1 [![Build Status](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/workflows/CI/badge.svg?branch=master)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/actions?query=workflow%3ACI)
2 [![Release Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/Release-2021.01.07-1-brightgreen)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/releases/latest)
3 [![License: Unlicense](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Unlicense-blue.svg)]
(https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/blob/master/LICENSE)
5 youtube-dlc - download videos from youtube.com and many other [video platforms](docs/supportedsites.md)
7 This is a fork of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) which is inturn a fork of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
9 * [CHANGES FROM YOUTUBE-DLC](#changes)
10 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
13 * [YOUTUBE-DLC](#youtube-dlc)
14 * [DESCRIPTION](#description)
16 * [Network Options](#network-options)
17 * [Geo Restriction](#geo-restriction)
18 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
19 * [Download Options](#download-options)
20 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
21 * [Thumbnail images](#thumbnail-images)
22 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
23 * [Verbosity / Simulation Options](#verbosity--simulation-options)
24 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
25 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
26 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
27 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
28 * [Adobe Pass Options](#adobe-pass-options)
29 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
30 * [SponSkrub Options (SponsorBlock)](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock)
31 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
32 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
33 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
34 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
35 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
36 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
37 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
38 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
39 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
40 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
41 * [VIDEO SELECTION](#video-selection-
1)
46 See
[commits](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/commits) for more details
49 * **Format Sort:** Added
`--format-sort` (
`-S`),
`--format-sort-force` (
`--S-force`) - See [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats) for details
50 * **Format Selection:** See [Format Selection](#format-selection) for details
51 * New format selectors:
`best*`,
`worst*`,
`bestvideo*`,
`bestaudio*`,
`worstvideo*`,
`worstaudio*`
52 * Changed video format sorting to show video only files and video+audio files together.
53 * Added
`--video-multistreams`,
`--no-video-multistreams`,
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--no-audio-multistreams`
54 * Added
`b`,
`w`,
`v`,
`a` as alias for
`best`,
`worst`,
`video` and
`audio` respectively
55 * **Shortcut Options:** Added
`--write-link`,
`--write-url-link`,
`--write-webloc-link`,
`--write-desktop-link` by @h-h-h-h - See [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options) for details
56 * **Sponskrub integration:** Added
`--sponskrub`,
`--sponskrub-cut`,
`--sponskrub-force`,
`--sponskrub-location`,
`--sponskrub-args` - See [SponSkrub Options](#sponskrub-options-sponsorblock) for details
57 * Added
`--force-download-archive` (
`--force-write-archive`) by by h-h-h-h
58 * Added
`--list-formats-as-table`,
`--list-formats-old`
59 * **Negative Options:** Makes it possible to negate boolean options by adding a
`no-` to the switch
60 * Added
`--no-ignore-dynamic-mpd`,
`--no-allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--allow-dynamic-mpd`,
`--youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-include-hls-manifest`,
`--no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest`,
`--no-download`,
`--no-download-archive`,
`--resize-buffer`,
`--part`,
`--mtime`,
`--no-keep-fragments`,
`--no-cookies`,
`--no-write-annotations`,
`--no-write-info-json`,
`--no-write-description`,
`--no-write-thumbnail`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--post-overwrites`,
`--no-keep-video`,
`--no-embed-subs`,
`--no-embed-thumbnail`,
`--no-add-metadata`,
`--no-include-ads`,
`--no-write-sub`,
`--no-write-auto-sub`,
`--no-playlist-reverse`,
`--no-restrict-filenames`,
`--youtube-include-dash-manifest`,
`--no-format-sort-force`,
`--flat-videos`,
`--no-list-formats-as-table`,
`--no-sponskrub`,
`--no-sponskrub-cut`,
`--no-sponskrub-force`
61 * Renamed:
`--write-subs`,
`--no-write-subs`,
`--no-write-auto-subs`,
`--write-auto-subs`. Note that these can still be used without the ending "s"
62 * Relaxed validation for format filters so that any arbitrary field can be used
63 * Fix for embedding thumbnail in mp3 by @pauldubois98
64 * Make Twitch Video ID output from Playlist and VOD extractor same. This is only a temporary fix
65 * **Merge youtube-dl:** Upto
[2020.01.03](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/8e953dcbb10a1a42f4e12e4e132657cb0100a1f8) - See
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc#280](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc/pull/280) for details
66 * Cleaned up the fork for public use
69 * **Changed defaults:**
71 * Disabled
`--video-multistreams` and
`--audio-multistreams`
72 * Changed default format selection to
`bv*+ba/b` when
`--audio-multistreams` is disabled
73 * Changed default format sort order to
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`
74 * Changed
`webm` to be more preferable than
`flv` in format sorting
75 * Changed default output template to
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`
76 * Enabled
`--list-formats-as-table`
79 * Removed priority of
`av01` codec in
`-S` since most devices don't support it yet
80 * Added
`duration_string` to be used in
`--output`
81 * Created First Release
84 * [Akamai] fix by @nixxo
85 * [Tiktok] fix extractor by @GreyAlien502
86 * [vlive] add support for playlists by @kyuyeunk
87 * [youtube_live_chat] make sure playerOffsetMs is positive by @siikamiika
88 * Ignore extra data streams in ffmpeg by @jbruchon
89 * Allow passing different arguments to different postprocessors using
`--postprocessor-args`
90 * Deprecated
`--sponskrub-args`. The same can now be done using
`--postprocessor-args "sponskrub:<args>"`
95 To use the latest version, simply download and run the
[latest release](https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc/releases/latest).
