3 [](#readme)
5 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
6 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/actions)
7 [](LICENSE)
8 [](Collaborators.md#collaborators)
9 [](supportedsites.md)
10 []
(https://discord.gg/H5MNcFW63r)
11 []
(https://yt-dlp.readthedocs.io)
12 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
13 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits)
14 []
(https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest)
15 []
(https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp)
19 yt-dlp is a
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) fork based on the now inactive
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc). The main focus of this project is adding new features and patches while also keeping up to date with the original project
21 * [NEW FEATURES](#new-features)
22 * [Differences in default behavior](#differences-in-default-behavior)
23 * [INSTALLATION](#installation)
25 * [Dependencies](#dependencies)
27 * [USAGE AND OPTIONS](#usage-and-options)
28 * [General Options](#general-options)
29 * [Network Options](#network-options)
30 * [Geo-restriction](#geo-restriction)
31 * [Video Selection](#video-selection)
32 * [Download Options](#download-options)
33 * [Filesystem Options](#filesystem-options)
34 * [Thumbnail Options](#thumbnail-options)
35 * [Internet Shortcut Options](#internet-shortcut-options)
36 * [Verbosity and Simulation Options](#verbosity-and-simulation-options)
37 * [Workarounds](#workarounds)
38 * [Video Format Options](#video-format-options)
39 * [Subtitle Options](#subtitle-options)
40 * [Authentication Options](#authentication-options)
41 * [Post-processing Options](#post-processing-options)
42 * [SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)
43 * [Extractor Options](#extractor-options)
44 * [CONFIGURATION](#configuration)
45 * [Authentication with .netrc file](#authentication-with-netrc-file)
46 * [OUTPUT TEMPLATE](#output-template)
47 * [Output template and Windows batch files](#output-template-and-windows-batch-files)
48 * [Output template examples](#output-template-examples)
49 * [FORMAT SELECTION](#format-selection)
50 * [Filtering Formats](#filtering-formats)
51 * [Sorting Formats](#sorting-formats)
52 * [Format Selection examples](#format-selection-examples)
53 * [MODIFYING METADATA](#modifying-metadata)
54 * [Modifying metadata examples](#modifying-metadata-examples)
55 * [EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS](#extractor-arguments)
57 * [DEPRECATED OPTIONS](#deprecated-options)
63 The major new features from the latest release of
[blackjack4494/yt-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) are:
65 * **
[SponSkrub Integration](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options)**: You can use [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) to mark/remove sponsor sections in youtube videos by utilizing the
[SponsorBlock](https://sponsor.ajay.app) API
67 * **[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))
69 * **Merged with youtube-dl
[commit/379f52a](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/379f52a4954013767219d25099cce9e0f9401961)**: (v2021.06
.06) You get all the latest features and patches of
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl) in addition to all the features of
[youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc)
71 * **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 improvements are not available. See
[#31](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/31) for details.
73 * **Youtube improvements**:
74 * All Feeds (
`:ytfav`,
`:ytwatchlater`,
`:ytsubs`,
`:ythistory`,
`:ytrec`) and private playlists supports downloading multiple pages of content
75 * Search (
`ytsearch:`,
`ytsearchdate:`), search URLs and in-channel search works
76 * Mixes supports downloading multiple pages of content
77 * Most (but not all) age-gated content can be downloaded without cookies
78 * Partial workaround for throttling issue
79 * Redirect channel's home URL automatically to
`/video` to preserve the old behaviour
80 * `255kbps` audio is extracted from youtube music if premium cookies are given
81 * Youtube music Albums, channels etc can be downloaded
83 * **Cookies from browser**: Cookies can be automatically extracted from all major web browsers using
`--cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]`
85 * **Split video by chapters**: Videos can be split into multiple files based on chapters using
`--split-chapters`
87 * **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
89 * **Aria2c with HLS/DASH**: You can use
`aria2c` as the external downloader for DASH(mpd) and HLS(m3u8) formats
91 * **New extractors**: AnimeLab, Philo MSO, Spectrum MSO, SlingTV MSO, Cablevision MSO, Rcs, Gedi, bitwave.tv, mildom, audius, zee5, mtv.it, wimtv, pluto.tv, niconico users, discoveryplus.in, mediathek, NFHSNetwork, nebula, ukcolumn, whowatch, MxplayerShow, parlview (au), YoutubeWebArchive, fancode, Saitosan, ShemarooMe, telemundo, VootSeries, SonyLIVSeries, HotstarSeries, VidioPremier, VidioLive, RCTIPlus, TBS Live, douyin, pornflip, ParamountPlusSeries, ScienceChannel, Utreon, OpenRec, BandcampMusic, blackboardcollaborate, eroprofile albums, mirrativ
93 * **Fixed/improved extractors**: archive.org, roosterteeth.com, skyit, instagram, itv, SouthparkDe, spreaker, Vlive, akamai, ina, rumble, tennistv, amcnetworks, la7 podcasts, linuxacadamy, nitter, twitcasting, viu, crackle, curiositystream, mediasite, rmcdecouverte, sonyliv, tubi, tenplay, patreon, videa, yahoo, BravoTV, crunchyroll playlist, RTP, viki, Hotstar, vidio, vimeo, mediaset, Mxplayer, nbcolympics, ParamountPlus, Newgrounds
95 * **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
97 * **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`)
99 * **Portable Configuration**: Configuration files are automatically loaded from the home and root directories. See [configuration](#configuration) for details
101 * **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`
103 * **Other new options**:
`--print`,
`--sleep-requests`,
`--convert-thumbnails`,
`--write-link`,
`--force-download-archive`,
`--force-overwrites`,
`--break-on-reject` etc
105 * **Improvements**: Regex and other operators in
`--match-filter`, multiple
`--postprocessor-args` and
`--downloader-args`, faster archive checking, more [format selection options](#format-selection) etc
107 * **Plugin extractors**: Extractors can be loaded from an external file. See [plugins](#plugins) for details
109 * **Self-updater**: The releases can be updated using
`yt-dlp -U`
112 See
[changelog](Changelog.md) or [commits](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/commits) for the full list of changes
115 **PS**: Some of these changes are already in youtube-dlc, but are still unreleased. See [this](Changelog.md#unreleased-changes-in-blackjack4494yt-dlc) for details
117 If you are coming from
[youtube-dl](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl), the amount of changes are very large. Compare
[options](#options) and [supported sites](supportedsites.md) with youtube-dl's to get an idea of the massive number of features/patches [youtube-dlc](https://github.com/blackjack4494/yt-dlc) has accumulated.
119 ### Differences in default behavior
121 Some of yt-dlp's default options are different from that of youtube-dl and youtube-dlc.
123 * The options
`--id`,
`--auto-number` (
`-A`),
`--title` (
`-t`) and
`--literal` (
`-l`), no longer work. See [removed options](#Removed) for details
124 * `avconv` is not supported as as an alternative to
`ffmpeg`
125 * 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`
126 * 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
127 * 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 prefered. Use
`-f bv+ba/b` or
`--compat-options format-spec` to revert this
128 * 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
129 * `--ignore-errors` is enabled by default. Use
`--abort-on-error` or
`--compat-options abort-on-error` to abort on errors instead
130 * 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
131 * `--add-metadata` attaches the
`infojson` to
`mkv` files in addition to writing the metadata when used with
`--write-infojson`. Use
`--compat-options no-attach-info-json` to revert this
132 * `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
133 * The output of
`-F` is listed in a new format. Use
`--compat-options list-formats` to revert this
134 * 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
135 * 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
136 * 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. 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
137 * Unavailable videos are also listed for youtube playlists. Use
`--compat-options no-youtube-unavailable-videos` to remove this
138 * 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
139 * Thumbnail embedding in
`mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use
`--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
140 * 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
141 * 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 seperate 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.
