (list): The SponsorBlock categories the chapter belongs to
1310 - `category` (string): The smallest SponsorBlock category the chapter belongs to
1311 - `category_names` (list): Friendly names of the categories
1312 - `name` (string): Friendly name of the smallest category
1314 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`yt-dlp test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKc`, this will result in a
`yt-dlp test video-BaW_jenozKc.mp4` file created in the current directory.
1316 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).
1318 **Tip**: Look at the
`-j` output to identify which fields are available for the particular URL
1320 For numeric sequences you can use
[numeric related formatting](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#printf-style-string-formatting), for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
1322 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.
1324 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1326 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1328 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.
1330 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1331 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1333 If you are using an output template inside a Windows batch file then you must escape plain percent characters (
`%`) by doubling, so that
`-o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"` should become
`-o "%%(title)s-%%(id)s.%%(ext)s"`. However you should not touch
`%`'s that are not plain characters, e.g. environment variables for expansion should stay intact:
`-o "C:\%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\%%(title)s.%%(ext)s"`.
1334 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1336 #### Output template examples
1339 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "test video.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1340 test video.webm # Literal name with correct extension
1342 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
1343 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.webm # All kinds of weird characters
1345 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1346 youtube-dl_test_video_.webm # Restricted file name
1348 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1349 $ yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1351 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1352 $ yt-dlp -o "%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re"
1354 # Prefix playlist index with " - " separator, but only if it is available
1355 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist_index|)s%(playlist_index& - |)s%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1357 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1358 $ yt-dlp -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists"
1360 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1361 $ 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"
1363 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1364 $ 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"
1366 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext", subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\subs\uploader\title.ext"
1367 # and put all temporary files in "C:\MyVideos\tmp"
1368 $ yt-dlp -P "C:/MyVideos" -P "temp:tmp" -P "subtitle:subs" -o "%(uploader)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenoz --write-subs
1370 # Download video as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\title.ext" and subtitles as "C:\MyVideos\uploader\subs\title.ext"
1371 $ 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
1373 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1374 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1379 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1380 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`.
1382 **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.
1384 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.
1386 <!-- MANPAGE: BEGIN EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1387 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1388 <!-- MANPAGE: END EXCLUDED SECTION -->
1390 The simplest case is requesting a specific format, for example with
`-f 22` you can download the format with format code equal to
22. You can get the list of available format codes for particular video using
`--list-formats` or
`-F`. Note that these format codes are extractor specific.
1392 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.
1394 You can use
`-f -` to interactively provide the format selector *for each video*
1396 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1398 - `all`: Select **all formats** separately
1399 - `mergeall`: Select and **merge all formats** (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1400 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format that **contains either** a video or an audio
1401 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that **contains both** video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1402 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality **video-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1403 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that **contains video**. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1404 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality **audio-only** format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1405 - `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))
1406 - `w*
`, `worst*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains either a video or an audio
1407 - `w
`, `worst
`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]
`
1408 - `wv
`, `worstvideo
`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec=none]
`
1409 - `wv*
`, `worstvideo*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec!=none]
`
1410 - `wa
`, `worstaudio
`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to `worst*[vcodec=none]
`
1411 - `wa*
`, `worstaudio*
`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to `worst*[acodec!=none]
`
1413 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.
1415 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.
1417 If you want to download multiple videos and they don't have the same formats available, you can specify the order of preference using slashes. Note that formats on the left hand side are preferred, for example `-f
22/
17/
18` will download format 22 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 17 if it's available, otherwise it will download format 18 if it's available, otherwise it will complain that no suitable formats are available for download.
1419 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
`.
1421 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using `-f <format1>+<format2>+...
` (requires ffmpeg installed), for example `-f bestvideo+bestaudio
` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg.