96 Currently, there is no support for any package managers.
98 If you want to install the current master branch
100 python -m pip install git+https://github.com/pukkandan/yt-dlc
103 **DO NOT UPDATE using
`-U` !** instead download binaries again
108 To build the Windows executable yourself (without version info!)
110 python -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller
111 pyinstaller.exe youtube_dlc\__main__.py --onefile --name youtube-dlc
113 Or simply execute the
`make_win.bat` if pyinstaller is installed.
114 There will be a
`youtube-dlc.exe` in
`/dist`
116 New way to build Windows is to use
`python pyinst.py` (please use python3
64Bit)
117 For
32Bit Version use a
32Bit Version of python (
3 preferred here as well) and run
`python pyinst32.py`
120 You will need the required build tools
121 python, make (GNU), pandoc, zip, nosetests
122 Then simply type this
128 **youtube-dlc** is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
2.6,
2.7, or
3.2+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS. It is released to the public domain, which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
130 youtube-dlc [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
134 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
135 <!-- Autogenerated -->
138 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
139 --version Print program version and exit
140 -U, --update [BROKEN] Update this program to latest
141 version. Make sure that you have sufficient
142 permissions (run with sudo if needed)
143 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
144 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
145 (default) (Same as --no-abort-on-error)
146 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
147 error occurs (Same as --no-ignore-errors)
148 --dump-user-agent Display the current browser identification
149 --list-extractors List all supported extractors
150 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
152 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
154 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
155 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
156 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
157 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
158 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
159 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
160 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
161 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
162 this is not possible instead of searching.
163 --ignore-config, --no-config Do not read configuration files. When given
164 in the global configuration file
165 /etc/youtube-dl.conf: Do not read the user
166 configuration in ~/.config/youtube-
167 dl/config (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt
169 --config-location PATH Location of the configuration file; either
170 the path to the config or its containing
172 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
174 --flat-videos Do not resolve the video urls
175 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
176 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
177 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched
178 --no-color Do not emit color codes in output
181 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
182 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
184 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
185 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
186 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
187 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
188 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
189 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
192 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
193 some geo-restricted sites. The default
194 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
195 option is not present) is used for the
197 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
198 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
199 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
200 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
201 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
202 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
204 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
205 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
209 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
210 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
211 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
212 indices of the videos in the playlist
213 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
214 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
215 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
216 specify range: "--playlist-items
217 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
218 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13.
219 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
221 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
223 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
224 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
225 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
226 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
228 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
229 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
230 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
231 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
232 this date. The date formats accepted is the
234 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
235 this date. The date formats accepted is the
237 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
239 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
241 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Specify any key (see
242 the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a list of
243 available keys) to match if the key is
244 present, !key to check if the key is not
245 present, key > NUMBER (like "comment_count
246 > 12", also works with >=, <, <=, !=, =) to
247 compare against a number, key = 'LITERAL'
248 (like "uploader = 'Mike Smith'", also works
249 with !=) to match against a string literal
250 and & to require multiple matches. Values
251 which are not known are excluded unless you
252 put a question mark (?) after the operator.