143 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
144 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
145 * `--compat-options youtube-dl`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-multistreams`
146 * `--compat-options youtube-dlc`: Same as
`--compat-options all,-no-live-chat,-no-youtube-channel-redirect`
150 yt-dlp is not platform specific. So it should work on your Unix box, on Windows or on macOS
152 You can install yt-dlp using one of the following methods:
153 * Download the binary from the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) (recommended method)
154 * Use
[PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/yt-dlp):
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade yt-dlp`
155 * Use pip+git:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git@release`
156 * Install master branch:
`python3 -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp`
158 Note that on some systems, you may need to use
`py` or
`python` instead of
`python3`
160 UNIX users (Linux, macOS, BSD) can also install the
[latest release](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest) one of the following ways:
163 sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
164 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
168 sudo wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
169 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
173 sudo aria2c https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
174 sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
178 You can use
`yt-dlp -U` to update if you are using the provided release.
179 If you are using
`pip`, simply re-run the same command that was used to install the program.
182 Python versions
3.6+ (CPython and PyPy) are supported. Other versions and implementations may or may not work correctly.
184 <!-- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=
26999 -->
185 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.
187 While all the other dependancies are optional,
`ffmpeg` and
`ffprobe` are highly recommended
188 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for
[merging seperate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. Licence [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
189 * [**sponskrub**](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub) - For using the
[sponskrub options](#sponskrub-sponsorblock-options). Licenced under [GPLv3+](https://github.com/faissaloo/SponSkrub/blob/master/LICENCE.md)
190 * [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
191 * [**pycryptodome**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting various data. Licenced under
[BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
192 * [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
193 * [**keyring**](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring) - For decrypting cookies of chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licenced under
[MIT](https://github.com/jaraco/keyring/blob/main/LICENSE)
194 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen is not present. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
195 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading
`rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
196 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or
[**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading
`rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licenced under
[GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
197 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licenced under
[BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
198 * Any external downloader that you want to use with
`--downloader`
200 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
202 Note that the windows releases are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodome and websockets included.
207 To build the Windows executable, you must have pyinstaller (and optionally mutagen, pycryptodome, websockets)
209 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pyinstaller mutagen pycryptodome websockets
211 Once you have all the necessary dependencies installed, just run
`py pyinst.py`. The executable will be built for the same architecture (
32/
64 bit) as the python used to build it.
213 You can also build the executable without any version info or metadata by using:
215 pyinstaller.exe yt_dlp\__main__.py --onefile --name yt-dlp
217 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
220 You will need the required build tools:
`python`,
`make` (GNU),
`pandoc`,
`zip`,
`pytest`
221 Then simply run
`make`. You can also run
`make yt-dlp` instead to compile only the binary without updating any of the additional files
223 **Note**: In either platform,
`devscripts\update-version.py` can be used to automatically update the version number
227 yt-dlp [OPTIONS] [--] URL [URL...]
229 `Ctrl+F` is your friend :D
230 <!-- Auto generated -->
233 -h, --help Print this help text and exit
234 --version Print program version and exit
235 -U, --update Update this program to latest version. Make
236 sure that you have sufficient permissions
237 (run with sudo if needed)
238 -i, --ignore-errors Continue on download errors, for example to
239 skip unavailable videos in a playlist
240 (default) (Alias: --no-abort-on-error)
241 --abort-on-error Abort downloading of further videos if an
242 error occurs (Alias: --no-ignore-errors)
243 --dump-user-agent Display the current user-agent and exit
244 --list-extractors List all supported extractors and exit
245 --extractor-descriptions Output descriptions of all supported
247 --force-generic-extractor Force extraction to use the generic
249 --default-search PREFIX Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
250 example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
251 from google videos for youtube-dl "large
252 apple". Use the value "auto" to let
253 youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
254 warning when guessing). "error" just throws
255 an error. The default value "fixup_error"
256 repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
257 this is not possible instead of searching
258 --ignore-config, --no-config Disable loading any configuration files
259 except the one provided by --config-location.
260 When given inside a configuration
261 file, no further configuration files are
262 loaded. Additionally, (for backward
263 compatibility) if this option is found
264 inside the system configuration file, the
265 user configuration is not loaded
266 --config-location PATH Location of the main configuration file;
267 either the path to the config or its
269 --flat-playlist Do not extract the videos of a playlist,
271 --no-flat-playlist Extract the videos of a playlist
272 --mark-watched Mark videos watched (YouTube only)
273 --no-mark-watched Do not mark videos watched (default)
274 --no-colors Do not emit color codes in output
275 --compat-options OPTS Options that can help keep compatibility
276 with youtube-dl or youtube-dlc
277 configurations by reverting some of the
278 changes made in yt-dlp. See "Differences in
279 default behavior" for details
282 --proxy URL Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy.
283 To enable SOCKS proxy, specify a proper
285 socks5://
127.0.0.1:
1080/. Pass in an empty
286 string (--proxy "") for direct connection
287 --socket-timeout SECONDS Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
288 --source-address IP Client-side IP address to bind to
289 -4, --force-ipv4 Make all connections via IPv4
290 -6, --force-ipv6 Make all connections via IPv6
293 --geo-verification-proxy URL Use this proxy to verify the IP address for
294 some geo-restricted sites. The default
295 proxy specified by --proxy (or none, if the
296 option is not present) is used for the
298 --geo-bypass Bypass geographic restriction via faking
299 X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
300 --no-geo-bypass Do not bypass geographic restriction via
301 faking X-Forwarded-For HTTP header
302 --geo-bypass-country CODE Force bypass geographic restriction with
303 explicitly provided two-letter ISO
3166-
2
305 --geo-bypass-ip-block IP_BLOCK Force bypass geographic restriction with
306 explicitly provided IP block in CIDR
310 --playlist-start NUMBER Playlist video to start at (default is
1)
311 --playlist-end NUMBER Playlist video to end at (default is last)
312 --playlist-items ITEM_SPEC Playlist video items to download. Specify
313 indices of the videos in the playlist
314 separated by commas like: "--playlist-items
315 1,
2,
5,
8" if you want to download videos
316 indexed
1,
2,
5,
8 in the playlist. You can
317 specify range: "--playlist-items
318 1-
3,
7,
10-
13", it will download the videos
319 at index
1,
2,
3,
7,
10,
11,
12 and
13
320 --match-title REGEX Download only matching titles (regex or
322 --reject-title REGEX Skip download for matching titles (regex or
324 --max-downloads NUMBER Abort after downloading NUMBER files
325 --min-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos smaller than
326 SIZE (e.g.
50k or
44.6m)
327 --max-filesize SIZE Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
329 --date DATE Download only videos uploaded in this date.
330 The date can be "YYYYMMDD" or in the format
331 "(now|today)[+-][
0-
9](day|week|month|year)(s)?"
332 --datebefore DATE Download only videos uploaded on or before
333 this date. The date formats accepted is the
335 --dateafter DATE Download only videos uploaded on or after
336 this date. The date formats accepted is the
338 --min-views COUNT Do not download any videos with less than
340 --max-views COUNT Do not download any videos with more than
342 --match-filter FILTER Generic video filter. Any field (see
343 "OUTPUT TEMPLATE") can be compared with a
344 number or a string using the operators
345 defined in "Filtering formats". You can
346 also simply specify a field to match if the
347 field is present and "!field" to check if
348 the field is not present. In addition,
349 Python style regular expression matching
350 can be done using "~=", and multiple
351 filters can be checked with "&". Use a "
\"
352 to escape "&" or quotes if needed. Eg:
353 --match-filter "!is_live & like_count>?