1423 **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
1425 Unless `--video-multistreams
` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, unless `--audio-multistreams
` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example, `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --video-multistreams --audio-multistreams
` will download and merge all 3 given formats. The resulting file will have 2 video streams and 2 audio streams. But `-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio --no-video-multistreams
` will download and merge only `bestvideo
` and `bestaudio
`. `best
` is ignored since another format containing a video stream (`bestvideo
`) has already been selected. The order of the formats is therefore important. `-f best+bestaudio --no-audio-multistreams
` will download and merge both formats while `-f bestaudio+best --no-audio-multistreams
` will ignore `best
` and download only `bestaudio
`.
1427 ## Filtering Formats
1429 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in `-f "best[height=
720]"
` (or `-f "[filesize>
10M]"
`).
1431 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons `<
`, `<=
`, `>
`, `>=
`, `=
` (equals), `!=
` (not equals):
1433 - `filesize
`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1434 - `width
`: Width of the video, if known
1435 - `height
`: Height of the video, if known
1436 - `tbr
`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1437 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1438 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1439 - `asr
`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1442 Also filtering work for comparisons `=
` (equals), `^=
` (starts with), `$=
` (ends with), `*=
` (contains), `~=
` (matches regex) and following string meta fields:
1444 - `ext
`: File extension
1445 - `acodec
`: Name of the audio codec in use
1446 - `vcodec
`: Name of the video codec in use
1447 - `container
`: Name of the container format
1448 - `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
`)
1449 - `format_id
`: A short description of the format
1450 - `language
`: Language code
1452 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 `._-
`.
1454 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.
1456 Formats for which the value is not known are excluded unless you put a question mark (`?
`) after the operator. You can combine format filters, so `-f "[height<=?
720][tbr>
500]"
` selects up to 720p videos (or videos where the height is not known) with a bitrate of at least 500 KBit/s. You can also use the filters with `all
` to download all formats that satisfy the filter. For example, `-f "all[vcodec=none]"
` selects all audio-only formats.
1458 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best pre-merged mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than 480 you can use `-f "(mp4,webm)[height<
480]"
`.
1462 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...
`.
1464 The available fields are:
1466 - `hasvid
`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1467 - `hasaud
`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1468 - `ie_pref
`: The format preference
1469 - `lang
`: The language preference
1470 - `quality
`: The quality of the format
1471 - `source
`: The preference of the source
1472 - `proto
`: Protocol used for download (`https
`/`ftps
` > `http
`/`ftp
` > `m3u8_native
`/`m3u8
` > `http_dash_segments
`> `websocket_frag
` > `mms
`/`rtsp
` > `f4f
`/`f4m
`)
1473 - `vcodec
`: Video Codec (`av01
` > `vp9.2
` > `vp9
` > `h265
` > `h264
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` > other)
1474 - `acodec
`: Audio Codec (`flac
`/`alac
` > `wav
`/`aiff
` > `opus
` > `vorbis
` > `aac
` > `mp4a
` > `mp3
` > `eac3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
` > other)
1475 - `codec
`: Equivalent to `vcodec,acodec
`
1476 - `vext
`: Video Extension (`mp4
` > `webm
` > `flv
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, `webm
` is preferred.
1477 - `aext
`: Audio Extension (`m4a
` > `aac
` > `mp3
` > `ogg
` > `opus
` > `webm
` > other). If `--prefer-free-formats
` is used, the order changes to `opus
` > `ogg
` > `webm
` > `m4a
` > `mp3
` > `aac
`.
1478 - `ext
`: Equivalent to `vext,aext
`
1479 - `filesize
`: Exact filesize, if known in advance
1480 - `fs_approx
`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1481 - `size
`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1482 - `height
`: Height of video
1483 - `width
`: Width of video
1484 - `res
`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1485 - `fps
`: Framerate of video
1486 - `hdr
`: The dynamic range of the video (`DV
` > `HDR12
` > `HDR10+
` > `HDR10
` > `HLG
` > `SDR
`)
1487 - `tbr
`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1488 - `vbr
`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1489 - `abr
`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1490 - `br
`: Equivalent to using `tbr,vbr,abr
`
1491 - `asr
`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1493 **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.