253 For example, to only match videos that have
254 been liked more than
100 times and disliked
255 less than
50 times (or the dislike
256 functionality is not available at the given
257 service), but who also have a description,
258 use --match-filter "like_count >
100 &
259 dislike_count <?
50 & description" .
260 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
261 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
262 to a video and a playlist.
263 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
264 a video and a playlist.
265 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
267 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
268 archive file. Record the IDs of all
269 downloaded videos in it.
270 --break-on-existing Stop the download process after attempting
271 to download a file that's in the archive.
272 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
273 --include-ads Download advertisements as well
275 --no-include-ads Do not download advertisements (default)
278 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
280 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
282 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
283 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
285 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
286 hlsnative and ISM (default)
287 (Same as --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
288 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
289 (Same as --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
290 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
291 downloading is finished
292 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
293 downloading is finished (default)
294 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
296 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
297 from an initial value of --buffer-size
299 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
300 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
301 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
302 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
303 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
305 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
306 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
308 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
309 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
311 --hls-prefer-native Use the native HLS downloader instead of
313 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg Use ffmpeg instead of the native HLS
315 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos,
316 allowing to play the video while
317 downloading (some players may not be able
319 --external-downloader COMMAND Use the specified external downloader.
321 aria2c,avconv,axel,curl,ffmpeg,httpie,wget
322 --external-downloader-args ARGS Give these arguments to the external
325 ## Filesystem Options:
326 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
327 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
328 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
329 comments and ignored.
330 -o, --output TEMPLATE Output filename template, see the "OUTPUT
331 TEMPLATE" for details
332 --autonumber-start NUMBER Specify the start value for %(autonumber)s
334 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
335 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
337 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
339 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite files
340 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files (default)
341 --no-continue Restart download of partially downloaded
343 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
344 into output file (default)
345 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
347 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
348 file modification time (default)
349 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
350 the file modification time
351 --write-description Write video description to a .description
353 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
354 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
355 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
356 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
357 .annotations.xml file
358 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
359 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
360 (created with the "--write-info-json"
362 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
364 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies (default)
365 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
366 can store some downloaded information
367 permanently. By default
368 $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
369 ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only
370 YouTube player files (for videos with
371 obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that
373 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
374 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
375 --trim-file-name LENGTH Limit the filename length (extension
379 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
380 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
382 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
383 --list-thumbnails Simulate and list all available thumbnail
386 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
387 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending on
388 the current platform (.url/.webloc/.desktop).
389 The URL may be cached by the OS.
390 --write-url-link Write a Windows .url internet shortcut file.
391 (The OS caches the URL based on the file path)
392 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut file
393 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut file
395 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
396 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode
397 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
398 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
400 --skip-download Do not download the video
401 -g, --get-url Simulate, quiet but print URL
402 -e, --get-title Simulate, quiet but print title
403 --get-id Simulate, quiet but print id
404 --get-thumbnail Simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
405 --get-description Simulate, quiet but print video description
406 --get-duration Simulate, quiet but print video length
407 --get-filename Simulate, quiet but print output filename
408 --get-format Simulate, quiet but print output format
409 -j, --dump-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
410 See the "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a description
412 -J, --dump-single-json Simulate, quiet but print JSON information
413 for each command-line argument. If the URL
414 refers to a playlist, dump the whole
415 playlist information in a single line.
416 --print-json Be quiet and print the video information as
417 JSON (video is still being downloaded).
418 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be written
419 as far as no errors occur, even if -s or
420 another simulation switch is used.
421 (Same as --force-download-archive)
422 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
423 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
424 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
425 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
426 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
427 to debug problems (very verbose)
428 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
429 files in the current directory to debug
431 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
432 -C, --call-home Contact the youtube-dlc server for debugging
433 --no-call-home Do not contact the youtube-dlc server for
437 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
438 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
439 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
440 information about the video. (Currently
441 supported only for YouTube)
442 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
443 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
444 access is restricted to one domain
445 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
446 separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
447 option multiple times
448 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
449 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
450 or fribidi executable in PATH
451 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
452 download when used alone or a lower bound
453 of a range for randomized sleep before each
454 download (minimum possible number of
455 seconds to sleep) when used along with
456 --max-sleep-interval.
457 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep
458 before each download (maximum possible
459 number of seconds to sleep). Must only be
460 used along with --min-sleep-interval.