100
354 & description~=
\'(?i)
\bcats \& dogs
\b\'"
355 matches only videos that are not live, has
356 a like count more than
100 (or the like
357 field is not available), and also has a
358 description that contains the phrase "cats
359 & dogs" (ignoring case)
360 --no-match-filter Do not use generic video filter (default)
361 --no-playlist Download only the video, if the URL refers
362 to a video and a playlist
363 --yes-playlist Download the playlist, if the URL refers to
364 a video and a playlist
365 --age-limit YEARS Download only videos suitable for the given
367 --download-archive FILE Download only videos not listed in the
368 archive file. Record the IDs of all
369 downloaded videos in it
370 --break-on-existing Stop the download process when encountering
371 a file that is in the archive
372 --break-on-reject Stop the download process when encountering
373 a file that has been filtered out
374 --skip-playlist-after-errors N Number of allowed failures until the rest
375 of the playlist is skipped
376 --no-download-archive Do not use archive file (default)
379 -N, --concurrent-fragments N Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
380 video that should be download concurrently
382 -r, --limit-rate RATE Maximum download rate in bytes per second
384 --throttled-rate RATE Minimum download rate in bytes per second
385 below which throttling is assumed and the
386 video data is re-extracted (e.g.
100K)
387 -R, --retries RETRIES Number of retries (default is
10), or
389 --fragment-retries RETRIES Number of retries for a fragment (default
390 is
10), or "infinite" (DASH, hlsnative and
392 --skip-unavailable-fragments Skip unavailable fragments for DASH,
393 hlsnative and ISM (default)
394 (Alias: --no-abort-on-unavailable-fragment)
395 --abort-on-unavailable-fragment Abort downloading if a fragment is unavailable
396 (Alias: --no-skip-unavailable-fragments)
397 --keep-fragments Keep downloaded fragments on disk after
398 downloading is finished
399 --no-keep-fragments Delete downloaded fragments after
400 downloading is finished (default)
401 --buffer-size SIZE Size of download buffer (e.g.
1024 or
16K)
403 --resize-buffer The buffer size is automatically resized
404 from an initial value of --buffer-size
406 --no-resize-buffer Do not automatically adjust the buffer size
407 --http-chunk-size SIZE Size of a chunk for chunk-based HTTP
408 downloading (e.g.
10485760 or
10M) (default
409 is disabled). May be useful for bypassing
410 bandwidth throttling imposed by a webserver
412 --playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in reverse order
413 --no-playlist-reverse Download playlist videos in default order
415 --playlist-random Download playlist videos in random order
416 --xattr-set-filesize Set file xattribute ytdl.filesize with
418 --hls-use-mpegts Use the mpegts container for HLS videos;
419 allowing some players to play the video
420 while downloading, and reducing the chance
421 of file corruption if download is
422 interrupted. This is enabled by default for
424 --no-hls-use-mpegts Do not use the mpegts container for HLS
425 videos. This is default when not
426 downloading live streams
427 --downloader [PROTO:]NAME Name or path of the external downloader to
428 use (optionally) prefixed by the protocols
429 (http, ftp, m3u8, dash, rstp, rtmp, mms) to
430 use it for. Currently supports native,
431 aria2c, avconv, axel, curl, ffmpeg, httpie,
432 wget (Recommended: aria2c). You can use
433 this option multiple times to set different
434 downloaders for different protocols. For
435 example, --downloader aria2c --downloader
436 "dash,m3u8:native" will use aria2c for
437 http/ftp downloads, and the native
438 downloader for dash/m3u8 downloads
439 (Alias: --external-downloader)
440 --downloader-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the external
441 downloader. Specify the downloader name and
442 the arguments separated by a colon ":". For
443 ffmpeg, arguments can be passed to
444 different positions using the same syntax
445 as --postprocessor-args. You can use this
446 option multiple times to give different
447 arguments to different downloaders
448 (Alias: --external-downloader-args)
450 ## Filesystem Options:
451 -a, --batch-file FILE File containing URLs to download ('-' for
452 stdin), one URL per line. Lines starting
453 with '#', ';' or ']' are considered as
455 -P, --paths [TYPES:]PATH The paths where the files should be
456 downloaded. Specify the type of file and
457 the path separated by a colon ":". All the
458 same types as --output are supported.
459 Additionally, you can also provide "home"
460 (default) and "temp" paths. All
461 intermediary files are first downloaded to
462 the temp path and then the final files are
463 moved over to the home path after download
464 is finished. This option is ignored if
465 --output is an absolute path
466 -o, --output [TYPES:]TEMPLATE Output filename template; see "OUTPUT
467 TEMPLATE" for details
468 --output-na-placeholder TEXT Placeholder value for unavailable meta
469 fields in output filename template
471 --restrict-filenames Restrict filenames to only ASCII
472 characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
474 --no-restrict-filenames Allow Unicode characters, "&" and spaces in
476 --windows-filenames Force filenames to be windows compatible
477 --no-windows-filenames Make filenames windows compatible only if
478 using windows (default)
479 --trim-filenames LENGTH Limit the filename length (excluding
480 extension) to the specified number of
482 -w, --no-overwrites Do not overwrite any files
483 --force-overwrites Overwrite all video and metadata files.
484 This option includes --no-continue
485 --no-force-overwrites Do not overwrite the video, but overwrite
486 related files (default)
487 -c, --continue Resume partially downloaded files/fragments
489 --no-continue Do not resume partially downloaded
490 fragments. If the file is not fragmented,
491 restart download of the entire file
492 --part Use .part files instead of writing directly
493 into output file (default)
494 --no-part Do not use .part files - write directly
496 --mtime Use the Last-modified header to set the
497 file modification time (default)
498 --no-mtime Do not use the Last-modified header to set
499 the file modification time
500 --write-description Write video description to a .description
502 --no-write-description Do not write video description (default)
503 --write-info-json Write video metadata to a .info.json file
504 (this may contain personal information)
505 --no-write-info-json Do not write video metadata (default)
506 --write-annotations Write video annotations to a
507 .annotations.xml file
508 --no-write-annotations Do not write video annotations (default)
509 --write-playlist-metafiles Write playlist metadata in addition to the
510 video metadata when using --write-info-json,
511 --write-description etc. (default)
512 --no-write-playlist-metafiles Do not write playlist metadata when using
513 --write-info-json, --write-description etc.
514 --clean-infojson Remove some private fields such as
515 filenames from the infojson. Note that it
516 could still contain some personal
517 information (default)
518 --no-clean-infojson Write all fields to the infojson
519 --write-comments Retrieve video comments to be placed in the
520 infojson. The comments are fetched even
521 without this option if the extraction is
522 known to be quick (Alias: --get-comments)
523 --no-write-comments Do not retrieve video comments unless the
524 extraction is known to be quick
525 (Alias: --no-get-comments)
526 --load-info-json FILE JSON file containing the video information
527 (created with the "--write-info-json"
529 --cookies FILE File to read cookies from and dump cookie
531 --no-cookies Do not read/dump cookies from/to file
533 --cookies-from-browser BROWSER[:PROFILE]
534 Load cookies from a user profile of the
535 given web browser. Currently supported
536 browsers are: brave|chrome|chromium|edge|fi
537 refox|opera|safari|vivaldi. You can specify
538 the user profile name or directory using
539 "BROWSER:PROFILE_NAME" or
540 "BROWSER:PROFILE_PATH". If no profile is
541 given, the most recently accessed one is
543 --no-cookies-from-browser Do not load cookies from browser (default)
544 --cache-dir DIR Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
545 can store some downloaded information (such
546 as client ids and signatures) permanently.
547 By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or
549 --no-cache-dir Disable filesystem caching
550 --rm-cache-dir Delete all filesystem cache files
552 ## Thumbnail Options:
553 --write-thumbnail Write thumbnail image to disk
554 --no-write-thumbnail Do not write thumbnail image to disk
556 --write-all-thumbnails Write all thumbnail image formats to disk
557 --list-thumbnails List available thumbnails of each video.