1495 All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in descending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a `+
`. Eg: `+res
` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a preferred value for the fields, separated by a `:
`. Eg: `res:
720` prefers larger videos, but no larger than 720p and the smallest video if there are no videos less than 720p. For `codec
` and `ext
`, you can provide two preferred values, the first for video and the second for audio. Eg: `+codec:avc:m4a
` (equivalent to `+vcodec:avc,+acodec:m4a
`) sets the video codec preference to `h264
` > `h265
` > `vp9
` > `vp9.2
` > `av01
` > `vp8
` > `h263
` > `theora
` and audio codec preference to `mp4a
` > `aac
` > `vorbis
` > `opus
` > `mp3
` > `ac3
` > `dts
`. You can also make the sorting prefer the nearest values to the provided by using `~
` as the delimiter. Eg: `filesize~
1G
` prefers the format with filesize closest to 1 GiB.
1497 The fields `hasvid
` and `ie_pref
` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using `--format-sort-force
`. Apart from these, the default order used is: `lang,quality,res,fps,hdr:
12,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id
`. The extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1499 Note that the default has `codec:vp9.2
`; i.e. `av1
` is not preferred. Similarly, the default for hdr is `hdr:
12`; i.e. dolby vision is not preferred. These choices are made since DV and AV1 formats are not yet fully compatible with most devices. This may be changed in the future as more devices become capable of smoothly playing back these formats.
1501 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
`.
1503 **Tip**: You can use the `-v -F
` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1505 ## Format Selection examples
1508 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1509 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1510 $ yt-dlp -f "bv+ba/b"
1512 # Download best format that contains video,
1513 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1514 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba/b"
1519 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1520 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1521 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1522 $ yt-dlp -f "bv,ba" -o "%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s"
1524 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1525 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1526 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]" --audio-multistreams
1528 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1529 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1530 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*+ba+ba.2" --audio-multistreams
1533 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1534 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1536 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1537 $ yt-dlp -f "wv*+wa/w"
1539 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1542 # Download the smallest video available
1543 $ yt-dlp -S "+size,+br"
1547 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1548 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b"
1550 # Download the best video with the best extension
1551 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1556 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1557 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1558 $ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"
1560 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1561 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1562 $ yt-dlp -S "height:480"
1564 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1565 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1566 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1567 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1568 $ yt-dlp -S "res:480"
1572 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1573 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1574 $ yt-dlp -f "b[filesize<50M] / w"
1576 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1577 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1578 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize:50M"
1580 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1581 $ yt-dlp -f "b" -S "filesize~50M"
1585 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1586 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1587 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)"
1589 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1590 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1595 # Download the best video with either h264 or h265 codec,
1596 # or the best video if there is no such video
1597 $ yt-dlp -f "(bv*[vcodec~='^((he|a)vc|h26[45])']+ba) / (bv*+ba/b)"
1599 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1600 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1601 $ yt-dlp -S "codec:h264"
1603 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1604 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1605 $ yt-dlp -S "+codec:h264"
1609 # More complex examples
1611 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1612 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1613 $ yt-dlp -f "((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)"
1615 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1616 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1617 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1618 $ yt-dlp -S "res:720,fps"
1622 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1623 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1624 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1625 $ yt-dlp -S "+res:480,codec,br"
1628 # MODIFYING METADATA
1630 The metadata obtained by the extractors can be modified by using `--parse-metadata
` and `--replace-in-metadata
`
1632 `--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.
1634 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.
1636 Note that any field created by this can be used in the [output template](#output-template) and will also affect the media file's metadata added when using `--add-metadata
`.