461 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Enforce sleep interval on subtitles as well
463 ## Video Format Options:
464 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
466 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
467 "Sorting Formats" for more details
468 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
469 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
470 Formats" for more details
471 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
472 specified sort order (default), see
473 "Sorting Formats" for more details
474 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
476 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
477 each output file (default)
478 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
480 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
481 each output file (default)
482 --all-formats Download all available video formats
483 --prefer-free-formats Prefer free video formats unless a specific
485 -F, --list-formats List all available formats of requested
487 --list-formats-as-table Present the output of -F in a more tabular
489 (Same as --no-list-formats-as-table)
490 --list-formats-old Present the output of -F in the old form
491 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Download the DASH manifests and related data
492 on YouTube videos (default)
493 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
494 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest Do not download the DASH manifests and
495 related data on YouTube videos
496 (Same as --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
497 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Download the HLS manifests and related data
498 on YouTube videos (default)
499 (Same as --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
500 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest Do not download the HLS manifests and
501 related data on YouTube videos
502 (Same as --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
503 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
504 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
505 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
506 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
509 --write-subs Write subtitle file
510 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
511 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
513 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write automatically generated
514 subtitle file (default)
515 --all-subs Download all the available subtitles of the
517 --list-subs List all available subtitles for the video
518 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
519 preference, for example: "srt" or
521 --sub-lang LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download
522 (optional) separated by commas, use --list-
523 subs for available language tags
525 ## Authentication Options:
526 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
527 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
528 out, youtube-dlc will ask interactively.
529 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
530 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
531 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
533 ## Adobe Pass Options:
534 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
535 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
536 a list of available MSOs
537 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
538 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
539 If this option is left out, youtube-dlc
540 will ask interactively.
541 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
544 ## Post-Processing Options:
545 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
546 (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
548 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format: "best", "aac",
549 "flac", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", "vorbis", or
550 "wav"; "best" by default; No effect without
552 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg/avconv audio quality, insert
553 a value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse)
554 for VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
556 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
557 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv).
558 If target container does not support the
559 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail
560 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
561 re-encoding is necessary (currently
562 supported: mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv|avi)
563 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
564 Specify the postprocessor name and the
565 arguments separated by a colon ':' to give
566 the argument to only the specified
567 postprocessor. Supported names are
568 ExtractAudio, VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor,
569 EmbedSubtitle, Metadata, Merger,
570 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
571 SubtitlesConvertor, SponSkrub and Default.
572 You can use this option multiple times to
573 give different arguments to different
575 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
576 after post-processing
577 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
578 post-processing (default)
579 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
580 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
581 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
583 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
584 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
585 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
586 --add-metadata Write metadata to the video file
587 --no-add-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
588 --metadata-from-title FORMAT Parse additional metadata like song title /
589 artist from the video title. The format
590 syntax is the same as --output. Regular
591 expression with named capture groups may
592 also be used. The parsed parameters replace
593 existing values. Example: --metadata-from-
594 title "%(artist)s - %(title)s" matches a
595 title like "Coldplay - Paradise". Example
596 (regex): --metadata-from-title
597 "(?P<artist>.+?) - (?P<title>.+)"
598 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
599 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
600 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
601 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
602 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
603 default; fix file if we can, warn
605 --prefer-avconv Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
606 postprocessors (Same as --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
607 --prefer-ffmpeg Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
608 postprocessors (default)
609 (Same as --no-prefer-avconv)
610 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg/avconv binary;
611 either the path to the binary or its
612 containing directory.
613 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
614 downloading and post-processing, similar to
615 find's -exec syntax. Example: --exec 'adb
616 push {} /sdcard/Music/ && rm {}'
617 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to other format
618 (currently supported: srt|ass|vtt|lrc)
620 ## [SponSkrub](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) Options ([SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app)):
621 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections
622 with the data available in SponsorBlock
623 API. This is enabled by default if the
624 sponskrub binary exists (Youtube only)
625 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
626 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
628 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
630 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
632 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
633 video was already downloaded (default)
634 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
635 the path to the binary or its containing
637 --sponskrub-args None Give these arguments to sponskrub
639 ## Extractor Options:
640 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
641 (Same as --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
642 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
643 (Same as --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
647 You can configure youtube-dlc by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. On Linux and macOS, the system wide configuration file is located at
`/etc/youtube-dlc.conf` and the user wide configuration file at
`~/.config/youtube-dlc/config`. On Windows, the user wide configuration file locations are
`%APPDATA%\youtube-dlc\config.txt` or
`C:\Users\<user name>\youtube-dlc.conf`. Note that by default configuration file may not exist so you may need to create it yourself.