558 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
560 ## Internet Shortcut Options:
561 --write-link Write an internet shortcut file, depending
562 on the current platform (.url, .webloc or
563 .desktop). The URL may be cached by the OS
564 --write-url-link Write a .url Windows internet shortcut. The
565 OS caches the URL based on the file path
566 --write-webloc-link Write a .webloc macOS internet shortcut
567 --write-desktop-link Write a .desktop Linux internet shortcut
569 ## Verbosity and Simulation Options:
570 -q, --quiet Activate quiet mode. If used with
571 --verbose, print the log to stderr
572 --no-warnings Ignore warnings
573 -s, --simulate Do not download the video and do not write
575 --no-simulate Download the video even if printing/listing
577 --ignore-no-formats-error Ignore "No video formats" error. Usefull
578 for extracting metadata even if the videos
579 are not actually available for download
581 --no-ignore-no-formats-error Throw error when no downloadable video
582 formats are found (default)
583 --skip-download Do not download the video but write all
584 related files (Alias: --no-download)
585 -O, --print TEMPLATE Quiet, but print the given fields for each
586 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
587 used. Either a field name or same syntax as
588 the output template can be used
589 -j, --dump-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
590 video. Simulate unless --no-simulate is
591 used. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for a
592 description of available keys
593 -J, --dump-single-json Quiet, but print JSON information for each
594 url or infojson passed. Simulate unless
595 --no-simulate is used. If the URL refers to
596 a playlist, the whole playlist information
597 is dumped in a single line
598 --force-write-archive Force download archive entries to be
599 written as far as no errors occur, even if
600 -s or another simulation option is used
601 (Alias: --force-download-archive)
602 --newline Output progress bar as new lines
603 --no-progress Do not print progress bar
604 --console-title Display progress in console titlebar
605 -v, --verbose Print various debugging information
606 --dump-pages Print downloaded pages encoded using base64
607 to debug problems (very verbose)
608 --write-pages Write downloaded intermediary pages to
609 files in the current directory to debug
611 --print-traffic Display sent and read HTTP traffic
614 --encoding ENCODING Force the specified encoding (experimental)
615 --no-check-certificate Suppress HTTPS certificate validation
616 --prefer-insecure Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
617 information about the video (Currently
618 supported only for YouTube)
619 --user-agent UA Specify a custom user agent
620 --referer URL Specify a custom referer, use if the video
621 access is restricted to one domain
622 --add-header FIELD:VALUE Specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
623 separated by a colon ":". You can use this
624 option multiple times
625 --bidi-workaround Work around terminals that lack
626 bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
627 or fribidi executable in PATH
628 --sleep-requests SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep between requests
629 during data extraction
630 --sleep-interval SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
631 download. This is the minimum time to sleep
632 when used along with --max-sleep-interval
633 (Alias: --min-sleep-interval)
634 --max-sleep-interval SECONDS Maximum number of seconds to sleep. Can
635 only be used along with --min-sleep-interval
636 --sleep-subtitles SECONDS Number of seconds to sleep before each
639 ## Video Format Options:
640 -f, --format FORMAT Video format code, see "FORMAT SELECTION"
642 -S, --format-sort SORTORDER Sort the formats by the fields given, see
643 "Sorting Formats" for more details
644 --S-force, --format-sort-force Force user specified sort order to have
645 precedence over all fields, see "Sorting
646 Formats" for more details
647 --no-format-sort-force Some fields have precedence over the user
648 specified sort order (default), see
649 "Sorting Formats" for more details
650 --video-multistreams Allow multiple video streams to be merged
652 --no-video-multistreams Only one video stream is downloaded for
653 each output file (default)
654 --audio-multistreams Allow multiple audio streams to be merged
656 --no-audio-multistreams Only one audio stream is downloaded for
657 each output file (default)
658 --prefer-free-formats Prefer video formats with free containers
659 over non-free ones of same quality. Use
660 with "-S ext" to strictly prefer free
661 containers irrespective of quality
662 --no-prefer-free-formats Don't give any special preference to free
664 --check-formats Check that the formats selected are
665 actually downloadable
666 --no-check-formats Do not check that the formats selected are
667 actually downloadable
668 -F, --list-formats List available formats of each video.
669 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
670 --merge-output-format FORMAT If a merge is required (e.g.
671 bestvideo+bestaudio), output to given
672 container format. One of mkv, mp4, ogg,
673 webm, flv. Ignored if no merge is required
676 --write-subs Write subtitle file
677 --no-write-subs Do not write subtitle file (default)
678 --write-auto-subs Write automatically generated subtitle file
679 (Alias: --write-automatic-subs)
680 --no-write-auto-subs Do not write auto-generated subtitles
681 (default) (Alias: --no-write-automatic-subs)
682 --list-subs List available subtitles of each video.
683 Simulate unless --no-simulate is used
684 --sub-format FORMAT Subtitle format, accepts formats
685 preference, for example: "srt" or
687 --sub-langs LANGS Languages of the subtitles to download (can
688 be regex) or "all" separated by commas.
689 (Eg: --sub-langs en.*,ja) You can prefix
690 the language code with a "-" to exempt it
691 from the requested languages. (Eg: --sub-
692 langs all,-live_chat) Use --list-subs for a
693 list of available language tags
695 ## Authentication Options:
696 -u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
697 -p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
698 out, yt-dlp will ask interactively
699 -2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
700 -n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
701 --video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, youku)
702 --ap-mso MSO Adobe Pass multiple-system operator (TV
703 provider) identifier, use --ap-list-mso for
704 a list of available MSOs
705 --ap-username USERNAME Multiple-system operator account login
706 --ap-password PASSWORD Multiple-system operator account password.
707 If this option is left out, yt-dlp will ask
709 --ap-list-mso List all supported multiple-system
712 ## Post-Processing Options:
713 -x, --extract-audio Convert video files to audio-only files
714 (requires ffmpeg and ffprobe)
715 --audio-format FORMAT Specify audio format to convert the audio
716 to when -x is used. Currently supported
717 formats are: best (default) or one of
718 best|aac|flac|mp3|m4a|opus|vorbis|wav
719 --audio-quality QUALITY Specify ffmpeg audio quality, insert a
720 value between
0 (better) and
9 (worse) for
721 VBR or a specific bitrate like
128K
723 --remux-video FORMAT Remux the video into another container if
724 necessary (currently supported: mp4|mkv|flv
725 |webm|mov|avi|mp3|mka|m4a|ogg|opus). If
726 target container does not support the
727 video/audio codec, remuxing will fail. You
728 can specify multiple rules; Eg.
729 "aac>m4a/mov>mp4/mkv" will remux aac to
730 m4a, mov to mp4 and anything else to mkv.
731 --recode-video FORMAT Re-encode the video into another format if
732 re-encoding is necessary. The syntax and
733 supported formats are the same as --remux-video
734 --postprocessor-args NAME:ARGS Give these arguments to the postprocessors.