1638 This option also has a few special uses:
1640 * You can download an additional URL based on the metadata of the currently downloaded video. To do this, set the field `additional_urls
` to the URL that you want to download. Eg: `--parse-metadata "description:(?P<additional_urls>https?://www\.vimeo\.com/\d+)
` will download the first vimeo video found in the description
1642 * You can use this to change the metadata that is embedded in the media file. To do this, set the value of the corresponding field with a `meta_
` prefix. For example, any value you set to `meta_description
` field will be added to the `description
` field in the file. For example, you can use this to set a different "description" and "synopsis". To modify the metadata of individual streams, use the `meta<n>_
` prefix (Eg: `meta1_language
`). Any value set to the `meta_
` field will overwrite all default values.
1644 **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.
1646 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1648 Metadata fields | From
1649 :--------------------------|:------------------------------------------------
1650 `title
` | `track
` or `title
`
1651 `date
` | `upload_date
`
1652 `description
`, `synopsis
` | `description
`
1653 `purl
`, `comment
` | `webpage_url
`
1654 `track
` | `track_number
`
1655 `artist
` | `artist
`, `creator
`, `uploader
` or `uploader_id
`
1658 `album_artist
` | `album_artist
`
1659 `disc
` | `disc_number
`
1661 `season_number
` | `season_number
`
1662 `episode_id
` | `episode
` or `episode_id
`
1663 `episode_sort
` | `episode_number
`
1664 `language
` of each stream | the format's `language
`
1666 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1669 ## Modifying metadata examples
1672 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1673 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "title:%(artist)s - %(title)s"
1676 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)"
1678 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1679 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s"
1681 # Prioritize uploader as the "artist" field in video metadata
1682 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "%(uploader|)s:%(meta_artist)s" --add-metadata
1684 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url,
1685 # handling multiple lines correctly
1686 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata "description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)" --add-metadata
1688 # Remove "formats" field from the infojson by setting it to an empty string
1689 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata ":(?P<formats>)" -j
1691 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1692 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata "title,uploader" "[ _]" "-"
1696 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1698 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using `--extractor-args KEY:ARGS
`. `ARGS
` is a `;
` (semicolon) separated string of `ARG=VAL1,VAL2
`. Eg: `--extractor-args "youtube:player-client=android_embedded,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"
`
1700 The following extractors use this feature:
1703 * `skip
`: One or more of `hls
`, `dash
` or `translated_subs
` to skip extraction of the m3u8 manifests, dash manifests and auto-translated subtitles respectively
1704 * `player_client
`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are `web
`, `android
` and `ios
` with variants `_music
`, `_embedded
`, `_embedscreen
`, `_creator
` (Eg: `web_embedded
`); and `mweb
` and `tv_embedded
` (agegate bypass) with no variants. By default, `android,web
` is used, but tv_embedded and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for `music.youtube.com
` urls. You can use `all
` to use all the clients, and `default
` for the default clients.
1705 * `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
1706 * `include_live_dash
`: Include live dash formats even without `--live-from-start
` (These formats don't download properly)
1707 * `comment_sort
`: `top
` or `new
` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side)
1708 * `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
`
1709 * 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
1711 #### youtubetab (YouTube playlists, channels, feeds, etc.)