649 For example, with the following configuration file youtube-dlc will always extract the audio, not copy the mtime, use a proxy and save all videos under
`Movies` directory in your home directory:
651 # Lines starting with # are comments
653 # Always extract audio
656 # Do not copy the mtime
660 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
662 # Save all videos under Movies directory in your home directory
663 -o ~/Movies/%(title)s.%(ext)s
666 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`.
668 You can use
`--ignore-config` if you want to disable the configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
670 You can also use
`--config-location` if you want to use custom configuration file for a particular youtube-dlc run.
672 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
674 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 youtube-dlc 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 your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
677 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
679 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
681 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
685 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
686 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
688 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to youtube-dlc or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
690 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
692 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
697 The
`-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names.
699 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
701 The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in
`youtube-dlc -o funny_video.flv "https://some/video"`. However, it may 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/2/library/stdtypes.html#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. Allowed names along with sequence type are:
703 - `id` (string): Video identifier
704 - `title` (string): Video title
705 - `url` (string): Video URL
706 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
707 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
708 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
709 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
710 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
711 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
712 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
713 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
714 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
715 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
716 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
717 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
718 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
719 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
720 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH-mm-ss)
721 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
722 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
723 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
724 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
725 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
726 - `comment_count` (numeric): Number of comments on the video
727 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
728 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
729 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
730 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
731 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
732 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
733 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
734 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
735 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
736 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
737 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
738 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
739 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
740 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
741 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
742 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
743 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
744 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
745 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
746 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
747 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
748 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
749 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
750 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
751 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
752 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
753 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
754 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
755 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
756 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
757 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
759 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
761 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
762 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
763 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
765 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
767 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
768 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
769 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
770 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
771 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
772 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
773 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
775 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
777 - `track` (string): Title of the track
778 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
779 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
780 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
781 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
782 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
783 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
784 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
785 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
786 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
788 Each aforementioned sequence when referenced in an output template will be replaced by the actual value corresponding to the sequence name. 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
`NA`.
790 For example for
`-o %(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s` and an mp4 video with title
`youtube-dlc test video` and id
`BaW_jenozKcj`, this will result in a
`youtube-dlc test video-BaW_jenozKcj.mp4` file created in the current directory.
792 For numeric sequences you can use numeric related formatting, for example,
`%(view_count)05d` will result in a string with view count padded with zeros up to
5 characters, like in
`00042`.
794 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.
796 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
798 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
800 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:
802 #### Output template and Windows batch files
804 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"`.
806 #### Output template examples
808 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
811 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
812 youtube-dlc test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
814 $ youtube-dlc --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
815 youtube-dlc_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
817 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
818 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
820 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
821 $ youtube-dlc -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
823 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
824 $ youtube-dlc -u user -p password -o '~/MyVideos/%(playlist)s/%(chapter_number)s - %(chapter)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.udemy.com/java-tutorial/
826 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
827 $ youtube-dlc -o "C:/MyVideos/%(series)s/%(season_number)s - %(season)s/%(episode_number)s - %(episode)s.%(ext)s" https://videomore.ru/kino_v_detalayah/5_sezon/367617
829 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
830 $ youtube-dlc -o - BaW_jenozKc
835 By default, youtube-dlc tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
836 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 and avconv are unavailable, or if you use youtube-dlc to stream to
`stdout` (
`-o -`), the default becomes
`-f best/bestvideo+bestaudio`.
838 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.
840 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
842 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.
844 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.
846 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
848 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
849 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio.
850 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
851 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
852 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
853 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
854 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
855 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
856 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
857 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
858 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
859 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
861 For example, to download the worst quality video-only format you can use
`-f worstvideo`. It is however recomended to never actually 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
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of
`-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
863 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.
865 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`.
867 You can merge the video and audio of multiple formats into a single file using
`-f <format1>+<format2>+...` (requires ffmpeg or avconv installed), for example
`-f bestvideo+bestaudio` will download the best video-only format, the best audio-only format and mux them together with ffmpeg/avconv. If
`--no-video-multistreams` is used, all formats with a video stream except the first one are ignored. Similarly, if
`--no-audio-multistreams` is used, all formats with an audio stream except the first one are ignored. For example,
`-f bestvideo+best+bestaudio` 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`.
871 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
873 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
875 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
876 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
877 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
878 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
879 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
880 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
881 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
884 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
886 - `ext`: File extension
887 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
888 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
889 - `container`: Name of the container format
890 - `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`)
891 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
892 - `language`: Language code
894 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
896 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 video hoster. Any other field made available by the extractor can also be used for filtering.
898 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.
900 Format selectors can also be grouped using parentheses, for example if you want to download the best mp4 and webm formats with a height lower than
480 you can use
`-f '(mp4,webm)[height<480]'`.
904 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...`. The available fields are:
906 - `video`,
`has_video`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
907 - `audio`,
`has_audio`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
908 - `extractor`,
`preference`,
`extractor_preference`: The format preference as given by the extractor
909 - `lang`,
`language_preference`: Language preference as given by the extractor
910 - `quality`: The quality of the format. This is a metadata field available in some websites
911 - `source`,
`source_preference`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
912 - `proto`,
`protocol`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8-native` >
`m3u8` >
`http-dash-segments` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
913 - `vcodec`,
`video_codec`: Video Codec (
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
914 - `acodec`,
`audio_codec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
915 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
916 - `vext`,
`video_ext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
917 - `aext`,
`audio_ext`: Audio Extension (
`m4a` >
`aac` >
`mp3` >
`ogg` >
`opus` >
`webm` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used, the order changes to
`opus` >
`ogg` >
`webm` >
`m4a` >
`mp3` >
`aac`.
918 - `ext`,
`extension`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
919 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
920 - `filesize_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
921 - `size`,
`filesize_estimate`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
922 - `height`: Height of video
923 - `width`: Width of video
924 - `res`,
`dimension`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
925 - `fps`,
`framerate`: Framerate of video
926 - `tbr`,
`total_bitrate`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
927 - `vbr`,
`video_bitrate`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
928 - `abr`,
`audio_bitrate`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
929 - `br`,
`bitrate`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
930 - `samplerate`,
`asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
932 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. All fields, unless specified otherwise, are sorted in decending order. To reverse this, prefix the field with a
`+`. Eg:
`+res` prefers format with the smallest resolution. Additionally, you can suffix a prefered value for the fields, seperated 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 prefered 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` >
`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.
934 The fields
`has_video`,
`extractor`,
`lang`,
`quality` are always given highest priority in sorting, irrespective of the user-defined order. This behaviour can be changed by using
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`res,fps,codec,size,br,asr,proto,ext,has_audio,source,format_id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
936 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 repects. 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`.
938 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
940 ## Format Selection examples
942 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
945 # Download and merge the best best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
946 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
947 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv+ba/b'
949 # Download best format that contains video,
950 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
951 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*+ba/b'
958 # Download the worst video available
959 $ youtube-dlc -f 'wv*+wa/w'
961 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
962 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res'
964 # Download the smallest video available
965 $ youtube-dlc -S '+size,+bitrate'
969 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
970 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
972 # Download the best video with the best extension
973 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
974 $ youtube-dlc -S 'ext'
978 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
979 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
980 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
982 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
983 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
984 $ youtube-dlc -S 'height:480'
986 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
987 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
988 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
989 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
990 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:480'
994 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
995 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
996 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
998 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
999 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1000 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1002 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1003 $ youtube-dlc -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1007 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1008 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1009 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1011 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1012 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1013 $ youtube-dlc -S 'protocol'
1017 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1018 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1019 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1020 $ youtube-dlc -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1024 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1025 $ youtube-dlc -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1027 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1028 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1029 $ youtube-dlc -S 'codec:h264'
1031 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1032 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1033 $ youtube-dlc -S '+codec:h264'
1037 # More complex examples
1039 # Download the best video no better than 720p prefering framerate greater than 30,
1040 # or the worst video (still prefering framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1041 $ youtube-dlc -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1043 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1044 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1045 # prefering larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1046 $ youtube-dlc -S 'res:720,fps'
1050 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1051 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1052 # prefering better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1053 $ youtube-dlc -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1061 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)