735 Specify the postprocessor/executable name
736 and the arguments separated by a colon ":"
737 to give the argument to the specified
738 postprocessor/executable. Supported PP are:
739 Merger, ExtractAudio, SplitChapters,
740 Metadata, EmbedSubtitle, EmbedThumbnail,
741 SubtitlesConvertor, ThumbnailsConvertor,
742 VideoRemuxer, VideoConvertor, SponSkrub,
743 FixupStretched, FixupM4a, FixupM3u8,
744 FixupTimestamp and FixupDuration. The
745 supported executables are: AtomicParsley,
746 FFmpeg, FFprobe, and SponSkrub. You can
747 also specify "PP+EXE:ARGS" to give the
748 arguments to the specified executable only
749 when being used by the specified
750 postprocessor. Additionally, for
751 ffmpeg/ffprobe, "_i"/"_o" can be appended
752 to the prefix optionally followed by a
753 number to pass the argument before the
754 specified input/output file. Eg: --ppa
755 "Merger+ffmpeg_i1:-v quiet". You can use
756 this option multiple times to give
757 different arguments to different
758 postprocessors. (Alias: --ppa)
759 -k, --keep-video Keep the intermediate video file on disk
760 after post-processing
761 --no-keep-video Delete the intermediate video file after
762 post-processing (default)
763 --post-overwrites Overwrite post-processed files (default)
764 --no-post-overwrites Do not overwrite post-processed files
765 --embed-subs Embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4,
767 --no-embed-subs Do not embed subtitles (default)
768 --embed-thumbnail Embed thumbnail in the video as cover art
769 --no-embed-thumbnail Do not embed thumbnail (default)
770 --embed-metadata Embed metadata including chapter markers
771 (if supported by the format) to the video
772 file (Alias: --add-metadata)
773 --no-embed-metadata Do not write metadata (default)
774 (Alias: --no-add-metadata)
775 --parse-metadata FROM:TO Parse additional metadata like title/artist
776 from other fields; see "MODIFYING METADATA"
778 --replace-in-metadata FIELDS REGEX REPLACE
779 Replace text in a metadata field using the
780 given regex. This option can be used
782 --xattrs Write metadata to the video file's xattrs
783 (using dublin core and xdg standards)
784 --fixup POLICY Automatically correct known faults of the
785 file. One of never (do nothing), warn (only
786 emit a warning), detect_or_warn (the
787 default; fix file if we can, warn
788 otherwise), force (try fixing even if file
790 --ffmpeg-location PATH Location of the ffmpeg binary; either the
791 path to the binary or its containing
793 --exec CMD Execute a command on the file after
794 downloading and post-processing. Same
795 syntax as the output template can be used
796 to pass any field as arguments to the
797 command. An additional field "filepath"
798 that contains the final path of the
799 downloaded file is also available. If no
800 fields are passed, %(filepath)q is appended
801 to the end of the command. This option can
802 be used multiple times
803 --no-exec Remove any previously defined --exec
804 --exec-before-download CMD Execute a command before the actual
805 download. The syntax is the same as --exec
806 but "filepath" is not available. This
807 option can be used multiple times
808 --no-exec-before-download Remove any previously defined
809 --exec-before-download
810 --convert-subs FORMAT Convert the subtitles to another format
811 (currently supported: srt|vtt|ass|lrc)
812 (Alias: --convert-subtitles)
813 --convert-thumbnails FORMAT Convert the thumbnails to another format
814 (currently supported: jpg|png)
815 --split-chapters Split video into multiple files based on
816 internal chapters. The "chapter:" prefix
817 can be used with "--paths" and "--output"
818 to set the output filename for the split
819 files. See "OUTPUT TEMPLATE" for details
820 --no-split-chapters Do not split video based on chapters
823 ## SponSkrub (SponsorBlock) Options:
824 [SponSkrub](https://github.com/yt-dlp/SponSkrub) is a utility to
825 mark/remove sponsor segments from downloaded YouTube videos using
826 [SponsorBlock API](https://sponsor.ajay.app)
828 --sponskrub Use sponskrub to mark sponsored sections.
829 This is enabled by default if the sponskrub
830 binary exists (Youtube only)
831 --no-sponskrub Do not use sponskrub
832 --sponskrub-cut Cut out the sponsor sections instead of
834 --no-sponskrub-cut Simply mark the sponsor sections, not cut
836 --sponskrub-force Run sponskrub even if the video was already
838 --no-sponskrub-force Do not cut out the sponsor sections if the
839 video was already downloaded (default)
840 --sponskrub-location PATH Location of the sponskrub binary; either
841 the path to the binary or its containing
844 ## Extractor Options:
845 --extractor-retries RETRIES Number of retries for known extractor
846 errors (default is
3), or "infinite"
847 --allow-dynamic-mpd Process dynamic DASH manifests (default)
848 (Alias: --no-ignore-dynamic-mpd)
849 --ignore-dynamic-mpd Do not process dynamic DASH manifests
850 (Alias: --no-allow-dynamic-mpd)
851 --hls-split-discontinuity Split HLS playlists to different formats at
852 discontinuities such as ad breaks
853 --no-hls-split-discontinuity Do not split HLS playlists to different
854 formats at discontinuities such as ad
856 --extractor-args KEY:ARGS Pass these arguments to the extractor. See
857 "EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS" for details. You can
858 use this option multiple times to give
859 arguments for different extractors
863 You can configure yt-dlp by placing any supported command line option to a configuration file. The configuration is loaded from the following locations:
865 1. **Main Configuration**: The file given by
`--config-location`
866 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.
867 1. **Home Configuration**:
`yt-dlp.conf` in the home path given by
`-P "home:<path>"`, or in the current directory if no such path is given
868 1. **User Configuration**:
869 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Linux/macOS)
870 * `%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%/yt-dlp.conf`
871 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config` (recommended on Windows)
872 * `%APPDATA%/yt-dlp/config.txt`
874 * `~/yt-dlp.conf.txt`
876 Note that
`~` points to
`C:\Users\<user name>` on windows. Also,
`%XDG_CONFIG_HOME%` defaults to
`~/.config` if undefined
877 1. **System Configuration**:
`/etc/yt-dlp.conf`
879 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:
881 # Lines starting with # are comments
883 # Always extract audio
886 # Do not copy the mtime
890 --proxy 127.0.0.1:3128
892 # Save all videos under YouTube directory in your home directory
893 -o ~/YouTube/%(title)s.%(ext)s
896 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`.
898 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 user and system configurations. Additionally, (for backward compatibility) if
`--ignore-config` is found inside the system configuration file, the user configuration is not loaded.
900 ### Authentication with `.netrc` file
902 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 your
`$HOME` and restrict permissions to read/write by only you:
905 chmod a-rwx,u+rw $HOME/.netrc
907 After that you can add credentials for an extractor in the following format, where *extractor* is the name of the extractor in lowercase:
909 machine <extractor> login <login> password <password>
913 machine youtube login myaccount@gmail.com password my_youtube_password
914 machine twitch login my_twitch_account_name password my_twitch_password
916 To activate authentication with the
`.netrc` file you should pass
`--netrc` to yt-dlp or place it in the [configuration file](#configuration).
918 On Windows you may also need to setup the
`%HOME%` environment variable manually. For example:
920 set HOME=%USERPROFILE%
925 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.
927 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#output-template-examples).
929 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).
931 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/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.
933 The field names themselves (the part inside the parenthesis) can also have some special formatting:
934 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
935 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`
936 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`
937 1. **Default**: A default value can be specified for when the field is empty using a
`|` seperator. This overrides
`--output-na-template`. Eg:
`%(uploader|Unknown)s`
938 1. **More Conversions**: In addition to the normal format types
`diouxXeEfFgGcrs`,
`j`,
`l`,
`q` can be used for converting to **j**son, a comma seperated **l**ist and a string **q**uoted for the terminal respectively
940 To summarize, the general syntax for a field is:
942 %(name[.keys][addition][>strf][|default])[flags][width][.precision][length]type
945 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`,
`infojson`,
`pl_thumbnail`,
`pl_description`,
`pl_infojson`,
`chapter`. 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.
947 The available fields are:
949 - `id` (string): Video identifier
950 - `title` (string): Video title
951 - `url` (string): Video URL
952 - `ext` (string): Video filename extension
953 - `alt_title` (string): A secondary title of the video
954 - `description` (string): The description of the video
955 - `display_id` (string): An alternative identifier for the video
956 - `uploader` (string): Full name of the video uploader
957 - `license` (string): License name the video is licensed under
958 - `creator` (string): The creator of the video
959 - `release_date` (string): The date (YYYYMMDD) when the video was released
960 - `timestamp` (numeric): UNIX timestamp of the moment the video became available
961 - `upload_date` (string): Video upload date (YYYYMMDD)
962 - `uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the video uploader
963 - `channel` (string): Full name of the channel the video is uploaded on
964 - `channel_id` (string): Id of the channel
965 - `location` (string): Physical location where the video was filmed
966 - `duration` (numeric): Length of the video in seconds
967 - `duration_string` (string): Length of the video (HH:mm:ss)
968 - `view_count` (numeric): How many users have watched the video on the platform
969 - `like_count` (numeric): Number of positive ratings of the video
970 - `dislike_count` (numeric): Number of negative ratings of the video
971 - `repost_count` (numeric): Number of reposts of the video
972 - `average_rating` (numeric): Average rating give by users, the scale used depends on the webpage
973 - `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)
974 - `age_limit` (numeric): Age restriction for the video (years)
975 - `live_status` (string): One of 'is_live', 'was_live', 'is_upcoming', 'not_live'
976 - `is_live` (boolean): Whether this video is a live stream or a fixed-length video
977 - `was_live` (boolean): Whether this video was originally a live stream
978 - `playable_in_embed` (string): Whether this video is allowed to play in embedded players on other sites
979 - `availability` (string): Whether the video is 'private', 'premium_only', 'subscriber_only', 'needs_auth', 'unlisted' or 'public'
980 - `start_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should start, as specified in the URL
981 - `end_time` (numeric): Time in seconds where the reproduction should end, as specified in the URL
982 - `format` (string): A human-readable description of the format
983 - `format_id` (string): Format code specified by
`--format`
984 - `format_note` (string): Additional info about the format
985 - `width` (numeric): Width of the video
986 - `height` (numeric): Height of the video
987 - `resolution` (string): Textual description of width and height
988 - `tbr` (numeric): Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
989 - `abr` (numeric): Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
990 - `acodec` (string): Name of the audio codec in use
991 - `asr` (numeric): Audio sampling rate in Hertz
992 - `vbr` (numeric): Average video bitrate in KBit/s
993 - `fps` (numeric): Frame rate
994 - `vcodec` (string): Name of the video codec in use
995 - `container` (string): Name of the container format
996 - `filesize` (numeric): The number of bytes, if known in advance
997 - `filesize_approx` (numeric): An estimate for the number of bytes
998 - `protocol` (string): The protocol that will be used for the actual download
999 - `extractor` (string): Name of the extractor
1000 - `extractor_key` (string): Key name of the extractor
1001 - `epoch` (numeric): Unix epoch when creating the file
1002 - `autonumber` (numeric): Number that will be increased with each download, starting at
`--autonumber-start`
1003 - `playlist` (string): Name or id of the playlist that contains the video
1004 - `playlist_index` (numeric): Index of the video in the playlist padded with leading zeros according to the total length of the playlist
1005 - `playlist_id` (string): Playlist identifier
1006 - `playlist_title` (string): Playlist title
1007 - `playlist_uploader` (string): Full name of the playlist uploader
1008 - `playlist_uploader_id` (string): Nickname or id of the playlist uploader
1009 - `webpage_url` (string): A URL to the video webpage which if given to yt-dlp should allow to get the same result again
1010 - `original_url` (string): The URL given by the user (or same as
`webpage_url` for playlist entries)
1012 Available for the video that belongs to some logical chapter or section:
1014 - `chapter` (string): Name or title of the chapter the video belongs to
1015 - `chapter_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter the video belongs to
1016 - `chapter_id` (string): Id of the chapter the video belongs to
1018 Available for the video that is an episode of some series or programme:
1020 - `series` (string): Title of the series or programme the video episode belongs to
1021 - `season` (string): Title of the season the video episode belongs to
1022 - `season_number` (numeric): Number of the season the video episode belongs to
1023 - `season_id` (string): Id of the season the video episode belongs to
1024 - `episode` (string): Title of the video episode
1025 - `episode_number` (numeric): Number of the video episode within a season
1026 - `episode_id` (string): Id of the video episode
1028 Available for the media that is a track or a part of a music album:
1030 - `track` (string): Title of the track
1031 - `track_number` (numeric): Number of the track within an album or a disc
1032 - `track_id` (string): Id of the track
1033 - `artist` (string): Artist(s) of the track
1034 - `genre` (string): Genre(s) of the track
1035 - `album` (string): Title of the album the track belongs to
1036 - `album_type` (string): Type of the album
1037 - `album_artist` (string): List of all artists appeared on the album
1038 - `disc_number` (numeric): Number of the disc or other physical medium the track belongs to
1039 - `release_year` (numeric): Year (YYYY) when the album was released
1041 Available for
`chapter:` prefix when using
`--split-chapters` for videos with internal chapters:
1043 - `section_title` (string): Title of the chapter
1044 - `section_number` (numeric): Number of the chapter within the file
1045 - `section_start` (numeric): Start time of the chapter in seconds
1046 - `section_end` (numeric): End time of the chapter in seconds
1048 Available only when used in
`--print`:
1050 - `urls` (string): The URLs of all requested formats, one in each line
1051 - `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
1053 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 placeholder value provided with
`--output-na-placeholder` (
`NA` by default).
1055 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.
1057 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`.
1059 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.
1061 To use percent literals in an output template use
`%%`. To output to stdout use
`-o -`.
1063 The current default template is
`%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s`.
1065 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:
1067 #### Output template and Windows batch files
1069 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"`.
1071 #### Output template examples
1073 Note that on Windows you need to use double quotes instead of single.
1076 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc
1077 youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4 # All kinds of weird characters
1079 $ yt-dlp --get-filename -o '%(title)s.%(ext)s' BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
1080 youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4 # A simple file name
1082 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in a playlist
1083 $ yt-dlp -o '%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1085 # Download YouTube playlist videos in separate directories according to their uploaded year
1086 $ yt-dlp -o '%(upload_date>%Y)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiyx1dc3P2JR9N8gQaQN_BCvlSlap7re
1088 # Download all playlists of YouTube channel/user keeping each playlist in separate directory:
1089 $ yt-dlp -o '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/playlists
1091 # Download Udemy course keeping each chapter in separate directory under MyVideos directory in your home
1092 $ 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/
1094 # Download entire series season keeping each series and each season in separate directory under C:/MyVideos
1095 $ 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
1097 # Stream the video being downloaded to stdout
1098 $ yt-dlp -o - BaW_jenozKc
1103 By default, yt-dlp tries to download the best available quality if you **don't** pass any options.
1104 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`.
1106 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.
1108 **tl;dr:** [navigate me to examples](#format-selection-examples).
1110 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.
1112 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.
1114 You can also use special names to select particular edge case formats:
1116 - `all`: Select all formats
1117 - `mergeall`: Select and merge all formats (Must be used with
`--audio-multistreams`,
`--video-multistreams` or both)
1118 - `b*`,
`best*`: Select the best quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1119 - `w*`,
`worst*`: Select the worst quality format irrespective of whether it contains video or audio
1120 - `b`,
`best`: Select the best quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1121 - `w`,
`worst`: Select the worst quality format that contains both video and audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none][acodec!=none]`
1122 - `bv`,
`bestvideo`: Select the best quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec=none]`
1123 - `wv`,
`worstvideo`: Select the worst quality video-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec=none]`
1124 - `bv*`,
`bestvideo*`: Select the best quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec!=none]`
1125 - `wv*`,
`worstvideo*`: Select the worst quality format that contains video. It may also contain audio. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec!=none]`
1126 - `ba`,
`bestaudio`: Select the best quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`best*[vcodec=none]`
1127 - `wa`,
`worstaudio`: Select the worst quality audio-only format. Equivalent to
`worst*[vcodec=none]`
1128 - `ba*`,
`bestaudio*`: Select the best quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`best*[acodec!=none]`
1129 - `wa*`,
`worstaudio*`: Select the worst quality format that contains audio. It may also contain video. Equivalent to
`worst*[acodec!=none]`
1131 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
`-f best -S +size,+br,+res,+fps` instead of
`-f worst`. See [sorting formats](#sorting-formats) for more details.
1133 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.
1135 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.
1137 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`.
1139 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. 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`.
1141 ## Filtering Formats
1143 You can also filter the video formats by putting a condition in brackets, as in
`-f "best[height=720]"` (or
`-f "[filesize>10M]"`).
1145 The following numeric meta fields can be used with comparisons
`<`,
`<=`,
`>`,
`>=`,
`=` (equals),
`!=` (not equals):
1147 - `filesize`: The number of bytes, if known in advance
1148 - `width`: Width of the video, if known
1149 - `height`: Height of the video, if known
1150 - `tbr`: Average bitrate of audio and video in KBit/s
1151 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1152 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1153 - `asr`: Audio sampling rate in Hertz
1156 Also filtering work for comparisons
`=` (equals),
`^=` (starts with),
`$=` (ends with),
`*=` (contains) and following string meta fields:
1158 - `ext`: File extension
1159 - `acodec`: Name of the audio codec in use
1160 - `vcodec`: Name of the video codec in use
1161 - `container`: Name of the container format
1162 - `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`)
1163 - `format_id`: A short description of the format
1164 - `language`: Language code
1166 Any string comparison may be prefixed with negation
`!` in order to produce an opposite comparison, e.g.
`!*=` (does not contain).
1168 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.
1170 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.
1172 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]'`.
1176 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:
1178 - `hasvid`: Gives priority to formats that has a video stream
1179 - `hasaud`: Gives priority to formats that has a audio stream
1180 - `ie_pref`: The format preference as given by the extractor
1181 - `lang`: Language preference as given by the extractor
1182 - `quality`: The quality of the format as given by the extractor
1183 - `source`: Preference of the source as given by the extractor
1184 - `proto`: Protocol used for download (
`https`/
`ftps` >
`http`/
`ftp` >
`m3u8_native`/
`m3u8` >
`http_dash_segments`>
`websocket_frag` > other >
`mms`/
`rtsp` > unknown >
`f4f`/
`f4m`)
1185 - `vcodec`: Video Codec (
`av01` >
`vp9.2` >
`vp9` >
`h265` >
`h264` >
`vp8` >
`h263` >
`theora` > other > unknown)
1186 - `acodec`: Audio Codec (
`opus` >
`vorbis` >
`aac` >
`mp4a` >
`mp3` >
`ac3` >
`dts` > other > unknown)
1187 - `codec`: Equivalent to
`vcodec,acodec`
1188 - `vext`: Video Extension (
`mp4` >
`webm` >
`flv` > other > unknown). If
`--prefer-free-formats` is used,
`webm` is prefered.
1189 - `aext`: 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`.
1190 - `ext`: Equivalent to
`vext,aext`
1191 - `filesize`: Exact filesize, if know in advance. This will be unavailable for mu38 and DASH formats.
1192 - `fs_approx`: Approximate filesize calculated from the manifests
1193 - `size`: Exact filesize if available, otherwise approximate filesize
1194 - `height`: Height of video
1195 - `width`: Width of video
1196 - `res`: Video resolution, calculated as the smallest dimension.
1197 - `fps`: Framerate of video
1198 - `tbr`: Total average bitrate in KBit/s
1199 - `vbr`: Average video bitrate in KBit/s
1200 - `abr`: Average audio bitrate in KBit/s
1201 - `br`: Equivalent to using
`tbr,vbr,abr`
1202 - `asr`: Audio sample rate in Hz
1204 Note that any other **numerical** field made available by the extractor can also be used. 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.
1206 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
`--force-format-sort`. Apart from these, the default order used is:
`lang,quality,res,fps,codec:vp9.2,size,br,asr,proto,ext,hasaud,source,id`. Note that the extractors may override this default order, but they cannot override the user-provided order.
1208 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`.
1210 **Tip**: You can use the
`-v -F` to see how the formats have been sorted (worst to best).
1212 ## Format Selection examples
1214 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1217 # Download and merge the best video-only format and the best audio-only format,
1218 # or download the best combined format if video-only format is not available
1219 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv+ba/b'
1221 # Download best format that contains video,
1222 # and if it doesn't already have an audio stream, merge it with best audio-only format
1223 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba/b'
1228 # Download the best video-only format and the best audio-only format without merging them
1229 # For this case, an output template should be used since
1230 # by default, bestvideo and bestaudio will have the same file name.
1231 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv,ba' -o '%(title)s.f%(format_id)s.%(ext)s'
1233 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1234 # and all audio-only formats into one file
1235 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+mergeall[vcodec=none]' --audio-multistreams
1237 # Download and merge the best format that has a video stream,
1238 # and the best 2 audio-only formats into one file
1239 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*+ba+ba.2' --audio-multistreams
1242 # The following examples show the old method (without -S) of format selection
1243 # and how to use -S to achieve a similar but (generally) better result
1245 # Download the worst video available (old method)
1246 $ yt-dlp -f 'wv*+wa/w'
1248 # Download the best video available but with the smallest resolution
1251 # Download the smallest video available
1252 $ yt-dlp -S '+size,+br'
1256 # Download the best mp4 video available, or the best video if no mp4 available
1257 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4] / bv*+ba/b'
1259 # Download the best video with the best extension
1260 # (For video, mp4 > webm > flv. For audio, m4a > aac > mp3 ...)
1265 # Download the best video available but no better than 480p,
1266 # or the worst video if there is no video under 480p
1267 $ yt-dlp -f 'bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w'
1269 # Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
1270 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1271 $ yt-dlp -S 'height:480'
1273 # Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
1274 # or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
1275 # Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
1276 # So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
1277 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:480'
1281 # Download the best video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1282 # or the worst video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1283 $ yt-dlp -f 'b[filesize<50M] / w'
1285 # Download largest video (that also has audio) but no bigger than 50 MB,
1286 # or the smallest video (that also has audio) if there is no video under 50 MB
1287 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize:50M'
1289 # Download best video (that also has audio) that is closest in size to 50 MB
1290 $ yt-dlp -f 'b' -S 'filesize~50M'
1294 # Download best video available via direct link over HTTP/HTTPS protocol,
1295 # or the best video available via any protocol if there is no such video
1296 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[protocol^=http][protocol!*=dash] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1298 # Download best video available via the best protocol
1299 # (https/ftps > http/ftp > m3u8_native > m3u8 > http_dash_segments ...)
1304 # Download the best video with h264 codec, or the best video if there is no such video
1305 $ yt-dlp -f '(bv*+ba/b)[vcodec^=avc1] / (bv*+ba/b)'
1307 # Download the best video with best codec no better than h264,
1308 # or the best video with worst codec if there is no such video
1309 $ yt-dlp -S 'codec:h264'
1311 # Download the best video with worst codec no worse than h264,
1312 # or the best video with best codec if there is no such video
1313 $ yt-dlp -S '+codec:h264'
1317 # More complex examples
1319 # Download the best video no better than 720p preferring framerate greater than 30,
1320 # or the worst video (still preferring framerate greater than 30) if there is no such video
1321 $ yt-dlp -f '((bv*[fps>30]/bv*)[height<=720]/(wv*[fps>30]/wv*)) + ba / (b[fps>30]/b)[height<=720]/(w[fps>30]/w)'
1323 # Download the video with the largest resolution no better than 720p,
1324 # or the video with the smallest resolution available if there is no such video,
1325 # preferring larger framerate for formats with the same resolution
1326 $ yt-dlp -S 'res:720,fps'
1330 # Download the video with smallest resolution no worse than 480p,
1331 # or the video with the largest resolution available if there is no such video,
1332 # preferring better codec and then larger total bitrate for the same resolution
1333 $ yt-dlp -S '+res:480,codec,br'
1336 # MODIFYING METADATA
1338 The metadata obtained the the extractors can be modified by using
`--parse-metadata` and
`--replace-in-metadata`
1340 `--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.
1342 The general syntax of
`--parse-metadata FROM:TO` is to give the name of a field or a template (with same syntax as
[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.
1344 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`.
1346 This option also has a few special uses:
1347 * 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
1348 * 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"
1350 For reference, these are the fields yt-dlp adds by default to the file metadata:
1352 Metadata fields|From
1354 `title`|
`track` or
`title`
1355 `date`|
`upload_date`
1356 `description`,
`synopsis`|
`description`
1357 `purl`,
`comment`|
`webpage_url`
1358 `track`|
`track_number`
1359 `artist`|
`artist`,
`creator`,
`uploader` or
`uploader_id`
1362 `album_artist`|
`album_artist`
1363 `disc`|
`disc_number`
1365 `season_number`|
`season_number`
1366 `episode_id`|
`episode` or
`episode_id`
1367 `episode_sort`|
`episode_number`
1368 `language` of each stream|From the format's
`language`
1369 **Note**: The file format may not support some of these fields
1372 ## Modifying metadata examples
1374 Note that on Windows you may need to use double quotes instead of single.
1377 # Interpret the title as "Artist - Title"
1378 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'title:%(artist)s - %(title)s'
1381 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:Artist - (?P<artist>.+)'
1383 # Set title as "Series name S01E05"
1384 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata '%(series)s S%(season_number)02dE%(episode_number)02d:%(title)s'
1386 # Set "comment" field in video metadata using description instead of webpage_url
1387 $ yt-dlp --parse-metadata 'description:(?s)(?P<meta_comment>.+)' --add-metadata
1389 # Replace all spaces and "_" in title and uploader with a `-`
1390 $ yt-dlp --replace-in-metadata 'title,uploader' '[ _]' '-'
1394 # EXTRACTOR ARGUMENTS
1396 Some extractors accept additional arguments which can be passed using
`--extractor-args KEY:ARGS`.
`ARGS` is a
`;` (semicolon) seperated string of
`ARG=VAL1,VAL2`. Eg:
`--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=android_agegate,web;include_live_dash" --extractor-args "funimation:version=uncut"`
1398 The following extractors use this feature:
1400 * `skip`:
`hls` or
`dash` (or both) to skip download of the respective manifests
1401 * `player_client`: Clients to extract video data from. The main clients are
`web`,
`android`,
`ios`,
`mweb`. These also have
`_music`,
`_embedded`,
`_agegate`, and
`_creator` variants (Eg:
`web_embedded`) (
`mweb` has only
`_agegate`). By default,
`android,web` is used, but the agegate and creator variants are added as required for age-gated videos. Similarly the music variants are added for
`music.youtube.com` urls. You can also use
`all` to use all the clients
1402 * `player_skip`:
`configs` - skip any requests for client configs and use defaults
1403 * `include_live_dash`: Include live dash formats (These formats don't download properly)
1404 * `comment_sort`:
`top` or
`new` (default) - choose comment sorting mode (on YouTube's side).
1405 * `max_comments`: Maximum amount of comments to download (default all).
1406 * `max_comment_depth`: Maximum depth for nested comments. YouTube supports depths
1 or
2 (default).
1409 * `language`: Languages to extract. Eg:
`funimation:language=english,japanese`
1410 * `version`: The video version to extract -
`uncut` or
`simulcast`
1413 * `video_types`: Types of videos to download - one or more of
`episodes`,
`movies`,
`clips`,
`trailers`
1415 NOTE: These options may be changed/removed in the future without concern for backward compatibility
1420 Plugins are loaded from
`<root-dir>/ytdlp_plugins/<type>/__init__.py`. Currently only
`extractor` plugins are supported. Support for
`downloader` and
`postprocessor` plugins may be added in the future. See [ytdlp_plugins](ytdlp_plugins) for example.
1422 **Note**:
`<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`)
1424 # DEPRECATED OPTIONS
1426 These are all the deprecated options and the current alternative to achieve the same effect
1428 #### Redundant options
1429 While these options are redundant, they are still expected to be used due to their ease of use
1431 --get-description --print description
1432 --get-duration --print duration_string
1433 --get-filename --print filename
1434 --get-format --print format
1436 --get-thumbnail --print thumbnail
1437 -e, --get-title --print title
1438 -g, --get-url --print urls
1439 -j, --dump-json --print "%()j"
1440 --match-title REGEX --match-filter "title ~= (?i)REGEX"
1441 --reject-title REGEX --match-filter "title !~= (?i)REGEX"
1442 --min-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count >=? COUNT"
1443 --max-views COUNT --match-filter "view_count <=? COUNT"
1446 #### Not recommended
1447 While these options still work, their use is not recommended since there are other alternatives to achieve the same
1449 --all-formats -f all
1450 --all-subs --sub-langs all --write-subs
1451 --print-json -j --no-simulate
1452 --autonumber-size NUMBER Use string formatting. Eg: %(autonumber)
03d
1453 --autonumber-start NUMBER Use internal field formatting like %(autonumber+NUMBER)s
1454 --metadata-from-title FORMAT --parse-metadata "%(title)s:FORMAT"
1455 --hls-prefer-native --downloader "m3u8:native"
1456 --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --downloader "m3u8:ffmpeg"
1457 --list-formats-old --compat-options list-formats (Alias: --no-list-formats-as-table)
1458 --list-formats-as-table --compat-options -list-formats [Default] (Alias: --no-list-formats-old)
1459 --sponskrub-args ARGS --ppa "sponskrub:ARGS"
1460 --youtube-skip-dash-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=dash" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-dash-manifest)
1461 --youtube-skip-hls-manifest --extractor-args "youtube:skip=hls" (Alias: --no-youtube-include-hls-manifest)
1462 --youtube-include-dash-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-dash-manifest)
1463 --youtube-include-hls-manifest Default (Alias: --no-youtube-skip-hls-manifest)
1466 #### Developer options
1467 These options are not intended to be used by the end-user
1469 --test Download only part of video for testing extractors
1470 --youtube-print-sig-code For testing youtube signatures
1471 --allow-unplayable-formats List unplayable formats also
1472 --no-allow-unplayable-formats Default
1476 These are aliases that are no longer documented for various reasons
1478 --avconv-location --ffmpeg-location
1479 --cn-verification-proxy URL --geo-verification-proxy URL
1480 --dump-headers --print-traffic
1481 --dump-intermediate-pages --dump-pages
1482 --force-write-download-archive --force-write-archive
1483 --load-info --load-info-json
1484 --no-split-tracks --no-split-chapters
1485 --no-write-srt --no-write-subs
1486 --prefer-unsecure --prefer-insecure
1487 --rate-limit RATE --limit-rate RATE
1488 --split-tracks --split-chapters
1489 --srt-lang LANGS --sub-langs LANGS
1490 --trim-file-names LENGTH --trim-filenames LENGTH
1491 --write-srt --write-subs
1492 --yes-overwrites --force-overwrites
1494 #### No longer supported
1495 These options may no longer work as intended
1497 --prefer-avconv avconv is not officially supported by yt-dlp (Alias: --no-prefer-ffmpeg)
1498 --prefer-ffmpeg Default (Alias: --no-prefer-avconv)
1499 -C, --call-home Not implemented
1500 --no-call-home Default
1501 --include-ads No longer supported
1502 --no-include-ads Default
1503 --write-annotations No supported site has annotations now
1504 --no-write-annotations Default
1507 These options were deprecated since
2014 and have now been entirely removed
1509 --id -o "%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1510 -A, --auto-number -o "%(autonumber)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1511 -t, --title -o "%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s"
1512 -l, --literal -o accepts literal names
1516 For FAQ, Developer Instructions etc., see the
[original README](https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl#faq)
projects / yt-dlp.git / blob