1712 * `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)
1713 * `approximate_date
`: Extract approximate `upload_date
` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
1716 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `funimation:language=english,japanese
`
1717 * `version
`: The video version to extract - `uncut
` or `simulcast
`
1720 * `language
`: Languages to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:language=jaJp
`
1721 * `hardsub
`: Which hard-sub versions to extract. Eg: `crunchyroll:hardsub=None,enUS
`
1723 #### crunchyrollbeta
1724 * `format
`: Which stream type(s) to extract. Default is `adaptive_hls
` Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:format=vo_adaptive_hls
`
1725 * Potentially useful values include `adaptive_hls
`, `adaptive_dash
`, `vo_adaptive_hls
`, `vo_adaptive_dash
`, `download_hls
`, `trailer_hls
`, `trailer_dash
`
1726 * `hardsub
`: Preference order for which hardsub versions to extract. Default is `None
` (no hardsubs). Eg: `crunchyrollbeta:hardsub=en-US,None
`
1729 * `video_types
`: Types of videos to download - one or more of `episodes
`, `movies
`, `clips
`, `trailers
`
1732 * `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.**
1734 #### youtubewebarchive
1735 * `check_all
`: Try to check more at the cost of more requests. One or more of `thumbnails
`, `captures
`
1738 * `comment_sort
`: `hot
` (default), `you
` (cookies needed), `top
`, `new
` - choose comment sorting mode (on GameJolt's side)
1741 * `res
`: resolution to ignore - one or more of `sd
`, `hd
`, `fhd
`
1742 * `vcodec
`: vcodec to ignore - one or more of `h264
`, `h265
`, `dvh265
`
1743 * `dr
`: dynamic range to ignore - one or more of `sdr
`, `hdr10
`, `dv
`
1746 * `app_version
`: App version to call mobile APIs with - should be set along with `manifest_app_version
`. (e.g. `20.2.1`)
1747 * `manifest_app_version
`: Numeric app version to call mobile APIs with. (e.g. `221`)
1750 * `tab
`: Which tab to download. One of `new
`, `top
`, `videos
`, `podcasts
`, `streams
`, `stacks
`. (E.g. `rokfinchannel:tab=streams
`)
1753 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1755 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "INSTALLATION" SECTION HERE -->
1760 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
1762 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
`.
1764 See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example plugins.
1766 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
1768 If you are a plugin author, add [ytdlp-plugins](https://github.com/topics/ytdlp-plugins) as a topic to your repository for discoverability
1774 yt-dlp makes the best effort to be a good command-line program, and thus should be callable from any programming language.
1776 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.
1778 From a Python program, you can embed yt-dlp in a more powerful fashion, like this:
1781 from yt_dlp import YoutubeDL
1783 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1784 with YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1788 Most likely, you'll want to use various options. For a list of options available, have a look at [`yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
`](yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py#L181).
1790 **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)
1792 ## Embedding examples
1794 #### Extracting information
1800 URL = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc'
1802 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL) for a list of available options and public functions
1804 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1805 info = ydl.extract_info(URL, download=False)
1807 # ℹ️ ydl.sanitize_info makes the info json-serializable
1808 print(json.dumps(ydl.sanitize_info(info)))
1810 #### Download using an info-json
1815 INFO_FILE = 'path/to/video.info.json'
1817 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1818 error_code = ydl.download_with_info_file(INFO_FILE)
1820 print('Some videos failed to download' if error_code
1821 else 'All videos successfully downloaded')
1829 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1832 'format': 'm4a/bestaudio/best',
1833 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor) for a list of available Postprocessors and their arguments
1834 'postprocessors': [{ # Extract audio using ffmpeg
1835 'key': 'FFmpegExtractAudio',
1836 'preferredcodec': 'm4a',
1840 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1841 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1849 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1851 def longer_than_a_minute(info, *, incomplete):
1852 """Download only videos longer than a minute (or with unknown duration)"""
1853 duration = info.get('duration')
1854 if duration and duration < 60:
1855 return 'The video is too short'
1858 'match_filter': longer_than_a_minute,
1861 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1862 error_code = ydl.download(URLS)
1865 #### Adding logger and progress hook
1870 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1873 def debug(self, msg):
1874 # For compatibility with youtube-dl, both debug and info are passed into debug
1875 # You can distinguish them by the prefix '[debug] '
1876 if msg.startswith('[debug] '):
1881 def info(self, msg):
1884 def warning(self, msg):
1887 def error(self, msg):
1891 # ℹ️ See "progress_hooks" in help(yt_dlp.YoutubeDL)
1893 if d['status'] == 'finished':
1894 print('Done downloading, now post-processing ...')
1898 'logger': MyLogger(),
1899 'progress_hooks': [my_hook],
1902 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1906 #### Add a custom PostProcessor
1911 URLS = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1913 # ℹ️ See help(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor)
1914 class MyCustomPP(yt_dlp.postprocessor.PostProcessor):
1915 def run(self, info):
1916 self.to_screen('Doing stuff')
1920 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL() as ydl:
1921 ydl.add_post_processor(MyCustomPP())
1926 #### Use a custom format selector
1931 URL = ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc']
1933 def format_selector(ctx):
1934 """ Select the best video and the best audio that won't result in an mkv.
1935 NOTE: This is just an example and does not handle all cases """
1937 # formats are already sorted worst to best
1938 formats = ctx.get('formats')[::-1]
1940 # acodec='none' means there is no audio
1941 best_video = next(f for f in formats
1942 if f['vcodec'] != 'none' and f['acodec'] == 'none')
1944 # find compatible audio extension
1945 audio_ext = {'mp4': 'm4a', 'webm': 'webm'}[best_video['ext']]
1946 # vcodec='none' means there is no video
1947 best_audio = next(f for f in formats if (
1948 f['acodec'] != 'none' and f['vcodec'] == 'none' and f['ext'] == audio_ext))
1950 # These are the minimum required fields for a merged format
1952 'format_id': f'{best_video["format_id"]}+{best_audio["format_id"]}',
1953 'ext': best_video['ext'],
1954 'requested_formats': [best_video, best_audio],
1955 # Must be + separated list of protocols
1956 'protocol': f'{best_video["protocol"]}+{best_audio["protocol"]}'
1961 'format': format_selector,
1964 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
1968 <!-- MANPAGE: MOVE "NEW FEATURES" SECTION HERE -->
1970 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1972 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1974 #### Almost redundant options
1975 While these options are almost the same as their new counterparts, there are some differences that prevents them being redundant
1977 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1978 -F, --list-formats --print formats_table
1979 --list-thumbnails --print thumbnails_table --print playlist:thumbnails_table
1980 --list-subs --print automatic_captions_table --print subtitles_table
1982 #### Redundant options
1983 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1985 --get-description --print description
1986 --get-duration --print duration_string
1987 --get-filename --print filename
1988 --get-format --print format
1990 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1991 -e, --get-title --print title
1992 -g, --get-url --print urls
1993 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1994 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1995 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1996 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1997 --user-agent UA --add-header "User-Agent:UA"
1998 --referer URL --add-header "Referer:URL"
2001 #### Not recommended
2002 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
2004 --exec-before-download CMD --exec "before_dl:CMD"
2005 --no-exec-before-download --no-exec
2006 --all-formats -f all
2007 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
2008 --print-json -j --no-simulate
2009 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)03d
2010 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
2011 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2012 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
2013 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
2014 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
2015 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
2016 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
2017 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
2018 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
2019 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
2020 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
2023 #### Developer options
2024 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
2026 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
2027 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
2028 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
2029 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
2033 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
2035 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
2036 --clean-infojson --clean-info-json
2037 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
2038 --dump-headers --print-traffic
2039 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
2040 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
2041 --load-info --load-info-json
2042 --no-clean-infojson --no-clean-info-json
2043 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
2044 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
2045 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
2046 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
2047 --split-tracks --split-chapters
2048 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
2049 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
2050 --write-srt --write-subs
2051 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
2053 #### Sponskrub Options
2054 Support for [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) has been deprecated in favor of the `--sponsorblock
` options
2056 --sponskrub --sponsorblock-mark all
2057 --no-sponskrub --no-sponsorblock
2058 --sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove all
2059 --no-sponskrub-cut --sponsorblock-remove -all
2060 --sponskrub-force Not applicable
2061 --no-sponskrub-force Not applicable
2062 --sponskrub-location Not applicable
2063 --sponskrub-args Not applicable
2065 #### No longer supported
2066 These options may no longer work as intended
2068 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
2069 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
2070 -C, --call-home Not implemented
2071 --no-call-home Default
2072 --include-ads No longer supported
2073 --no-include-ads Default
2074 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
2075 --no-write-annotations Default
2078 These options were deprecated since 2014 and have now been entirely removed
2080 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2081 -t, -l, --title, --literal -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
2084 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)
2087 For FAQ see the [youtube-dl README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob